The Battalion
OPINION
The
S
Tuesday, September 25,1990
Opinion Page Editor Ellen Hobbs 845-33
ues
Kudos to Williams’ education ‘voucher’ support
T<
Here is an excerpt from a speech
Clayton Williams gave in Tyler:
“I think the answer to education is
parental choice where we give the
parents the money for school and they
put their kids in a private school, a new
school, a church school or a public
school that has had the schackles and
bureaucratic chains removed.”
Mr. Williams, you just earned my
support. As our public (read socialist)
school system crumbles under the
weight of its own inefficiencies, it is an
immeasurable delight to see that Texas
may just have a leader who has the
solution to the state’s education fiasco.
The plan which Williams has outlined
Andrew
Matthews
Columnist
would call for the state to provide a
voucher to parents, who could use this
at any school of their choice. The
obvious attractiveness of this plan is that
by allowing parents a choice, schools will
have to compete to attract students.
This competition for students and their
funds would force schools to improve
about this concept. It is called “The
Marketplace.” Housing, restaurants,
supermarkets, department stores,
automobiles and a million other
products all function under this
mechanism. What makes education any
different?
Opponents of the plan say that it
would cost the state too much. They cite
that the government would now have to
pay for the 116,000 students who now
attend private schools. This is true;
however, the parents of these students,
in addition to paying private tuition
costs, have also been paying state taxes
for public education. Therefore,
sending them a check would simply be a
reimbursement for the public education
they paid for but never used.
In the long run, the cost of education
would fall drastically. Invariably, the
vast majority of the parents will send
their children to either private schools
or the better public schools in the
suburbs.
Most estimates show that the cost of
educating a student at a private school is
two-thirds the cost of a public school.
Thus, more funds would be sent to the
lower private scools thus cutting down
on the bureaucratic lard of public school
administrators, which currently
consumes one half of all education
A laudable goal, but none of these
band-aid improvements aregoingto
help. The system has been crumblini
despite the efforts of the besteducati
experts in the state. All the effortso[
public educators to save the state
education parallel those of the never
say-die communists who thought the
could revitalize the socialist system.O
can’t help but pity them.
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In addition to Ann Richards,Riclt > e S 0 '
Kouri, vice president of the TexasSti
Teachers Association, and W.N.
the state commissioner of education,
opposed to parental choice
•ector
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‘It’s a plan that seems to be targets ifafl
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expenses.
But what about the role that public
schools have in integrating students
from all racial and economic
backgrounds? Aren’t our public schools
the great melting pots of America? If
that were the case, how integrated is our
system when a school such as Yates in
Houston has over ninety percent
African-Americans and a high school
like Klein in northwest Houston has
over ninety percent Whites?
The public schools in the cities are all
segregated by location, with the rich
Whites and poor minorities going to
different schools. At least, a choice plan
would give poor parents the option of
sending their sons and daughters to the
wealthy suburban schools or specialized
schools in the arts or sciences. Perhaps
this is why the choice plan has the most
support from minority and low-income
parents.
Unfortunately, not everybody
subscribes to the theory that parents
should be able to choose. Most notably,
Democratic gubernational nominee
Ann Richards is opposed to the voucher
system.
Richards proposes a plan to raise
teachers’ salaries, increase their input
and authority, provide health coverage
for teachers, establish help programs
for teenagers and create an
accountability commission on
education.
at destroying public education in (lit
state of Texas,” proclaims Kouri
One might ask, why is thatsoPlsii
because Kouri knows that if given tkt
choice, most parents would prefer lit
their children did not go to a school*
drugs, gang-warfare and classes in
closets? Perhaps parents would actual
like their children to get an educatioi
The next question that begsaskingii
woidd it be such a loss if these schools
closed?
It should come as no surprisetha
teachers’ unions and the education
bureaucrats are all against voucher
solutions to education. Giving parents
the option to send children to privatt
schools will destroy the cozy
government-imposed monopoly of
education. This system has provided
teachers and administrators with jot
security and guaranteed funding by
state government, without the pressu
of competition of the marketplace,Sss
like all monopolies, price goesupam
quality goes down.
Clayton Williams, 1 hope, w
forcing the issue. Parents’ frustrations
with Texas schools ought to niaketbii
an issue with which he can win votes
But more importantly, if elected will
Williams have the wherewithal to
implement his plan? For the sakeofl
next generation of students, 1 prayfe
does.
Andrew Matthews is a senior
economics major.
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Capitalism trumps socialism
EDITOR:
Why is it that the University professors and graduate stu
dents such as Paul Kennedy (could the surname offer a clue?)
continue to treat “capitalism” as a scourge on the human race
while espousing failed socialist values? While the rest of the
world turns to capitalism as the savior of humanity, it seems
these folks are the only ones who haven’t got the message. I
know the demise of socialism is dreadfully disappointing to
them, but the least they could do is develop some fresh argu
ments rather than recite the tired old cliches Mr. Kennedy’s
letter is laced with.
Colin Killian
Revenue Fund Information Representative
Respect ‘rules’ of ticket-drawing
EDITOR:
T his letter is addressed to all the boneheads who seem to
have a severe problem understanding “the rules” when it
comes to pulling football tickets. My friends and I (along with
scores of others who play by “the rules”) became extremely
agitated by the fact that it took 3 1/2 hours to draw tickets on
Senior day. This time could be greatly reduced if: a) people
don’t try to draw more than ten tickets (like the whiner who
got to draw 22, yes, 22, tickets after fifteen minutes of grov
eling,) and b) people have the proper number of upperclass
men’s IDs.
So please, stop your whining at the ticket window. Take
your tickets and go home to complain.
concerning the removal of several statues from the University
of Texas campus by the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People, I felt an overwhelming sensa
tion of delusion and blatant ignorance on your part, espe
cially the impact of racially denegrating symbols as the statues
of those “good-ole” civil war generals you spoke of.
Though our contemporary minority community persists
in an era of many problems, it is in my opinion that articles
such as yours exacerbate the ignorance which is pervasive in
the Anglo-Saxon community. Your ignorance of the present
and past significance of symbols and their affect on mankind
seems quite apparent. Though you state that your past gener
ations fought to protect and enhance their own self-interest,
what you fail to realize is it was just that, self-interest.
The symbolic nature of slavery and those who it affected
relates both to the past and present. As such, the NAACP, un
derstanding the cultural relevance of symbols, supports their
removal; and so do I. The removal of these symbols belies
their reasoning that symbols represent long standing beliefs
and it is also clear that you also cherish those “good of days”
past where degradation of the African-American man’s spirit
was the daily Anglo-Saxon duty; But, no. Your tone concern
ing the actions of the NAACP aims to diminish the spirit and
fervor of the African-American Man: my friend, that will
never happen!
As an Anglo-Saxon with deeply “rooted” ties to your hid
eous past brethren, you are on the outside looking in — with
the Hubble Telescope — a highly technical, bumbling near
sightedness that typifies many of you “people.” In the future,
base your arguments on fact, not bias.
years and two degrees I have watched lots and lots of changes,
obviously some for the better but several for the worse. Our
good sportsmanlike traditions have taken the severest beating
and our new “Etch-A-Sketch” scoreboard has dealt the final
blow. “Your attention please to the message scoreboard” —
Yes, we’ve seen it: Coke the official drink of GTE financed by
NCNB and stuffed down our throats by Dairy Queen. Once
was enough, twice way too much, three times just plain insult
ing. As a true member of the 12th Man I went to support the
team in the way that used to make us unique, by standing, by
yelling, and by being heard. I did not go to provide an audi
ence for hours of commercials.
I realize that it’s a financial matter but if we had spent the
money on the athletics and not the new unneeded board, the
bright glaring signs would have been enough. I felt Saturday
as though I was watching the game on TV without the com
forts of my own home. The students chanted “WHOOP!” at
the scoreboard as the yell leaders (please note what the name
suggests) continued to ask them to “rest.”
The purpose of the scoreboard is to do just that, keep
score, time, and track of the ball. The old board worked just
fine. For over two minutes during the USE game, as cartoons
rolled flawlessly across the screen, the board failed to note
properly which team had possession of the ball. Once that
problem was resolved we were informed that 50 minutes re
mained in the second quarter. The game was then inter
rupted and came to a complete halt in order to remedy this
malfunction. Let’s get our priorities straight. Let’s regain the
uniqueness once involved in our games. Let’s lose the disco
lights at the south end of Kyle Field. I’m sure that Reveilles I-
IV are not at all amused.
Rick Bosworth, ’90
accompanied by two signatures
Cox’s column showed ignorance
Christopher Spotser ’90
Lose Kyle Field’s new disco lights
Jason Bruemmer ’87
Have an opinion? Express it!
EDITOR:
After reading and ingesting Larry Cox’s benign column
EDITOR:
We’ve finally done it. We’ve gone completely over the
edge and hit rock bottom — “commonplace.” Over seven
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves
the right to edit letters for style and length, hut will make every effort to maintain the
author’s intent. There is no guarantee that letters submitted will be printed. Each
letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone number
of the writer. All letters may be brought to 216 Reed McDonald, or sent to Campus
Mail Stop 1111.
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Cindy McMillian,
Editor
Timm Doolen, Managing Editor
Ellen Hobbs, Opinion Page Editor
Holly Becka, City Editor
Kathy Cox,
Kristin North,
News Editors
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Sports Editor
Eric Roalson, Art Director
Lisa Ann Robertson,
Lifestyles Editor
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