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Opinion
The Battalion
Page 9 • Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Compromising education
1 judges — none 11
ere on the orieir ; I
;e panel — based fe [
on the Califont I
on, not any precede: I
•>h v. Gore,
g other things, tit
d the time and motif |
been spent to prepait
ormation pamphle; i
)le ballots, mail oc:
ballots, and hire ait [
workers,
I that candidates hat
icy and “crafted the: [
> the voters in light c;
ally-announced sched
ihrated their message!
a I and social envirot
; time."
said that if the elec-
itponed, the hunched
ds of absentee voter;
already cast theirbal-
effectively be toldtk
)es not count andtha
vote again.”
y M. Ehrlich, the |
xecutive director f«
California, said the
I not pursue itscaseto
ne Court,
the election just tw
ty, we do not believt
I prolong the uncer-
' longer," she said
joint it is importaa!
andidates, the cam- |
d the voters kiP
lection will beheld
hat is certain.”
efforts
tiding Iraq
embly since the
am Hussein, world
var transition.
WAR IRAQ
3ss must unfold
o the needs of Iraqis
urried nor delayed
tes of other parties."
Initiatives to help relieve overcrowding are causing more harm than good
dents “are making some important assumptions about the matu
rity level and readiness level three years down the road.”
Important? Foolish seems the better description.
Socially, students will miss out on the experience
of senior year and then be thrown into a col
lege environment that many are not yet
emotionally and intellectually mature
enough to handle.
One parent ignorantly
defended enrolling her
daughter in the plan to the
Panama City News
Herald. She justifies
sending a should-be
high schcjol student
prematurely to col
lege based on her
idea that, “You
have the same
atmosphere in col
lege that you do in
high school. Or
pretty much the
same.”
She is partly
right on the same
ness of high school
and college: they are
both overcrowded.
Florida high schools
are not the only place
where over
crowding is
a problem.
At the
University of
Southern
Florida, 3,600 stu- Cracie Arenas * THE BATTALION
C lassrooms in America are over
crowded. This situation demands the
opening of new schools or hiring of
more teachers to ameliorate the currently
unacceptable learning conditions.
However, building new schools and hiring
more teachers costs money. Instead of han
dling the problem in a way most beneficial to
students, state legislatures are using easy fixes
that will end up hurting the U.S. educational
system in the long run. Take, for example, Florida, which
recently passed a law that enables students to opt for the “fast-
track" graduation — reducing their high school experience from
four years to three.
As executive director of the Broward County School District
Fay Clark told to The Associated Press, “This is a strategy for
class size reduction, not for quality education."
Implemented on July 1, the Florida law has already begun to
adversely affect students, though the real consequences will
only begin to be played out over the next year as the first
guinea pigs are released into the post-high school world.
The three-year graduation plan abbreviates the traditional 24
credits needed for graduation to a mere 18, with American his
tory, world history, economics, American government, art,
physical education and a number of free electives failing to
make the cut, according to Florida’s St. Petersburg Times.
Ironically, students assume that graduating in three years will
put them a year ahead when they start college. However, by axing
these core classes, they will not be able to receive Advanced
Placement or dual credit or be as likely as their peers to place out
of the same college courses by exam. More importantly, by cut
ting the core curriculum, students are losing the chance to learn
the basics they need in order to succeed in college.
Furthermore, the “high-achieving” students who want to
graduate early to get into college quicker may not realize that
they may not get to college at all; admissions offices at more
competitive schools prefer incoming students who display their
zest for learning by taking elective fourth year math and sci
ences or AP classes during their senior year rather than those
who just want to get high school over with as soon as possible,
according to the St. Petersburg Times.
Students want to graduate early to ease their entrance into
college when in fact, they obstruct the very thing they pursue.
Bob Dorn, Pasco Independent School District administrative
assistant for secondary schools, told the Tampa Tribune that stu
dents will attend
classes in nearby mall movie theaters due to the lack of space,
according to the St. Petersburg Times. The Machiavellian solu
tion to overcrowding at the high school level will only con
tribute to existing college overcrowding.
Florida’s three-year graduation plan — the cheapest solution
translated by Florida lawmakers as the best solution — means
driving students like cattle through the educa
tion process.
Condensing four years of education into three
inevitably compromises a year’s worth of learning.
Texans can sympathize. Principal Sandy
McNutt of Wood Elementary School in
Arlington described her school to
the Arlington Star-Telegram as
“wall-to-wall kids.” The
University of Texas expe
rienced an overcrowd
ing crisis due in large
part to the top 10
percent law imple
mented by the
1996 Hopwood
decision, accord
ing to the Austin
Review.
While Texas
A&M has yet to
hold classes at
the Cinemark
Hollywood USA
theater, Texas col
leges adopt the
same in-and-out
approach with the
tuition rebate law that
went into effect in the fall
of 1997 — granting $1,000
to students who complete their
degree plan with an excess of no
more than three credit hours.
Rather than fostering academic appre
ciation and intellectual curiosity that may lie
outside the strict requirements of a degree plan,
America’s schools focus on utilitarian speed and
efficiency. That type of education should be reserved for Internet
and mail order degree programs.
Lindsay Orman is a senior
English major.
LINDSAY
ORMAN
Government must not fund religious programs
on needs to be
according to a realistic
"The transfer of
to the Iraqis, who
sole responsibility for
is essential for stability
truction."
"prepared to play a
raq "as part of an
effort." "If it takes extra
tience to forge... a
s collective, coherent
le, then I... would
time as well spent'
ig unilateralism,
ill nations “musi
ou rage to review
and empower
jd Nations and
onal institution!
hen international
n.
President Luis
da Silva said thf
er reconstruction if
only be overcontt
leadership of tte
ions — leaderslilf
in re-establishin?
security conditions,
n guiding the polil-
toward the restora-
sovereignty as sood
ist not shy away
ollective responsi-
said. “A war can
won single-hand-
peace — lasting
annot be secured
support of all."
AND
TERS
O n Monday, the Bush
administration
announced revised
regulations dictating how fed
eral grants to social welfare
programs will be awarded.
; According to Jim Towey, the
I director of the Faith-Based and
Community Initiatives Office, jenelle
these new regulations are wilson
“removing barriers that pro
hibit faith-based organizations from dealing with
the needs of our addicts and our homeless and
people seeking to move from welfare to work.”
While it’s encouraging that the Bush adminis
tration is attempting to help the homeless and
needy instead of cutting their funding, these new
regulations not only violate federal law, they
violate constitutional prohibitions against estab
lishing religion.
In the press briefing on Monday — given by
Towey and officials from the Departments of
Labor, Housing and Urban Development and
Health and Human Services — four finalized
regulations were announced. The first would
open $8 million in HUD programs to religious
organizations. The second regulation would
allow training vouchers to be used for faith-
based careers. The third exempts religious
organizations hoping to become government
contractors from anti-discrimination laws. The
last regulation allows religious organizations to
compete for $20 billion to assist substance
abuse, mental health, welfare-to-work and other
programs under the HHS, according to The New
York Times.
Funding to the Compassion Capital Fund,
which is designed to help small religious and
community organizations gain access to federal
grants, increased from $20 million to $30 mil
lion as well.
George Washington Law School professor Ira
Lupu told the Religious News Service that the
Bush administration’s actions violate constitu
tional law, specifically the Lemon test.
The 1971 case of Lemon v. Kurtzman estab
lished the three-pronged test to evaluate cases
involving the establishment clause of the First
Amendment. First, a government action must
have a secular purpose. Social programs admin
istered by religious organizations to help the
homeless and addicts clearly have such a pur
pose, but they fail to pass the other two prongs
of the test.
A government action cannot help or inhibit
religion. This means that if these organizations
are infusing religious principles into their pro
grams supported by federal funds, the govern
ment is supporting those religious principles. So,
under this rule, the government providing money
to a alcohol rehabilitation center that simply tries
to sober someone up is fine. However, if as a part
of the program, an alcoholic is encouraged to be
baptized, it fails the test because it would be sup
porting the religious beliefs of the group running
the program.
The Compassion Capital Fund money, in
helping religious groups develop programs that
are eligible for other federal funding, violates
this second prong because it is being used to ini
tiate religious programs.
The last prong of the test prohibits an exces
sive entanglement between government and reli
gion. “Excessive entanglement” is a lot like
“obscenity” — it’s hard to define, but people
will know it when they see it. Federally funding
any social welfare programs infused with reli
gious beliefs fosters this excessive entanglement.
Even if the program is not blatantly promoting
religion, it is still based on the religious princi
ples of those running it.
The revised HUD regulations also fail this
part of the test. According to the Religious News
Service, “prorated” HUD funds could go to a
hall on the property of a house of worship if a
program to help the homeless took place in one
of the rooms (even if a religiously-motivated
programs took place in the other rooms). By
providing funds for the building, the government
is supporting all other programs that take place
in that building, which is prohibited.
The new regulations are praised by the Bush
administration as “leveling the playing field” for
religious organizations and ensuring that these
organizations are treated equally with the non-reli
gious programs eligible for federal funds. The
actual regulations, however, directly contradict this
purpose. They are not holding religious organiza
tions to the same standards as nonreligious ones,
specifically in the rules for employment.
The Bush administration’s actions violate
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
prohibits discrimination in employment on the
basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex
and pregnancy. There is a specified exception for
religious organizations as private entities; how
ever, once these organizations start to receive
funding they must be held to the same standards
as other government contractors.
If government contractors lose eligibility to
federal funds when they discriminate in employ
ment, so should religious organizations.
Exempting religious groups from this require
ment is not putting them on a level playing field;
it’s giving them special privileges not available
to others.
Providing funding for America’s downtrod
den is always a noble cause, but it has to be
done in a way that conforms to constitutional
doctrine and federal law, which these regulations
fail to do. They fail to meet the requirements of
the Lemon test, and they fail to conform to the
Title VII rules dictating hiring practices.
Funding for these programs belongs in the pri
vate sphere, not the public.
Jenelle Wilson is a senior
political science major.
MAIL CALL
Fourth Amendment
not applicable to RIAA
In response to Mike Walters’ Sept.
23 column:
I will not get into opinions on the
RIAA and peer-to-peer file sharing,
but I am getting awfully tired of peo
ple blindly claiming Constitutional
; violations. I do not know where Mike
; Walters found the RIAA claiming to
;be immune from the Fourth
; Amendment because they are not
; the police, but that is a moot point.
When someone shares files on a
peer-to-peer network, they have a
selected file folder that is shared.
Any copyrighted material being
shared has been made accessible,
and other network users search for
;the files they want. Therefore, the
■ RIAA’s searches are “akin to the
police randomly knocking on doors
and searching for drugs.” However,
there is nothing illegal about police
randomly knocking on doors and
asking to search for drugs if the
homeowner opens the door and con
sents to the search.
Archie Goodman
Class of 2004
Negative aspects of
Iraq war newsworthy
In response to Nick Nethery’s Sept.
23 column:
In his column, Nethery complains
how some journalists report only
the negative aspects of the Iraq
war. He forgets in his commentary
that some people consider the
entire war to be negative. As a fel
low history major, I must remind him
that Iraq is located where
Mesopotamia — the world’s first
civilization — once existed. The
news coverage of people looting
museums is important to all human
ity because some of the world’s old
est historical artifacts were in dan
ger. These artifacts represent the
heritage of the entire civilized world,
including the United States.
Nethery also takes issue with the
fact that journalists want revenge for
the death of their coworker who died
in Iraq. I must again remind him that
the entire war on terrorism started as
revenge for people who died in 9-11.
I guess it’s OK for President Bush to
pursue violent revenge but it is no
OK for journalists to engage in
peaceful vengeance.
Jonathan Smith
Class of 2005
Evolutionary theory
evidence is weak
In response to a Sept. 23 mail call:
I agree with Dr. Cassone’s state
ment that the “invocation of (a
Designer) is a outside the bound
aries of (science).” I’m not a scien
tist, but I think I understand correctly
that science is the study of the natu
ral world; it does not address the
supernatural world.
I also agree that students should
“take a course in introductory biolo
gy, read the evidence and think
about it.” A few years ago, I was
unsure whether or not evolution was
a real process and an accurate
account of history, primarily
because I was unfamiliar with the
arguments used to support it. So I
studied the basics of modern biolo
gy and historical geology.
As I did, I became convinced —
convinced that the arguments (at
least those to which I was exposed)
are in fact rather weak. I now think
that evolution, in particular evolu
tionary history, is little more than
“scientific” dogma.
Jonathan Hebert
Class of 2004
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