2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 3/6/07 Section: Editorials
Zoller's defense of refs unwarrented
Why does Mike Zoller find it necessary to defend the indefensible? And does he really think his comparison of college basketball to middle school basketball is relevant in the least? College basketball and seventh grade ball are different worlds. Here is what is relevant: MAC officials have often been called some of the worst in the country.
The MAC has been criticized in recent years for failing to attract referees with any credentials whatsoever. Every comment made toward the officials this year, every boo, has been generally warranted. Here's another sad fact: With Zoller's middle school officiating experience, he is probably qualified enough to become a ref in the MAC. Defending the problem is not going to help it get better.
Alex Dombroff
dombroas@muohio.edu
Talawanda schools article misinformed
I wanted to write and tell you how much I appreciate the interest The Miami Student always shows regarding issues facing Talawanda schools. I was very pleased to see a lengthy article, with a nice color map about Talawanda, on the issues we are currently discussing regarding facilties. However, there were some pieces of misinformation that appeared in the article, and I am concerned that readers/community members may now be discussing this topic with incorrect information.
I wanted to clear up a few items. First, the Talawanda School District is not relocating - we are simply discussing the merits, and gathering information as to whether the community may support making upgrades to our existing facilities.
Secondly, Kramer is not presently utilizing mobile classroom units for students. This occurred during the time we spent building Bogan, our new elementary building. These mobile units were utilized while the former Stewart Elementary population was being served between Kramer and Marshall, until the new school was completed and opened this past fall.
Third, the board of education has not yet determined whether Kramer Elementary will be closed. This is only one potential discussion that is occurring regarding future changes
with facilities.
Most importantly, the only information that Talawanda can share regarding facilities is that no decisions have been made at this time. The board is currently meeting with community members to gather input as to what they would support regarding future plans. The district has an Ohio approved facilities plan, and we are currently evaluating the merits of sticking to this plan, developed in 2001, or altering this plan based on community, staff, and/or student input.
Holli Morrish
Talawanda Schools
morrishh@talawanda.org
Morality should factor in support for policy
A much-ignored passage in George Orwell's 1984 shows Winston Smith and Julia - the protagonists - being asked what they would be willing to do to aid the destruction of a vicious totalitarian state.
The supposed revolutionary O'Brien asks, "You are prepared to give your lives?"; they answer, "Yes." He raises the stakes, "You are prepared to commit murder? To commit acts of sabotage which may cause the death of hundreds of innocent people?" "Yes."
O'Brien goes on to ask if they'd be willing to commit an increasingly vile series of crimes summed up with "to do anything which is likely to cause demoralization and weaken the power of the Party?"
They answer "Yes," and O'Brien proceeds to a horrible example. "If, for example, it would somehow serve our interests to throw sulphuric acid in a child's face - are you prepared to do that?" They answer "Yes"; given the horror of totalitarian rule, any means that would serve the resistance, they think, would be justified.
I'd occasionally cite this passage back in the days of the civil rights, anti-war and feminist movements - when people would talk about achieving some worthy goal, "by any means necessary." I hoped to discourage talk about "any means necessary" and get people discussing what means, given our worthy goals, might be effective and moral.
"The end will justify the means," after all, is a statement of faith; "End" implies "outcome, consequences," and as actions reverberate down through the decades, one can never be certain of final outcomes. People in power who object, correctly, to "by any means necessary" from anti-governmental activists should apply the rule to themselves when they say, "All options are on the table."
If "all options are on the table" in dealing with Iran's producing atomic weapons, does that mean we're considering thermonuclear warfare against Iran?
If one responds that such actions are inconceivable, I'd ask that they talk to survivors of the World War II bombings of Rotterdam, London, Stalingrad, Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. The destruction of cities is conceivable, and pretty thoroughly accomplished.
I will ask Americans to challenge powerful people when they use clichéd threats that are amoral. The great moral obligation is to work through questions of ends and means. It is never ethical to avoid the question by falling back on vague threats like "by any means necessary" or "all options are on the table."
Richard Erlich
Dept. of English
Professor Emeritus
ErlichRD@MUOhio.edu
Why does Mike Zoller find it necessary to defend the indefensible? And does he really think his comparison of college basketball to middle school basketball is relevant in the least? College basketball and seventh grade ball are different worlds. Here is what is relevant: MAC officials have often been called some of the worst in the country.
The MAC has been criticized in recent years for failing to attract referees with any credentials whatsoever. Every comment made toward the officials this year, every boo, has been generally warranted. Here's another sad fact: With Zoller's middle school officiating experience, he is probably qualified enough to become a ref in the MAC. Defending the problem is not going to help it get better.
Alex Dombroff
dombroas@muohio.edu
Talawanda schools article misinformed
I wanted to write and tell you how much I appreciate the interest The Miami Student always shows regarding issues facing Talawanda schools. I was very pleased to see a lengthy article, with a nice color map about Talawanda, on the issues we are currently discussing regarding facilties. However, there were some pieces of misinformation that appeared in the article, and I am concerned that readers/community members may now be discussing this topic with incorrect information.
I wanted to clear up a few items. First, the Talawanda School District is not relocating - we are simply discussing the merits, and gathering information as to whether the community may support making upgrades to our existing facilities.
Secondly, Kramer is not presently utilizing mobile classroom units for students. This occurred during the time we spent building Bogan, our new elementary building. These mobile units were utilized while the former Stewart Elementary population was being served between Kramer and Marshall, until the new school was completed and opened this past fall.
Third, the board of education has not yet determined whether Kramer Elementary will be closed. This is only one potential discussion that is occurring regarding future changes
with facilities.
Most importantly, the only information that Talawanda can share regarding facilities is that no decisions have been made at this time. The board is currently meeting with community members to gather input as to what they would support regarding future plans. The district has an Ohio approved facilities plan, and we are currently evaluating the merits of sticking to this plan, developed in 2001, or altering this plan based on community, staff, and/or student input.
Holli Morrish
Talawanda Schools
morrishh@talawanda.org
Morality should factor in support for policy
A much-ignored passage in George Orwell's 1984 shows Winston Smith and Julia - the protagonists - being asked what they would be willing to do to aid the destruction of a vicious totalitarian state.
The supposed revolutionary O'Brien asks, "You are prepared to give your lives?"; they answer, "Yes." He raises the stakes, "You are prepared to commit murder? To commit acts of sabotage which may cause the death of hundreds of innocent people?" "Yes."
O'Brien goes on to ask if they'd be willing to commit an increasingly vile series of crimes summed up with "to do anything which is likely to cause demoralization and weaken the power of the Party?"
They answer "Yes," and O'Brien proceeds to a horrible example. "If, for example, it would somehow serve our interests to throw sulphuric acid in a child's face - are you prepared to do that?" They answer "Yes"; given the horror of totalitarian rule, any means that would serve the resistance, they think, would be justified.
I'd occasionally cite this passage back in the days of the civil rights, anti-war and feminist movements - when people would talk about achieving some worthy goal, "by any means necessary." I hoped to discourage talk about "any means necessary" and get people discussing what means, given our worthy goals, might be effective and moral.
"The end will justify the means," after all, is a statement of faith; "End" implies "outcome, consequences," and as actions reverberate down through the decades, one can never be certain of final outcomes. People in power who object, correctly, to "by any means necessary" from anti-governmental activists should apply the rule to themselves when they say, "All options are on the table."
If "all options are on the table" in dealing with Iran's producing atomic weapons, does that mean we're considering thermonuclear warfare against Iran?
If one responds that such actions are inconceivable, I'd ask that they talk to survivors of the World War II bombings of Rotterdam, London, Stalingrad, Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. The destruction of cities is conceivable, and pretty thoroughly accomplished.
I will ask Americans to challenge powerful people when they use clichéd threats that are amoral. The great moral obligation is to work through questions of ends and means. It is never ethical to avoid the question by falling back on vague threats like "by any means necessary" or "all options are on the table."
Richard Erlich
Dept. of English
Professor Emeritus
ErlichRD@MUOhio.edu
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