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DeWine's education record was distorted

It seems I will have to again correct the habitually hasty utterances of Geoff Lane in his Sept. 15 letter on education and jobs. Lane begins on an interesting, nonpartisan concept of why graduates of Ohio colleges leave Ohio in search of jobs; however, he quickly falls off the wagon and into his, unsigned, role as College Democrat's Communications Director. There exists no comparison between what Mike DeWine has done for education and the actions of Sherrod Brown. This point is conceded because Brown was a "non-vote" on No Child Left Behind's passage. Why a non-vote? Brown's elitism and penchant for preserving classicism was struck by not taking the first step to reform education, or maybe Sherrod Brown decided not to vote so that he could play either side dependent on the reception the bill received. Even gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland voted resoundlingly in favor of it. Call the NCLB standards drastic or illogical, but do not hide behind vagaries created by the lack of bill references to call them under-funded. The underlying principles of NCLB pursue the idea of high standards such that even if they are not wholly met, those schools attempting are better than they were before. NCLB was a direct response to the "liberalization" of our education system leading to America being unable to economically meet the demands of an increasingly global economy. Even "two-shots" Ted Kennedy realized this and co-sponsored NCLB; and if something is good enough not to have Kennedy drive it off a metaphorical bridge, it ought to be good enough for Brown to weigh in on.

Further, there is an interesting idea of socialism raised underneath Lane's letter. Reforming education is a matter of federalism, thus attempting to reform education systems on the national level is a good first step, but in the end must be handled state-by-state for effectiveness. DeWine is at the heart of trying to back up NCLB at its foundations by his introduction of Senate Bill 408. This resolution would provide $200 million in grants over five years to colleges and universities to establish and strengthen training programs for primary and secondary teacher education. Those programs would create a base for future teachers to reinforce the beginnings laid out in NCLB.

Lane does get correctly describe a correlation between education and jobs. A failing education system leads to a lack of jobs. Thus, Ohio's failing education system is the cause of Ohio's job-loss position. However, I find it curiously ironic that Lane wants to hold politicians to their actions, or inaction as it may be. When one compares the actions of DeWine to Brown in the realm of correcting education, there is a conspicuous gap in activity surrounding Brown's lack of a position or alternate propositions whereas DeWine was willing to take first step in saving Ohio's and the greater nation's education system and economy.

BENJAMIN ALEXANDERalexanbd@muohio.edu

New student union needs examination

Plans are moving forward to create a new student union in order to provide adequate space for social activities; a move that has been endorsed, by the alcohol task force in order to create an alternative to going up town and getting smashed.

However, instead of constructing a whole new building, spending tens of millions of dollars and likely demolishing the functional buildings that are currently on the proposed site on Spring Street, I have a more practical proposal. Perhaps, with some modifications, the Shriver Center can still be salvaged. First, I propose that the bookstore be confined to the second floor where it would do what it was originally designed to do: sell books and only books. The ground floor could then be converted into an area in line with the recommendations of the alcohol task force.

Although this area might not look that big, it actually is. One wing could be made into a pool hall with a small bar or ice-cream parlor, the other wing (where the magazine racks are now) could be a lounge area or an arcade. The long aisles that currently hold textbooks could even be converted into a four lane bowling alley. Sounds nice, huh? Well, this is, of course, how the Shriver Center used to be 25 years ago before a group of wise administrators decided it was more important to make money off of students and their parents by selling them overpriced Miami gear than it was to foster nonalcoholic related social interaction.

As someone who remembers the old Shriver Center, the proposal for the new union makes me feel like I have been transported to the land of the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos. If it doesn't sound ludicrous to you yet, think of it this way: There was once a great place within Shriver Center where students could meet and hangout in an informal setting, however the university took that away so they could make money selling stuff that students could already buy uptown. This pushed the students away from campus on weekends - into the bars uptown where, low and behold, they drank, some to excess. Now the university wants its students, alumni and state tax payers to help pay for a new center because its students don't hang out enough in Shriver and drink too much. Well, my modest proposal is this: Why not use some of the millions of dollars the bookstore has made over the past two decades to build the new union? It seems only fair.

Finally, we should all be very dubious of an administration that sets out to "wow" us with new facilities, as the recent article stated. One needs only go to a home football game and sit in a half empty stadium to realize that the administration often displays too much largesse when it comes to largeness; sometimes when you build it they don't come. Perhaps, perhaps the answer to excess drinking and alternative social outlets is not a new building.

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BRIAN NELSONClass of 1994brian.nelson@fulbrightweb.org


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