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Show DAILY HERALD Friday, February 9, 2007 A7 Editorials EDITORIAL BOARD Craig Dennis, President & Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editor Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor Linda Shelton. Public adviser Jim Hunter, Public adviser Richard Davis, Public adviser HERALD POLL Should smart high schoolers graduate early? w hen former Gov. Mike Leavitt proposed What do you think? compe- tency-based education in Utah, he argued Should high school stuthat having a student merely sit dents be able to test in a classroom for six hours a out of high school? Send your comments to day does not make him an educated person. dhpollsheraldextra.com Yet that is how state money is or call Please allocated to schools. leave your name, homeSeat time. town and phone number From this unfortunate truth with your comments. came two new testing vehicles: comments should not exUtah Performance Assessment ceed 100 words; voice-macomments should be no System for Students (UPASS) and the Utah Basic Skills Compelonger than 30 seconds. Anonymous and unverifiable tency Test (UBSCT). Now, Sen. Mark Madsen of Eagle Mountain responses will not be published. has suggested that Leavitt's proposal be taken to its logical The Daily Herald will publish conclusion. He wants to allow comments on Feb. 18. the smartest students to get high school diplomas without suffering in their seats until the end of their senior years. They can't have it both ways. These folks want to have their Senate Bill 57 would allow a student to graduate if he or she cake and eat it, too: "We will use tests to evaluate you during all passes the UBSCT and scores within the top 15 percent of Utah your years of school. We demand high school students on the ACT the right to use tests to prove that you are not qualified to pass college entrance exam. If a student can prove he has a course. But in the end we say that passage of a test means the knowledge for graduation by 10th grade, Madsen asks, nothing." This is plain silly. It is just why hold him back for two more years? His approach would push another way for bureaucrats to students upward as they master maintain their grasp on power. We do not say that the current the material, regardless of how much or how little tests now under consideration time it takes. are adequate to demonstrate a Senate Bill 57 could student's level of compe be part of the solution tence. Whether tests are "In short, for Utah's overcrowded broad or deep enough is school system. If stua question others can aneducation is swer. dents can get out of But this has nothschool a year or two a fountain, ing to do with Madsen's early, class sizes would concept, which is quite not a glass. correct: If a student can shrink and teachers could spend extra time show proficiency in reAnd a with students who need quired skills, he should be allowed to test out of them more. The gradudiploma ates themselves would high school. means have more years to We admit that there is more to education contribute to society. that only Not surprisingly, than just language and Madsen's idea has its you're ready math. History may seem detractors among the pointless to some, for to learn education bureaucracy. example, but failing to it understand history can They include the Utah more Education Association, create problems for so- the Utah PTA, the Utah ciety. Politics should be Association of Secondunderstood, along with ary School Principals geometry and grammar. No person is educated and the creators of the unless he or she has ACT, who say their test was not designed to measure been exposed to the arts. But if such important subjects high school competency, only whether a student can handle the are not adequately probed in the demands of higher education. UPASS, USBCT or ACT tests, Well, isn't that the whole point then fix the tests. Don't throw . of high school? To prepare a stuout the concept of testing. Make a good battery of tests. Then, if dent for the demands of higher education? If a student can hanstudents pass, they pass. Move dle the demands, why shouldn't them on up. he be welcomed into college? The Obviously, no test can measure a human being. A fundamenworry that a student might fail his classes, yet pass the ACT, is a tal mistake many people make red herring. What are the odds of about education is to view it in that? We say that this would be a static terms as an "amount" of "knowledge," like water jn a perfect example of an exceptionally bright individual whose high glass. In truth, an educated person is one who has learned how school has failed him. The arguments of the other to learn. An educated person is bureaucrats are disingenuous. On alive with curiosity, ambition and the one hand, they say that a stu- energy. An educated person is dent's passing of UBSCT or some infinitely more interesting to be around than a lunkhead. other standardized test does not In short, an education is a fountruly show that he is educated. It merely indicates that he could tain, not a glass. And a diploma means only that you're ready to pass a particular test. There is more to education, they say, than learn more. This is a concept familiar to passing a test that emphasizes English and mathematics. anyone who has undergone flight Yet testing is at the core of training. There's an old saying the measurement system in use among flight instructors that a pilot's certificate is a license to today. If the bureaucrats are golearn. How true that is. And it aping to argue against tests as a measurement of education, then plies to high school diplomas. By refusing to let our best and testing should be abolished altoforcbrightest move forward gether and educators should lay on the table whatever mysteriing them to stay in their high ous means they seem to have for school seats to the bitter end the bureaucrats do an incalcujudging whether or not a student lable disservice to society. is sufficiently well grounded. 344-294- il If uPumnv.tuTsiNC I I stuawr. to l I I . - 1 mx- - a ' High school clubs promoting The latest legislation about clubs in high school is filled with hatred and fear. Gay1- - uzicka and Chris Buttars are she ig their disdain again for the gay community, gay teens no less. I can't figure out what is wrong with a club that creates constructive bridges between gay and straight kids. It's not a club about sex or recruiting. You can't make a straight person become gay and vice versa. This club is simply to encourage understanding and friendship between kids in schools. It's positive, especially when considering the depression and suicide rates among gay teens who are told that they're "not normal." Regardless of what anyone thinks about homosexuality, there are gay people in the world. They're not going to just go away. A club that promotes tolerance between gay and straight kids is a worthy cause. From a religious standpoint, Christ taught us to not judge, and that we're all sons and daughters of God. Christ may or may not approve of certain behaviors, but I'm certain that he would approve of a positive club such as this. I'd encourage anyone who opposes it to speak with the teens who want this club. TUB CHSKT1AK SCItXCE MOKITOR Parenthood the largest abortion provider nationwide. Second, Galloway worries that HB 130 would "make it very difficult for a teenager to get an abortion." This concern is consistent with Planned Parenthood's stated goal of unfettered access to abortion for girls of any age. Planned Parenthood actively opposes Wade Haskell, every parental consent law now in efSpring Lake fect and works diligently to prevent new laws from being passed. What goes unmentioned is how aborPartisan races would hurt tion not only carries the risk of lifelong local of education emotional issues, but physical risks of Of all the foolish, shortsighted, infection, hemorrhaging and sterility. A blatantly partisan bills to come out of teenager in crisis is probably unaware of this. Worse yet, she may be willing the Utah Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble's bill to politicize to gamble her health to keep her pregschool board elections tops them all. nancy a secret. She is also unlikely to care. receive the necessary follow-uSchool board races have always While Planned Parenthood busies in order to allow been itself with politicians, real help for teens everyday people the opportunity to can (and should) be found elsewhere. help shape public school policy without Shelley Ver Steeg. being beholden to extreme political interests. There is no compelling reason Pregnancy Resource Center to change that. of Utah Valley Bramble's contempt for teachers and schools is a matter of public record. It Vouchers undermine Utah's couldn't be more clear that the senapublic education system tor's intent is to disenfranchise moderOnce again our legislators are pushate Republicans, Democrats and indeing vouchers. pendents who support public education While Parents for Choice in and make it more difficult for them to Education were unable to defeat their get into office, just as he and his colleagues have done in the Legislature. targets, here we are with legislative efforts that further undermine our public The overwhelming majority of education system. Utahns support public schools. We Two arguments (among many) stand need to speak up and let our legislators know that we won't stand for this out for why we should not support such efforts. attempt to inflict an extreme partisan First is the issue of public funding for agenda on our education system. I Blair Bateman, private enterprises. There is minimal Provo oversight of private schools when it comes to the use of funds, curriculum, student select ion policies and staffing. Planned Parenthood offers We would be forced to support relias an alternative gious or philosophical principles, which we personally might not accept. First, Planned Parenthood's Chief Our state has agreed that publicly Executive Officer Karrie Galloway is quoted in a Jan . 25 article as saying funding education is in the best interest that Planned Parenthood does not perof a free and democratic society. form abortions; this is blatantly false. Second, there is the illogical fallacy On average, clinics affiliated with of voucher supporters' argument that Planned Parenthood perform 255,015 our schools are not providing for students. Meanwhile, our legislators have abortions each year, making Planned boards p abortion n K"w R MALLARD FILLMORE mn 1 iKVjwrwc, 7 refused to fully fund our schools. Utah is on the brink of a phenomenal expansion in population and development. We must remain united for future growth. Residents can make choices and changes in their schools without weakening them. Teachers, administrators, school boards and PTAs are accessible. Let's not destroy one of our state's greatest achievements: its public school system. Mary Lou Huffmon, Lindon the battle home to protect our invaded borders Bring Last week U S. Rep. Steny Hoyer claimed that the Iraq war has cost Americans $400 billion. Add to that figure the 3,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq. Some Americans wonder: Could those lives and those billions have been better spent in actually defending America? In other words, what if we had spent $400 billion on building border fences, surveillance systems, r tunnel detection, and increasing border painspections trol for coasts and borders? Would that have reduced the ongoing invasion of America? The estimates of invaders who occupy America range from 11 million to 30 million illegal aliens. If officials don't know who these millions of invaders are, then are we really safer after four years of war in Iraq? Even if only a fraction of the unknown invaders are terrorists, communist revolutionaries, drugortel operatives, violent criminals or espionage agents, then we have major problems, don't we? Could the invasion of America have been prevented by defensively protecting its borders? No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. Saddam was hanged. Can America's soldiers return now to guard America, or will they be disarming Iran for tlie United Nations next? I Riss W. Tew, Orem shipping-containe- Bruce Tinslcv -- J. THOUGH HAy v GO feiU 1 gay tolerance not tolerated tftTHAROX? bii&AlHJ LitaiKJ r jtm. imesWs.ami cartoons LETTERS I iMKXusiwANM fSMim rrVJH HO!STON,VJE HNME K PROBLEM...." Garry Trudeau D00NESBURY i WW IMF- W M 'a L.: a:ux AW ft 2 |