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Show MONDAY SEPTEMBER 30, THE THUNDERBIRDZ SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY JAKE SHEWMAKE LITE UN TIMES Smclairl OUR jb Its time to rethink priorities Picture if you will a planet where famine comes before fashion, people before porsches and academics before athletics. Imagine a world that complex, a society with its priorities in order, a people who understand that the most important things in life are not often physical. All right. Ill admit Im exaggerating just a bit and perhaps Im wishing for an imaginary Utopian society. However, wouldnt it be children how to read was nice if a teacher who taught 35 who took his team to coach baseball as a much as recognition given a first place finish. Bringing this closer to home, a close friend of mine pointed out the article had fact that in the last issue of The Thunderbird a quarter-pag- e been printed to tell the students about seven new professors who are teaching at SUU this year. Big deal you might say, but what do you say after I tell you that the two new athletic coaches were each given an article of about the same length as the one about seven teachers? I was also told by a very credible source that 5 percent of every departments budget was given to the athletic department. Rather than criticize this newspaper or the administration for their respective actions, I will claim that this is evidence of our societys mixed-u- p priorities. You see, we are living in a society where people have placed too much importance on the superficial aspects of life such as entertainment, wealth and fashion. Teachers are respected and correspondingly paid about the same amount as garbage collectors, while professional athletes receive more recognition and more corresponding monetary rewards than the President. It is confusion like this that makes people in reforming communist countries so reluctant to just jump right into capitalism, not national pride and stupidity as many people would have us believe. We often deny this is a problem until we hear about or (God help us) read about a particular incident which results from these disordered priorities, then we are apalled. For example, how did you feel when you first heard that young gang members in L.A. were beating other kids, sometimes to death, for their shoes? Why were you so shocked? Through a combination of on athletics, outrageous TV advertising and the fashion status quo, we have created a situation where insistence of a a pair of athletic shoes has become more than a human life to many of our teenaged citizens. Our society is very confused. It wants us to explain to a child living in a ghetto that the person driving the Cadillac and wearing the $800 suit is a drug dealer and is not to be admired. It also wants us to tell this child that he should learn from and respect his teachers. Then we show no concern when the teachers are inadequately compensated by the schools we claim should provide the best educational opportunities we have to offer. It is exactly these types of mixed signals that create asylums full of crazies and prisons full of criminals. By ignoring this fact, just because youre still alive and your Nikes are still looking sharp on the bottom of your feet, you are allowing the problem to perpetuate itself. As human beings, the natural thing to do when someone brings up a situation like this is to point fingers and deny that we as individuals are a part of the problem. We want to say, Well, if those government books and people would stop overspending we would have more in coaches interested more are fault not or Its people my schools, than in teachers. The time has come to stop pointing fingers. It is time to look in the mirror and ask yourself if what you believe is important in life. Be a little more selective when you create your heroes and role models. If we all demand more recognition for teachers then they will be respected. If we till work to change our societys priorities by not giving in to the elitist status quo there is no telling where we could go. pXJT & I 2 movies and a VCR $5. Express Video 1096 W. 200 N 586-400- 5 Monday - Thursday movies, 2 lg Little Caesars drinks and Bonus Bread $5. 50 2 We Deliver! 50 cent delivery charge $2.69 SAVE Buy one Crews Creation - Get one FREE! Turkey Avocado Tomato Expires Lettuce October Sourdough Bread Mayo 14, 1991 AEROBICS CIRCUIT TRAINING RACQUET BALL $69. per Quarter. Also discounted monthly rates. FREE with membership T-Sh- irt 586-744- 7 Witness Center -- 7 246 E. Fiddlers Canyon Rd. I WEIGHTS New Universal Super Circuit Student00Special AEROBICS SCHEDULE: MWF 6:00 a.m. Jazzercise MWF 9:00 a.m. Step Aerobics MWF 5:00 p.m. Step Aerobics Sat. 9:00 a.m. Step Aerobics Daily 6:00 p.m. Aerobics Daily 7:00 p.m. Aerobics over-emphas- is U 1991PAGE 586-744- 7 see... see..,. I on ZQ Bln) 5 |