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Show HAVE Professors with class Opinions editor UVU Review spotlights teachers who bring more than just dry-erase markers to the classroom (in our opinion, of course) Laura Hamblin Michael Minch Whether you're a plumber or a business executive, Dr. Michael Minch believes you should have an interest war, hunger, peace, and democracy. Of course, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and lose focus when one sees the problems we face today. That's where Dr. Minch steps in to give students from all majors and backgrounds a practical approach to finding solutions to those problems. He is the director of the Peace and Justice Studies program, which "has graduated nine students with the minor and four of which are in graduate programs across the country. That's something we should be proud of." He describes his role in the program as both intellectually and morally energizing, but also John Goshert Years ago in the San Fransisco Bay area, punk music was not yet on the cultural radar and a select few had a larger project to rethink the configura- tion of society and create new spaces where stories could be shared. Out of that background, Dr. John Goshert is now teaching English classes where lectually stimulating and students are introduced to part of being in any of his critical ways of looking at classes is asking questions American culture and histhat usually have no easy tory through contemporary answers. For Dr. Goshert, literature. however, sometimes just Dr. Goshert chooses to challenging teach English ^ ^ ^ conventional literature, in "Even if information by part, because there isn't a asking questions he believes keen underis a good step. that storystanding of One thing is for telling can American hissure: you will enable access tory, or even an have a much to historical interest, that's better grasp on and cultural reason enough current social knowledge to learn." issues like race, which may — gender and culseem inert or — — ture after a class unapproachwith Goshert. able on the surface. "His"Even if there isn't a tory is more than a set of keen understanding of facts and information. It's the way that you can bring American history, or even an interest, that's reason the significance of those enough to learn." facts to life" His classes are intel- Worst of the worst Utah public school funding the lowest in the nation DAVID SELF NEW UN Opinions editor Utah ranks dead last in i the entire nation for per- T student spending on public primary and secondary education, and has for some time. In other words, we spend far fewer tax dollars to put our kids through school than other states. Perhaps we're just much more efficient than other states. We do have stellar high school graduation rates, among almost every demographic and ethnicity. But this masks some important truths. Most obvious is that it is far easier to graduate * high school in Utah than almost any other state; Utah requires five less credits to . graduate high school than the national average. Further, in terms of how well "Why are we being educated so awfully in this state full of relatively wealthy and hard working people?" our students do on testing, our state ranks near the bottom compared both to states with similar demographics and those with very different demographics. In fact, Utah students perform much more like a state whose poverty rates and minority populations are much, much higher. What's the deal? Why are we being educated so awfully in this state full of relatively wealthy and hard working people? The obvious answer is dition because poetry is the most honest language. You don't write poetry to just sell it to get popular. Most language is used as a means to an end, but poetry is both a means anc an end." Finding one's spiritual voice is crucial to understanding the larger problems throughout the globe, and also key to resonating with others in our condition. The solutions to most global concerns, Hamblin believes, can and will be found this way. "Some people think, 'Ho hum, Jesus will come and fix everything." She thinks this is unproductive and far less important than developing one's own voice. "Poetry is propaganda," says English professor Dr. Laura Hamblin with a smile. "And ghat's good news." Hamblin is involved in producing a documentary detailing her interviews with Iraqi women in refugee camps in Jordan (due out sometime next year) as well as-various humanitarian aid interests, but her main focus for right now is her poetry and literature classes. Hamblin knows that the world is filled with many problems, but the only way to solve those problems is with human solutions. The best way she knows how to do that is with poetry and creative writing. "Poetry is the best way to express the human con- believes it is a privilege to teach. Dr. Minch would like to see the program eventually offer more opportunities for students to work on peacemaking and conflict resolution in the field by traveling to various regions around the world such as Haiti, India, Tanzania, Ireland and countries in the Middle East. In addition to being one of the most knowledgeable professors here, he is also one of the most approachable. His classes are rigorous but always rewarding, and when he's not enjoying a break at the Smokehouse restaurant a few blocks from campus or practicing music, he's focused on making students conscious and capable of finding human solution's to basic human problems. that we spend less. The correlation is not the strongest, but generally speaking, if you spend more money, you get higher test scores and higher graduation rates. The reasons for our low spending are many, but perhaps the biggest single contributing factor is how our education system is funded. We pay for primary and secondary education through property taxes - in fact all property taxes go to public-education. Mix in this fact with another - we have very low property tax rates in Utah. Add a dash of the fact that Utahns have far more children per household than other states and what you have is a recipe for a desperately underfunded education system that produces sub-standard students. Not only students are underfunded, but teachers are as well. We pay our teachers, unsurprisingly, among the lowest yearly salaries in the nation, which gives little incentive for teachers to put their all into their classroom, or to sign up to teach in the first place. This situation may not constitute a crisis. We still produce some excellent students who go on to do great things, who get accepted to great colleges and universities. But do we really want to be the worst of the worst, the lowest funded with some of the lowest scores in a nation that already ranks at the bottom of the developed world educationally? Perhaps rethinking our property-tax-funded system, as engrained and traditional as it may be, is the first step in a recipe for success in Utah photos by A! Mitton/ UVU Review In response to the article published in the June 22,2009 edition entitled 'Not Everyone Is Cheering.' We need opposing viewpoints to better understand or evaluate our own. So, to the opinions editor, tell us your opinion. Do not try to tell us what you assert the general student body to believe and mislead some to suppose that your opinion is a general opinion. Your opinions are vital, necessary, and appreciated at UVU. You have brought up many valid and interesting arguments. However, to say that you are "only pointing out what is on the minds of a great many people" is wrong. In fact, I believe it is safe to say that the majority of the student body is cheering for President Holland. John Coterie Letters to the editor requirements uvu.review.opinions@gmail.com • Letters must be turned in on Wednesday by noon in order to be printed in the next edition. • We make no guarantee that letters will be printed. • Letters 300 words or less have a greater chance of being published - anything longer will be edited for content. • Please provide an electronic copy regardless of whether or not you wish to submit a hard copy. • All letters become the property of UVU Review as soon as they are submitted. • Anonymous letters are only publishable when the safety or professional status of the letter writer is in jeopardy. i _._ ___. i |