OPINION & EDITORIAL
Letters to the editor - November 25
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Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Badger fans, true sportsmen
Last weekend four friends and I decided to road trip from East Lansing, Mich., to Madison to watch the battle between the green and the red. After an exciting night of barhopping, we woke up around 7 a.m. ready to tailgate. All five of us donned our Michigan State gear with pride as we searched for a place to hang out. We eventually ended up at a student house party where the Badger Bus was parked directly out front.
For several hours we all mingled and harmlessly talked trash while quenching our thirst with some ice-cold brew. The morning turned out to be one of good times. Going into the trip, we expected to be brutally taunted, being the opposing fans, but this wasn’t the case. Instead, we found Wisconsin fans to be filled with character and class. We were amazed by how cool everyone was. It was just another chilly morning on which some fellow football and tailgate lovers got together to let the good times roll.
Speaking on behalf of all five of us, Bucky Badger is cool in our books. I would like to tip my hat to those University of Wisconsin students who showed us a great example of sportsmanship. As for the game, I have nothing to say other than we’re going to be looking for revenge next year here at Spartan Stadium.
Brandon Badge
Senior, Michigan State University
badgebra@msu.edu
The truth on public schools, voucher programs
As a proud graduate of Washington, D.C. public schools, I need to challenge the views of Frank Hennick, who obviously has never talked to anyone from D.C.
First, let me set the record state: D.C. residents do not support a voucher program. But because Congress controls the 500,000 residents of D.C. rather than those residents themselves, right-wing Republicans — with the acquiescence of our conservative Democratic mayor — are forcing this program on my city. Our city council has voted twice against vouchers. So much for democracy.
Rather than pay for a small percentage of people to go to private schools (often religious ones), we’d rather improve our public schools for all students. I acknowledge that many (but not all) D.C. public schools are bad: I went there, I know. A lot of teachers and administrators don’t care, the schools are falling apart, and the dropout rate is near 50 percent.
But the solution is not to take away even more money from the public schools and give it to private schools that are held unaccountable to public standards (just because they’re private doesn’t mean they’re better).
A better alternative would be to invest more in the public schools, and work with the local communities (parents, teachers, students, etc.) to make sure that schools are really educating the students and serving their needs.
Don’t tell me that the vouchers programs have worked in either Milwaukee or Cleveland. Ask most people there, and you’ll hear that rather than public schools having improved because they are now in competition with private schools (as vouchers proponents argue), they have declined in quality because of decreased resources.
I have no problem with school “choice.” But if I have to choose between increasing the educational opportunity of 1 percent of D.C. public school students or 100 percent of them, I’ll take the 100 percent any day.
Joshua Goldman Healey
jghealey@wisc.edu
