Opinion
Pauly shortsighted, wrong on relative welfare
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S. Kyle Pauly has a very ignorant view of how the world operates. Pauly’s article, “Proud to be an American,” exactly illustrates the naivety that is wrong with this country. Pauly opens her article by stating the problem is that people are “openly speaking their minds about all the horrible ‘atrocities’ in this country” rather than starting the “uniting process.” This is “unhealthy and unproductive” because all it does is incite “anger and hatred.”
Does this mean that the freedom of speech is unproductive? Pauly seems to think that there should be no discussions because according to her there are no problems. Try telling the people in the Sudan something this cute.
Pauly mentions that the complaints most people are expressing, complaints about education and welfare issues, are “probably mostly fueled by the ending of the election.” I’m sorry, but these complaints are decades old because they haven’t been resolved, not due to hype surrounding the election.
Pauly then goes on an optimistically filled charade about how the world is all beer and skittles. She states that most people have access to health care. This isn’t true in the United States, where 12.5 percent of the U.S. population is below the poverty line (35.9 million people) according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Figures are harder to determine internationally, but more than half of the world population has never made a phone call, much less seen a trained physician.
It infuriates me that Pauly brushes off the problem of homelessness in this country, with the cheery advice of “Hey, it could be worse.” The fact that The Daily Cardinal and The Badger Herald both ran front pages stories about homelessness in Dane County on the day Pauly published her article simply shows that Pauly is misinformed on serious local issues.
In terms of education, the United States falls behind nearly every other industrialized country, and this is inexcusable. Yes, the schools in the United States are better than Costa Rica’s, as Pauly states, but U.S. schools are behind nearly every other industrialized country. The truth is that more money is spent building prisons than on education.
Pauly seems to think that everyone takes our status for granted in this country. The very fact that Pauly isn’t cognizant of a lot of these “atrocities” (Pauly’s quotes, not mine) both at home and abroad, simply shows how much she takes everything for granted. It’s disgusting.
True, hollow cynicism doesn’t do us any good, but neither does unwarranted optimism. I won’t even get into reasons why the academic policies at this university are slipping and no longer reflective of a world-renowned institution (policies that Pauly seems to adore simply due to a ranking by U.S. News and World Report). But graduating seniors, please raise your hand if you are satisfied with your education.
Stuart Zehner
smzehner@students.wisc.edu
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I graduated 3 years ago, and I was and still am very satisfied with my education. I counted on myself to learn and go above and beyond instead of waiting for a professor or TA to teach me everything I need to know about xxxxx.
The remark about the Sudan in the opening of the article does well to support Pauly's point that things in America are much better than the rest of the world - it could be worse, you could live in Sudan, Costa Rica, etc.
Was her article the foundation for a doctoral thesis? NO...but then it wasn't intended to be, either. Chill the f^&* out, and read the article for what it was.
You entirely failed to refute the evidence in Ms. Pauly's article. First, she said most people in America have health care, and your opposing point was that 12.5 % of people are below the poverty line. First, while these are related statistics they are not the same statistic, and if 12.5% live below the poverty line then 87.5%, a huge majority, are above it. Not to mention all the problems of figuring the majority line, which is always a contentious issue.
Second, as far as education goes, the top tier of those educated in America, which includes all 40,000 students at UW, are among the best educated in the world. The testing philosophies are skewed, especially in the upper high school levels. In other industrialized countries, a large percentage of students are out of what we would call a standard education by the time they are 16 and in vocational schools, apprenticeships, etc., and thus are not tested in their national scholastic achievement tests. This raises these countries average test scores, as their best of the best go against everyone from the United States, from the best of the best to the mediocre to the worst.
Third, I just graduated from UW in May and I am extremely happy with the education I received there. In fact, I'm happy enough with the education I received that I will be more than willing to pay $26 grand a year for the next three years to the UW Law School if I am accepted there.
Whoops, not the majority line, the poverty line.
Stuart Zehner refutes his own position. A classic loud mouth liberal who does not know what he is talking about. Stuart, I suggest you listen to the facts, instead of being confused by them.
Stuart, you have no idea how good our educational system is in our country, and what a great deal education is...you just do not get it.