10The Daily Tar HeelThursday, May 24, 1990
95? year of editorial freedom
Kelly Thompson, Editor
CAMERON TEW, Assistant Editor
Brandon POE, Copy Editor
Staff Writers: RANDY BASINGER, LAURA BROWN, JlM GREENHILL, GRANT HALVERSON,
Andre Hauser, Thomas Healy, Devon Hyde, Marissa Mills, Brian Springer, Beverley
White and Nancy Wykle
Photographers: Dawn Delvecchio and Grant Halverson
Cartoonists: ALEX DeGrAND AND DAVID ESTOYE
Education takes the fall
Martin should wait on prisons, roads
Under the leadership of Gov. Jim
Martin's administration, North Carolina is
now facing a budget deficit that will proba
bly have a significant effect on its educa
tional system. Although the budget crisis
is sure to affect many different areas of
state government, it appears education may
suffer the brunt of the budget cuts. Martin
has requested additional money be given
to the prison system and highway con
struction, although he said during his sec
ond campaign for governor that he was an
advocate of education.
Educators are aware of the potential
damage these cuts could have and rallied
Monday at the N.C. Capitol to protest
possible cuts in education. This is not the
first time they have clashed with Martin
over cuts in education.
Legislators are now meeting in Raleigh
to discuss proposed cuts for the 1990-91
fiscal year to balance a budget that is
projected to be $336.4 million short of
original budget estimates. According to
the state's constitution, the budget must
always be balanced at the end of each fiscal
year. Legislators and administrators are
still not sure what kind of impact the pro
posed cuts will have on universities and
secondary schools.
North Carolinians must question a
governor who would rank education be
low paving roads on his political agenda. If
budget cuts are implemented, there will be
less money to hire teachers, less money to
expand educational programs and less
money for new text books. North Carolina
schools are already lagging behind most
other states in educational areas ranging
from teacher pay to SAT scores. The na
tional average for teacher pay is $31,304
and the average salary for a N.C. teacher is
$27,814.
Teachers who are overworked and
underpaid become disenchanted with the
education in North Carolina. Many quali
fied teachers are drawn into other careers
Senior treasures
State celebrates its Older Americans
As the month of May ends, many North
Carolinians plan to enjoy two of North
Carolina's treasures its beaches and
mountains. However, many people have
failed to realize another treasure they might
enjoy. N.C. Gov. Jim Martin declared May
Older Americans Month in the state and
referred to the older adults as "silver treas
ures." During the first few weeks of the
month many events have taken place to
honor the older residents of North Carolina
including "Senior Fitness Week," "Senior
Smile Week" and "Older Veterans Week."
More than one million people in North
Carolina are 60-years-old or older, accord
ing to Human Resources Secretary David
Flaherty, whose department houses the
N.C. Division of Aging. North Carolina's
total population is 6.5 million. North
Carolina's elderly make up 17 percent of
the state's population, but they are often
overlooked by younger adults and children
who fail to realize the important roles they
play in our society.
, Gov. Martin emphasized the vital role
the elderly play during his proclamation of
"Older Americans Month" April 26.
"Our state's treasure is made up of our
parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.
They (old people) are our teachers,
our leaders and our mentors. They guide us
with their wisdom and courage."
. However, many North Carolinians have
decided to make the "older generation"
because they lose the motivation to teach.
Students who would make outstanding
teachers often decide not to go into educa
tion because of low pay and working con
ditions. The paperwork teachers must fill
out for their classes increases every year
and detracts from the amount of time they
could focus on improving their teaching
skills and lesson plans.
The new cuts would certainly not im
prove the state's status. A state that can
boast of such a fine university system
should not have the shabby secondary
school system North Carolina does. Al
though lack of money is not the only prob
lem in the school systems, a vast majority
of obstacles in improving the schools stem
from it.
Members of the University commmu
nity should be concerned about how UNC
will be affected by Martin's attitude to
ward education and the impact his attitude
will have on the children attending North
Carolina public schools. Most students
attending UNC are from North Carolina. If
students in the state are not getting an
adequate education, the quality of students
being admitted to the state's universities is
sure to suffer, even if the budget cuts don't
have a direct effect on the University.
Martin and his administration need to
examine their priorities. Little evidence
has surfaced of his "deep" commitment to
education during his two terms. Repairing
roads and building prisons are important
projects North Carolina must tackle. How
can the state expect to tackle problems
with prison overcrowding when it is not
educating future leaders, though? For a
governor who said he was going to be
supportive of education, Marting has failed
to make the grade. It is time for others
besides the teachers and school adminis
trators in North Carolina to protest his
stand on funding education. . Nancy
Wykle
take a secondary role in our society. Many
elderly are abandoned by their children,
others are placed in retirement homes and
still others are forced into early retirement.
Japanese and Chinese cultures place high
honor on its elderly population and gives
this part of its population the honor and
respect it deserves. But Americans have
not adopted this type of respect, and more
frequently we are forcing the older people
out of our society because of their age.
People refuse to take the feelings of the
elderly into account or think about the
effect such discrimination can play in the
present and future societies. Many fail to
recognize that one day they will be apart of
the elderly population and might want the
respect and honor that would be due to
them.
The Golden Rule says, "Do unto others,
as you would have done to you," but more
importantly take time out to talk to a par
ent, grandparent, teacher or elderly neigh
bor. Ask one to come to the elementary
schools or the community center and speak
to a group of children. Elderly people play
an important role in society, but they are
often neglected because of the busy sched
ules in the "me" generation. So during the
next week take time to stop and chat with
an older person or go out to dinner with
one. They have a lot to offer society if
society will only give them a chance.
Cameron Tew
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World democratization not reaching S. Africa
The United Nations Development Pro
gram has called it "a new holocaust"
and nobody seems to care! What am I
talking about? This "new holocaust" is the
systematic destruction and death that the re
gion of Southern Africa has been suffering for
the past decade, and that continues unabated.
While the United States and other western
nations pat themselves on the back for the so
called democratization that is sweeping the
world, they seem to have conveniently "for
gotten" that their own policies and geopolitical
interests (not the Soviet Union's) are more
than partly responsible for this "new holo
caust." For the entire 1980's the U.S. and its
principal ally, Britain, have directly supported
andor turned a blind eye to the destabilization
that has been such an integral part of South
Africa's regional role as a sub-imperialist
power. As a result, the past decade has seen
entire economies ruined, untold suffering and
most tragically of all, the massive loss of
human life. : :
Given the fact that the western media does
not take this tragedy seriously (for reasons that
should be obvious), it is imperative that people
know the extent of the death and destruction.
According to conservative estimates from the
United Nations Development Programme, the
direct and indirect effects of South Africa's
destabilization have cost one and a half million
lives since 1980! That's right, 1.5 million
people dead, half of whom were under the age
of five. In addition to this incredible loss of
life, the Frontline States have lost $60 billion
to this destabilization. That is equivalent to
210 of the GNP of all the Frontline States
combined (U.N. Economic Commission for
Africa.) Many of those who have been fortu
nate enough to survive have become part of the
largest population of refugees in the world,
estimated to be around 4-5 million. This is the
ongoing legacy of South Africa's extended
apartheid and the support, acquiescence and
indifference of the majority of the western
world.
Editor's note: This letter was sent
Stamper, a second grader at Carey
son of Susan Stamper, a research
Microbiology Department.
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EiEAEDEIKlS' FORUM
Dale McKinley
The country of Mozambique has been hit
hardest by this "new holocaust." From 1982
onwards, with the indirect blessing of both the
U.S. and Britain, the South African sponsored
terrorist group RENAMO has wreaked almost
imaginable destruction on the people of
Mozambique. Here are some of the results:
- over 30 of all health facilities destroyed.
- over half of the schools either closed or
destroyed.
- an infant mortality rate that has now risen
above 200 per 1000.
- an estimated 200,000 children orphaned.
- 6 million people out of a population of 1 4.6
million are on the verge of mass malnutrition
and starvation.
(All of the above figures come from the
U.N. Economic Commission on Africa and the
U.N. Development Programme.)
Until very recently, all of this was rational
ized away by the leading western powers as an
apparently acceptable "cost" in the fight against
the "Marxist" government of Mozambique.
Now that Mozambique has "come around,"
these same powers are pretending that they
have opposed South Africa's destabilization
all along by extending a "helping hand" to the
Mozambiquan government. Nothing could be
further from the truth.
While the people of Mozambique, Namibia
and Angola were suffering at the hands of
South Africa's destabilization, the U.S. and its
allies were still hiding behind the smokescreen
of anti-communism to legitimate their own
economic and political interests. Indeed, his
tory will prove that they were not only witness
to this "new holocaust," but that they actively
and consciously supported it. All of this was
done in the name of so-called "national inter
to the DTH by A us tin
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analyst in the UNC
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est" and "support for democracy." Tell me,
what kind of "national interest" and "democ
racy" helps kill over 1.5 million people? What
kind of citizenry allows its government to carry
on with such policies? As is most often the case,
those who live in relative comfort and security
far removed from things that are happening
"over there," somehow forget that all of our
human lives are interconnected. When we ignore
and rationalize the destruction of others hu
manity for self-serving reasons, then we are
well on the road to losing our own humanity.
Last year I went home to Zimbabwe and was
able to spend a considerable amount of time
traveling throughout Southern Africa. What I
witnessed in Mozambique was a level of de
struction that has rendered a proud and promis
ing nation virtually destitute. The most horrify
ing images that stick in my mind come from the
experience of one young Mozambiquan who
had managed to flee the terror of RENAMO.
He had told of how RENAMO had come to his
village, rounded up its inhabitants and then had
proceeded to mutilate andor kill all of the
women and small children (RENAMO's "fa
vorite" mutilations are cutting off the ears,
noses and lips of their victims). Among those
women was his mother who was in advanced
pregnancy, and he was forced to watch as the
RENAMO terrorists split her open.
These are the realities of this "new holo
caust" that threatens to turn Southern Africa
into the largest "killing ground" since World
War II. Despite all the suffering, violence and
despair, the people of Mozambique and the
entire region continue to fight on with an in
credible sense of determination and hope. We
owe it both to them and to our own innate
humanity, to do all we can to stop this "new
holocaust" so that the people of Southern Af
rica can not only begin to fulfill their full
potential, but also to simply live.
Dale T. McKinley is a graduate student in
Political Science from Gweru, Zimbabwe.
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