Letters
Parents have role in education
I think your editorial titled "Schools failing in education
department" (Viewpoint, March 3) was right on target in
highlighting some of the problems that face our education system.
You left out one crucial group, however, a group who I feel should
be as accountable as teachers, administrators and the students
themselves: the parents.
I am going into the teaching profession and have had
opportunities to work with diverse groups of students of all ages
and socioeconomic backgrounds. A problem I’ve seen at all levels is
a lack of encouragement and attention given by parents to their
children. Many of these youths struggle more than students whose
parents take an active role in their education.
Students spend a quarter to a third of their day at a school,
but most of them also spend a significant amount of time at
home.
Parents should be participating in their children’s academic
lives, encouraging them and making sure they get their homework
done. A great deal of learning can and should take place at this
time.
I’m not sure I have a solution to how parents can be held more
accountable for their children’s educations, but I think it is
important to acknowledge that they play a key role. These days,
many households either have only one or two working parents and so
it can be difficult for parents to find the time to help children
with their homework. If we would like to see our state’s education
system improve, parental involvement, along with changes to the
problems you highlighted, will be necessary.
Alexander Schwarz
Fifth-year
Geography
aschwarz@ucla.edu
Assault reports create confusion
I am sure that I am not the only person confused about the
recent revelations regarding the Westwood assaults. For the past
three weeks, I have been reading signs posted around campus as well
as e-mails describing the perpetrator of two break-ins as a white
or Asian male.
But Friday, seemingly out of nowhere, there was a picture of an
African American man on the front page of the paper as if he were
on "America’s Most Wanted."
According to your article "Another assault hits Westwood
residents" (News, March 5), this man is responsible for an assault
early Thursday morning, "the most recent in a rash of six related
crimes." But later, the article states that the other five
"involved trespassing and other suspicious activity."
Trespassing and suspicious activity may lead to assault, but
comparing these to the gravity of assault is unfair.
If this man is responsible for the assault on the morning of
March 4, then his picture should be distributed.
However, I am disappointed with both the police department and
the Daily Bruin for not making the distinction between the assault
that occurred on March 4 and those of the past three weeks.
It seems to me that there is no question that there are two
suspects. A man who looks like the one in the paper cannot be
mistaken for Asian or white.
Sonya Snedecor
Graduate student
Biomathematics
Study abroad, then judge UCLA
I read the column about loving UCLA ("Falling in love with UCLA
not hard to do," Viewpoint, March 1) and the response that was
contrary to it ("Honeymoon’s over for those familiar with UCLA’s
hassles," Viewpoint, March 5). Anyway, I decided to give my 2 cents
worth on the subject.
First off, I’m a third-year undergraduate student, but I’m not
at UCLA this year because I’m on the Education Abroad Program in
Nottingham, England. This past year, my experience at this major
British university has shed some light on the subject of UCLA.
After two years at UCLA, I could hardly wait to leave. I was
sick of the lines in Murphy Hall, deeply frustrated from
registering through URSA and tired of waiting for the the endless
construction to come to an end. Being away from UCLA at the British
university has given me a new outlook on the "inconveniences" that
come along with going to UCLA.
For a university of about 25,000 students, the one I attend in
Britain is lacking in student resources. At UCLA, we take it for
granted that the computers will be top-notch, that the Internet
service won’t crash, that our sports teams will do reasonably well
and that our professors will teach.
The university in England just set up a university network this
year. Up until last fall the students had to share a phone per
floor, and there is nothing comparable to the NCAA. My flatmates
thought I was absolutely insane when I was listening to the
UCLA-USC football game.
Furthermore, English students don’t really understand the
concept of school spirit or school rivalries like we do.
And, did I mention that I had to pay $400 just to use the
school’s Internet service in my room?!
Registering for classes was pitiful. I spent the first two weeks
physically running around, from professor to professor and between
departments, asking permission to sign up for classes. Signing up
for classes requires: 1. hunting down the instructor; 2. asking for
permission and 3. getting a signature on a piece of paper.
Needless to say, I won’t ever complain about URSA again.
Also, the professors are often ill-prepared for lectures. Plus,
my reading lists (there aren’t usually set texts) contain about 100
books. Basically, you’re expected to check out books from the
library for the text. The library only has about two to three
copies for about 50 or so people who need to use the book.
Plus, the weather in England sucks more than half the time. It
doesn’t rain that much, but most of the time it’s freezing and you
don’t get much sunlight.
There are some perks to being in England. For example, the
drinking age is 18, and there’s a pub around every corner (the
university itself has 16 pubs on campus).
Great Britain itself is beautiful. It has many really awesome
old castles and houses, and it’s easy to travel around. It’s close
to other European countries, and you have got to love all the
historical stuff. The television has the funniest shows ever, and
the people are cool (they take a while to open up though).
Let me get back to my main point. Until you’ve compared UCLA to
some of the other universities around the country or around the
world, you won’t realize that we UCLA students gripe about a lot of
little things.
Melanie Liu
Third-year
Education Abroad Program
Nottingham, England
Anti-smoking fanatics go too far
Whenever someone rants about the need for government to tell
people how to live, to protect so-called "rights," I can only shake
my head ("Smoking law no joke, seriously affects employees,
patrons," Viewpoint, March 5). If writer Keith Allman weren’t
serious, I would be laughing.
Allman declares that waiters and waitresses, as well as
non-smoking customers, have the right not be around secondhand
smoke.
Because of that, Allman suggests that the government should be
used to prevent all smoking in bars.
True, there exists a right to not smoke. People have the freedom
to choose. Smokers and bar owners also have the right to choose.
Absolutely no one’s rights are violated by allowing smoking in
bars: the owner has the right to either allow or not allow
smoking.
Patrons have the choice to patronize the bar or not and the
employees have the right to accept employment or not.
Everyone is there by choice.
If you don’t like smoking, don’t go to a bar that allows
smoking. By using the government to prohibit smoking you tread upon
the rights of bar owners and smokers.
I urge Allman and all other anti-smoking zealots such as Rob
"Meathead" Reiner to respect all of our rights!
Daniel B. Rego
Third-year
Chemistry