Thursday, April 16, 1998
Thumbs up/Thumbs down
THUMBS:
Roads open after delay
Thumbs up to the re-opening of Circle Drive West. The street has
been closed since the beginning of fall quarter due to construction
of the De Neve Plaza project. Although the street was originally
scheduled to reopen in late November, numerous delays held the back
a few months.
Inappropriate headline here
Thumbs down to Boston Magazine for printing the headline, "Head
Negro In Charge" for its April profile of Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The magazine’s editor, R. Craig Ugner, released a statement
defending his headline on the grounds that the term is accepted
throughout the black community. But the Boston chapter of the NAACP
held a press conference in response to the headline demanding an
apology. Leonard Alkins, president of the Boston NAACP stated,
"This is an intensive statement, would you ever see ‘Head Caucasian
in Charge’, or ‘Head Jew in Charge?’"
Not training but job rating
Thumbs down to a program in the Los Alamitos Unified School
District’s Vital Link program, which aims to give employers an idea
of some of the skills necessary for entering the workforce.
The program rates the students’ job skills such as problem
solving, computer skills, achievment in class and other abilities
applicable in a workplace environment. Such major corporations such
as Disneyland, AST and Rockwell have pledged their support for the
program.
The program does nothing whatsoever to help students develop or
improve their skills. Instead, these high school students should be
provided with the proper training to go out into the workforce
before being given an "employability transcript."
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down represents a majority opinon of the Daily
Bruin Editorial Board. Please send comments to
thumbs@media.ucla.edu