Category: Opinion

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Opinion

People deserve second chances

El McCabe

Writer

When it comes to change, there are two perspectives on the issue: the belief that humans are dynamic and capable of bettering themselves, and the belief that people cannot change under any circumstances. Believers of the latter contend that people who commit crimes and make mistakes should not be given second chances. In their minds, convicts and incarcerated individuals do not deserve bail or another chance to reenter society because they will continue to commit crimes and break laws. I believe this view is misguided and ignorant at best, especially when it comes to minors. In reality, people make mistakes and break rules all of the time. It just happens that some crimes are worse than others, and some people are better at evading law enforcement than others. It is terrifying to think that a mistake that someone makes as a 17-year-old could affect the rest of their life.

Think about all of the ridiculous, immature, and inexplicable things you did in the first 17 years of your life. Think of all the times you felt pressured to act a certain way or do something that you knew wasn’t right. Everyone has experienced peer-pressure to some degree in their lives, and most can think back to a time they did something they regretted. Serious offenses cannot be overlooked, but holding children and teens completely accountable for their early misdemeanors is unreasonable. Besides, locking up a child under age 18 for his entire life is not a viable solution. The child will never learn from his actions and will grow to resent the law and its enforcers for the rest of his life. The state and federal government will shovel thousands of tax dollars onto this child until he dies and another minor takes his spot. The child’s parents will never get to see their child grow up and contribute to society. Tax payers will lose money on this child’s incarceration costs that could be used for more effective purposes, such as bettering institutions to keep kids from committing crimes in the first place.

After a major decision in the Supreme Court last year, minors can no longer be granted life sentences for their crimes. It declared that dealing out life sentences to minors was “cruel and unusual punishment” and unconstitutional by all accounts. This decision was the first necessary step of many that need to be taken in order to fully grant individuals second chances. It is safe to say that there are still many flaws in the American penal system, but granting minors more rights is a victory to take note of. Real change will occur only when people cease to believe that imprisonment is the solution to crime. Our country needs to stop focusing on punishment, and focus more on prevention. Only then will crime rates decrease and prisons will stop overflowing.

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Opinion

Outdoor play is essential to a healthy childhood

Natalie Kawalec

Contributing Writer

Meeting up with neighbors after school to play soccer or hide-and-seek, fish in the creek, or climb up to a tree house were outdoor activities I enjoyed during my childhood. Whether it was kickball, hopscotch, or tag, exploring the outdoors seemed like a necessity to our survival. We did everything we could to play outside, and when we did something bad, our punishment was not being allowed to go outside. What kid doesn’t come home for dinner dirty and wearing tattered clothes? The answer is one that has a smartphone.

Kids are getting phones, specifically smartphones, at younger ages nowadays. I had my first cell phone when I was 11 years old, and I had my first smartphone when I was 14. Now, toddlers have smartphones. Shielding children from electronics in the technologically dependent world we live in is impossible, but buying them a smartphone when they are actually ready for one is a practical choice. This poses the question–when are they ready? This is subjective and will differ from household to household, but I think someone is mature enough and ready for a smartphone when he or she is actually able to use all the applications and features the device has to offer.

Giving children iPhones before they even know the alphabet or how to compute basic math is not beneficial. A child’s mind is not nearly developed enough to already be dependent on technology. There are apps that help boost a child’s brain activity and vocabulary, but children should still acquire basic skills, like reading an actual book and playing physical games, prior to accessing technology. Young children that persistently use smartphones will not even know how to flip pages of a book, but will try to tap them instead. Technology does not teach patience, real-life skills, or critical thinking. It gives you instant satisfaction because there is always a shortcut to a problem.

Outdoor play is critical for young children. Children learn vital developmental tasks such as exploration, motor skills, movement skills, risk-taking, and general life knowledge. Children need opportunities to discover, wonder, experiment, and build. They have to push their limits to see their physical competences in nature. Children learn essential knowledge about how the world works from playing outdoors. How does grass feel? What happens when you throw a pebble into a pond? Our connection with the natural world can only be determined by first-hand experience. It is frightening to think that at this rate, outdoor play will not be part of a child’s development in future generations.

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Letters to the Editor Opinion

Letter to the editor

To the Editor:
Last week’s issue of The Bucknellian had an article about women in the sciences that might lead readers to believe that math at Bucknell appeals more to males than to females, and that our mathematics classes are predominantly taught by males. While these old stereotypes may be true of other universities, they are emphatically not true at Bucknell. The gender balance among mathematics majors has varied from year to year, but on average we see equal numbers of male and female students. Over the last 14 years, more than 50 percent of the mathematics degrees awarded by Bucknell went to women. This year, 46 percent of the mathematics classes at Bucknell are being taught by women. The Bucknellian article refers to a study of six major research institutions, and quotes Professor of History Martha Verbrugge about how elementary and preschool teachers treat girls, but neither of those contexts reflect the reality of education at Bucknell. Bucknell is different from other universities, and that is something we can all be proud of.
Thomas Cassidy

Professor of Mathematics and Department Chair
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Editorial Opinion

Editorial: New Orleans class is good addition to off campus studies

A new class is being offered for the summer of 2014 to take place in New Orleans. The course will be three weeks long, similar to the Bucknell-in Summer Programs hosted by the Office of International Education. We believe that this class has a lot of potential for students to expand their depth of learning at the University.

The course only spends one week in New Orleans, but that week seems to be extremely busy with a diverse amount of activities. During that week, the mornings will be spent working for Habitat for Humanity in St. Bernard’s Parish, one of the most destroyed areas after the hurricane. This opportunity for service learning will make a great addition to the two trips to New Orleans that the University already has through the Hurricane Katrina Recovery Team. This is also a way for students to work together for a common goal of helping out those in need, which is what the University teaches us through our time here. After that, the afternoons will be spent touring social engineer attractions, like the rain pumping system. While this sounds intense, we think it would useful for students not only to know this for their lives after graduation, but also to understand the dramatic effects the pumping system had during the hurricane.

At the end of each day, students will get the opportunity to meet local musicians and attend performances. New Orleans is rich in musical culture, and will give them a great taste of the uniqueness of the music. The blend of service along  with the local culture will give students an opportunity to immerse themselves in the New Orleans community.

This class will be beneficial for people who want to study abroad but cannot afford to go to places outside of the country. Only one week of the course takes place in New Orleans, which cuts down on finding a location to house everybody for an extended period of time. We understand that students will have to pay summer tuition for the program, and we are assuming they will also have to pay for their living space on campus during that time. While that may take away from the abroad experience to an extent, they are still getting an experience to study in a place that is different than the University.

We definitely think students have a lot to gain from an abroad experience, and this New Orleans experience is no exception. We think it is beneficial to also send students to places in America because there is a lot in this country that many people haven’t seen. With the majority of the students being from the northeast, it will be beneficial for students to see what life is like in the south and how it differs to their lives at the University. Overall, we think this is a great experience and gives more options for student involvement.

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Opinion Uncategorized

Period dramas provide escape for audience

Caroline Schaeffer

Writer

Now you may ask, what’s so enticing about a show set in the past? There weren’t even cell phones! The main characters can’t communicate at the speed of light! What’s the point of living in the past when the present is just as entertaining? To that I answer–at least from a girl’s perspective–escapism and costumes.

I’m going to throw it to the girls for a second and talk about how fun it is to watch a show with legitimate costumes. Sure, I love my shows that take place in present day and I admittedly covet some of the clothes I see on them, but there is something so much more elegant about the costuming in period dramas. Without sounding too silly about it, the costumes are almost like works of art. The care and detail put into what characters wear is so much more important in period dramas than in a show that takes place in the present. People of different classes, ages, and genders wore such starkly different clothing in 1912 than they did in 2012. One can sit back and appreciate the extra effort these shows put into “the little things” that make their shows special.

Escapism may be a much bigger draw for the general populace than costuming, but both of these elements (along with many others) are what draw me into period dramas. I have yet to get into “Game of Thrones,” but I’m quite the “Downton Abbey” enthusiast, and I’ve also been known to enjoy the late HBO drama “The Tudors.” The thing I like most about these shows is that they take you into a different world. They take the boring words from your history textbooks, the personality-less historical figures of your middle school history class, and turn them into real, relatable people. One of the most enjoyable parts about watching a period drama is allowing you to escape into the past, even if it is for just an hour.  The characters on the shows, whether they be are from the 16th century, 20th century , or a whole different world together, share relatable problems and feelings with people today. This makes the shows more applicable to our own lives and makes the past feel more real.

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Opinion Uncategorized

Living downtown is underrated

Ginny Jacobs

Contributing Writer

The University administration and local officials are considering a number of proposals to reduce the number of students living off campus in downtown Lewisburg and to regulate parties in students’ downtown houses more tightly.

I agree that as a campus community, we need to address out-of-control parties in downtown houses. But I feel it’s time to speak up about some of the advantages for students who are enjoying “the downtown experience.”

Living downtown as a senior has been one of the most valuable experiences of my time at the University thus far, and I think that it should remain part of the University’s culture. I would urge the various governing authorities to consider these pros before they rush to crack down.

Living downtown, I’ve had to pay bills, deal with a landlord, and take care of keeping a house clean and maintained. I’ve obtained a checkbook and written my first check. Working with my two roommates, we set up a plan to put all of the bills (for electricity, water, and internet) in our names and make sure they’re paid on time every month. During the summer, we had a water leak that caused extensive damage to the kitchen before we moved in, so we had to stay in constant contact with our landlord, figuring out how to proceed with getting the damage fixed and the problem corrected.

This followed the summer where I lived alone in New York City, about 1500 miles from my family in Dallas, and both experiences were valuable. After living in a dorm for the past three years, I think the autonomy that we learn by living on our own is an invaluable part of our education and of the college experience.

College provides a gateway between dependence on our parents and total independence. Ideally, it eases us gradually into that independence. By taking this away through stricter rules and regulations, the University risks depriving students of a good “middle step” between dorm life and independent life. That’s only going to hurt students in the long run.

Living downtown, I’ve had to learn how to live communally in a way that a dorm doesn’t require. I share a bathroom, kitchen, and common living area with two roommates, and we are solely responsible for keeping it clean. My mom isn’t around to wipe the sink or empty the dishwasher when I’m too busy to keep it up myself. I can’t call on my dad to install my 60-pound A/C unit or kill the big bugs.

The beginning of my school year was a little rough, as my roommates and I have different ideas about how clean the house needs to be. For the first few weeks, the cleaner of the three of us harped on the dishes that were left out, the coasters we forgot to use, the toothpaste left in the sink, and the hair in the shower drain. But now, after a few arguments and a series of passive aggressive “reminder notes” (love you, Sarah!) we have learned to work with each other and resolve conflicts.

Isn’t that the point of a broad liberal arts education? I may not remember all of the formulas and facts that I learned in college, but I know that on a daily basis I will rely on the values and ideals that my time at the University taught me. I know I can work on a team at a job after living with roommates. I’m better prepared to make decisions for myself on my own after living in my own apartment.

Arguing that we should adopt certain rules just because other schools have done so doesn’t make sense. In fact, plenty of other universities give students much more autonomy for off-campus living, yet we rarely consider that approach.

Many of my high school friends at other schools haven’t lived in a dorm since their first year, and I think they’re growing up faster than many of my fellow students. When I tell them about some of our problems with binge drinking and sexual assault, they are appalled. Given the freedom to live on their own, they act more responsibly. They no longer feel the need to get as drunk or go as crazy.

More rules, I believe, might serve to make University students even more reckless, rather than giving them the chance to learn self-responsibility. And that’s a lesson many college students need to learn, just as I did. Many of us have already had helicopter parents growing up. We won’t learn if we have a “helicopter university” micromanaging our last year before adulthood.

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Opinion

Government shutdown unveiled major flaws in system

Gillian Feehan

Contributing Writer

After a 16-day government shutdown that nearly led to the United States defaulting on its loans, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the president were finally able to come to an agreement that would fund the government and suspend the U.S. debt ceiling. While immediate crisis is now over, the shutdown unveiled some major flaws in the U.S. government and left the public wondering what would happen when our representatives need to vote to fund the government in January and suspend the debt ceiling in February. How could the people we elected to represent us fail to come to an agreement to fund our government? Will partisan tensions cause another government shutdown in the near future, and will this potential shutdown lead the United States to default on its loans?

The government shutdown brought to light the increasing polarization and serious disorganization within the House and Senate. Obamacare has caused major tensions between Democrats and Republicans since it became law in 2010, but the government shutdown brought these tensions to a new level. Some members of the Republican Party prioritized de-funding or altering Obamacare over funding the government and suspending the debt limit. To the majority of the American public, it seems ridiculous that a few members of a party can hold the government and the economy hostage in an effort to get their way—and it is. The U.S. government was designed to represent the wants and needs of the majority, and attempting to destroy the vote of the majority and law in general undermines the entire structure of the U.S. government.

While the U.S. government looked like a complete disaster for those 16 days, the fact that Tea Party Republicans did not get what they wanted out of the government shutdown shows the strength of U.S. democracy. Democrats made it clear that they were not going to negotiate with people who were taking our government hostage, and this firm stance led to victory in the end. The fact that Obamacare came out of this chaos essentially unscathed proves that using undemocratic, senseless tactics to further the agendas of certain parties does not work and will not work in the future.

Although the U.S. government once again has to vote on a budget and debt limit in a few short months, I don’t believe that the United States will see another government shutdown. Tea Party Republicans’ use of the government shutdown as a bargaining tool was clearly a failure, and reusing a failed plan would not make any sense. Aside from this, the American public strongly disapproved of the shutdown. Since 2014 is an election year for all members of the House and some members of the Senate, it’s unlikely that any representatives will want to put their reputation and reelection at stake so close to election time. The chaos within the government may have highlighted some serious issues, but in the end, I think it renewed faith in the true strength of democracy.

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Opinion Uncategorized

Same sex marriage has reached a tipping point

Justin Marinelli

Writer

Making headlines this week was the news that New Jersey just became the 14th state to allow same-sex marriage. This sort of thing hits home for me, especially as New Jersey happens to be where I was raised. This is normally the segway at which I begin to discuss my own position on gay marriage, but I feel no need to do that here. It strikes me as much more intellectually satisfying to point out that gay marriage is a societal inevitability, and that in the future we shall see more states enact similar resolutions.

To show why, I’m going to go off in a few different directions, and then tie everything back together. First, let us begin by defining exactly what laws are. Laws are merely codified social tenants backed by government force. Social norms may be the unwritten rules of society, but written laws are the other side of the same coin. If cultural norms change, the laws will eventually change as well. This is why, for example, trial by combat is no longer a legally valid method of settling disputes.

The second thing we must realize is that two big cultural shifts have precipitated the now common acceptance of the idea of same-sex marriage. The first has been the evolution of marriage from an economic contract for the purpose of raising children to a public declaration of mutual love and affection. The second has been the gradual acceptance of public homosexuality. The combination of these two things means that people of non-straight sexual orientations are more free at this time to publicly express their love for each other, and this is reflected in societal views on same-sex marriage.

The third thing to understand is that now we have legal recognition of same-sex marriage in some states, so the pressure on lawmakers in other states to enact similar legislation will increase. Lobbying groups for this sort of thing are going to step up their efforts, and public demand is going to rise as well.

Tie all this together and what do you get? First, the cultural shift leads to a legal change in a only a few places initially. Then, this leads to a build-up in pressure on other states to legally recognize gay marriage as well. Eventually, the tipping point is reached, and same-sex marriage becomes accepted in short order across many states.

We have reached the tipping point at which the push for same-sex marriage is now insurmountable, and I believe we will soon see legal recognition of same-sex marriage become official in many more states. Do I think that same-sex marriage will become recognized in every state? Perhaps. States like Alabama and Texas will probably hold out for many years yet. But I would not be surprised to see same-sex marriage become legally recognized in a majority of states by 2020.

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Editorial Opinion

Editorial: Students need a break from relationship with technology

William Powers came to the University on Oct. 8 as part of the First-Year Common Reading program. His book, “Hamlet’s Blackberry,” discusses the impact of technology in the digital age by observing major technological revolutions through time. He starts with the time of Socrates and brings it to the 21st century.

Nonconformity is an idea Powers carried with him as he wrote his book. In his talk, he said that he didn’t conform his writing to the typical technology article that shows how technology affects us right now. Instead, he wrote about how technology has affected society through time, not just in the present day. This is especially interesting on campus, where most students have grown up with cell phones and an internet connection from a young age. For us, the internet and smart phones have become an everyday part of life, fully integrated into most of our actions. Walking between classes, you can see students glued to their phones as they pass each other without acknowledgement. It’s as if we’ve formed a relationship with technology almost akin to our relationships with the humans around us.

Think about how you wake up in the morning. Without the technology of alarm clocks, when we were younger, most of us were kindly–or harshly, depending upon how deeply you slept– woken by our mothers. Now most of us wake up to phone alarms, and upon waking up, we check our latest emails, social media updates, and other applications on our phones.

With this in mind, it gets easier to see Powers’ point about the need for people to break away from technology. He said that for five years, his family participated in what they called an “Internet Sabbath,” which meant that they would break away from technology for the weekend. They would unplug in every sense of the word, not touching technology until Monday. The University has already begun to adopt its own form of an Internet Sabbath: the Dancing Mind Challenge. The Dancing Mind Challenge gives people the opportunity to break away from technology for the day, taking the time to read a book instead. Perhaps with the addition of more events like this, the University community can find value in time spent away from technology.

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Opinion

Government shutdown impedes functioning of vital social and economic programs

Nicole Della Cava
Senior Writer

Changing the lives of over one million preschool children across the country, Head Start is one of the social programs which are left vulnerable as a result of the government shutdown. 18,795 children in twenty-three programs in Florida, Connecticut, Alabama, and Mississippi are in dire jeopardy. The government has the immediate responsibility to make sure impoverished children receive an education. While private philanthropy made generous contributions to reopen the seven programs that closed, it is not a solution and if the shutdown persists, children will fall behind in their education and parents will have to scramble for child care. In addendum to this serious result of the government shutdown, as of Tuesday, October 8th, the regional offices of Veterans will be closed due to furloughs of 7,000 employees.

The effects of the government shutdown continue to expand as the United States is already into the second week of the shutdown. It will remain closed until Congress can reach an agreement on a spending bill. Republican House majority leader, John Boehner, insists that they will not fund the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, or increase the debt ceiling. Apprehensive Republicans, as of October 1st when Obamacare became implemented, know that when each day that goes by, more people are signing up for Obamacare and it will be harder to overturn. Having already voted over forty times to rescind the Affordable Care Act since 2010, Republicans are not giving up. The debate has escalated to where Democrats insists that Obamacare be fully funded and a discharge petition to pass a “clean” CR be signed. Congress uses a stopgap continuing resolution, called a CR, that maintains spending at current levels for all or part of the year – a resolution without policy change.

The United States is on the verge of maxing out a $16.699 trillion credit limit but the President must ask Congress to raise the country’s credit limit before the deadline on October 17th. It is not rare that the President seeks to raise the debt ceiling. In fact, there have been 111 instances where the government has raised the debt ceiling since Clinton was in presidency in 1993. On Monday, October 6th President Barack Obama said that in order for the “clean” CR to pass, 217 House members must vote favorably. If the CR is passed, President Obama will continue to receive money for the next six months to one year to continue daily operations. John Boehner is demanding that a clean CR will not pass although fifty to seventy-five Republicans already vocalized their support including Lous Barletta, Peter King, Charlie Dent, Frank Wolf, Michael Grimm, Ro Wittman, and Frank Lobiondo, says MSNBC News. In addition to the 195 Democrats supporting the clean CR bill, Boehner cannot prove that the vote will not pass and he is pushing the United States into default.

Republicans are violating Democratic norms – they have to allow majority to rule. The Supreme Court supports Obamacare, the House and Senate already signed off on it; therefore, it can only go through legislative process to repeal it. The President is correct; he will not negotiate with a gun to his head because Obamacare already came into law in 2010. Are Republicans holding our country hostage? Brian Kessler, economist with Moody’s Analytics estimates that a three to four week shutdown would cost the economy about $55 billion. The affects are not static because additional programs are running out of money each day such as food banks, Arizona TANF, college sexual assault investigations, approval of new home mortgages, and CDC tracking of disease outbreaks. 21,000 national park workers have been laid off and millions of visitors are prevented from entering any of the 410 parks. Facing the fact that 800,000 government employees, viewed as non-essential might not ever get repaid is detrimental to the confidence that people have in this country. Is it fair that so many innocent Americans are faced with unemployment once again? Are we creating jobs or compounding our problem?