Thumbs Up: UO raises minimum GPA requirement
We hope raising GPA standards for admission to the University increases its academic caliber. While students can still overcome the minimum GPA requirement with higher SAT or ACT test scores, raising the standard is likely to recruit hard-working high school students and further improve the “peer effect” of a UO education. It is important to note, though, that this increase must be considered in the context of increasing educational equity overall, and if high school students don’t have access to the resources to help them achieve higher standards, there could be unintended consequences of this more rigorous admissions policy.
Thumbs Down: Few students attend ASUO elections meeting
It is disappointing, but predictable, that few students seem interested in participating in the policy-making process of the ASUO. In recent years, the organization has arguably become more and more controlled by a tightly knit group of experienced ASUO “insiders,” making it more difficult to achieve a plural representation of student interests in ASUO decision-making. This leads to a vicious cycle of fewer people wanting to get involved, resulting in fewer meaningful policies.
Thumbs Up: House Bill 2556 aims to keep National Guard troops home
Sooner or later, our government will learn that “Team America: World Police” was a satirical film, not a how-to video. HB 2556 is clear indication that many people in the United States are rightly getting weary of sending their loved ones into a war we no longer believe in or approve of. When Congress is forced to continually dip into its pool of “weekend warriors” as if they were members of our standing army, that shows we are trying too hard to be the “world’s police.” We need to look to our home country first before we start “improving” others.
Thumbs down: Money for schools axed from stimulus package
The Senate Republicans removed $16 billion for school reconstruction and renovation allocation from the stimulus package. Our public education system is just one of many pieces of American infrastructure that is suffering thanks to decades of neglect, but unlike roads or bridges, our schools actually hold the key to our future. To undercut their development when our country is in greater need of fresh minds and ideas than ever before is truly counterproductive. The Senate GOP cut the funds from the package on the grounds that education funding should be left to the states, despite the fact that only seven years ago these were the same people pressing No Child Left Behind, an act that wound up hurting schools more than it helped them.
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