Budget creates havoc at Lowell - The Lowell

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Lowell admission process is not discriminatory
Ky Stephen Lau
Man's greatest failing, I believe,
is bis inability to devise a
government thai reconciles basic
utilitarian philosophy with individual
rights. No politic.il pnx:edure
can al once achieve the great-
RStgood for die greatest nunibe.and
also protect the sovereignty
of each individual, upon whom
all morality is based.
Emblematic of Ihis problem is
the admission process to Lowell
High School, the school disliict
i*a.s an obligation 1) to creatt. an
ethnically diverse student body,
thereby a eating a better learning
environment for the majority < f
students and 2) to judge each individual
on his or her own twits
and ultimately to admit those of
superior talents.
It's a tough call, and Superintendent
Waldemar Rojas simply
resolved to admit as many more
students as possible.
Ultimately, my concern is this;
Creating a class of 870 plus is an
irrational solution to the problem
of shaping an ethnically diverse
institution. Packing another 153
kids into an already crowded
school won't help anything in the
short term or tlie long term. Hew
are three reasons why 1 feel that
Rojas' solution is iH-arfvv*\l.
Implementation of policy
Before the Chinese American
Democratic Gub and Rojas made
their decision, they should have
taken the time to consider the reality
of putting 153 kids into
Lowell. If then? is an ideological
failing on the part of any one
party, that party is the CADC. Individual
parents haver very right
to protest, but the natural function.
Df ihts CADC is to aid tfw majority
of the Chinese community. If the
CADC wanted to do something
progressive, it should have demanded
the improvement of
other public schools or the creation
of a .second Lowe)!. Instead,
everyone took the path of least
resistance 1 , because students and
faculty are a pretty weak political
faction.
So, before the CADC starts to
celebrate this great political victory,
I invite them to stroll down
the halls of Lowell High School at
9:40 in the morning. Take a diink
of water outside Room 25 i. Then
imagine 155 more kids crammed
into the halls.
Guess what? You guys really
screwed us ovtv.
Absence of Systemic Biases
It's easy to undermine the importance
of affirmative action in
a city like San Francisco. In stages
where racial intolerance is still the
norm,affirmative action is a powerful
and necessary weapon for
minoritie*. in&in Francisco, however,
the admission process at
Lowell V» as progressive and generous
as any competitive selection
pnxrss can be. These is no systemic
anti-Chinese bias here. This
the only persisting bias is this:
When any ethnic group, be it
Asian, white, or black, reai! ies a
position of dominance in a particular
institution, it will be asked
to slow down to let others catch
up. (As when, in the 1980's, New
York courts ruled that there
should be a quota on the number
of non-African Americans on
high school basketball teams.)
Perhaps the admission process
does affect Chinese students dis-
proportionately, but that's becauiietrwivarea
disproportionate
number of Chinese student- at
Unveil. Despite Rojas' pes-t intentions,
,-* potential class of 934 students
has threatened elhnicdiversky
own more AsnfWednesdiW,
Unveil received w dtvlines for
admission,42 of which were from
whites. This turn of events is making
the school increasingly singlerace
school, as explicitly prohibilevl
by Uw 1954 B'xupn v'thc Baini
ofFrfucnticn decision.
Historical Inconsistency
If the Chinese community refuses
to nvognize the efforts o(
other ethnic groups to achieve fair
representation in schools, it
would commit the worst kind of
hypocrisy.
All those years that minorities
fought for ideals like civil rights
and racial equality would be exposed
for nothing but an exercise
in self-advancement. If the Chinese
community has ever benefited
fiom affirmative action in
the past (and it has), we should
also accept the reverse effects of
affirmative action without a lot of
U.N. must use it's power to battle injustice
By Stephen Dods
B United Nations
ison
The United Nations has neither
lived up to its role as peacv
keeper nor fiilfilM its duties to
protect the defenseless people of
the world. Since its creation in
1W5, the U.N. has hied to maintain
peace and improve Ihe conditions
p!" humanity in the countries
of the world. It has delivered
aid tu i/if »uitvii(f; ^oun'nvi' San Francisco
Chronicle, the U.N. banned all.
flights over Bosnia early lasi CVti-.f..«-
Chi M.irrh in thtw lM»ht«T
nlanw, nbviously Serbian, violated
Iht* no-fly zoneovei Sosnia
and devastated Muslim villages
in a bombing raid. Only after 45ti
violations of the no-fly zone did
the U.N. Stvuriw Council finally
vote to enforce tr.e repiialion and
try to brinj' peace lo Bosnia.
An article pul dished in the Nno
YorkTitnes reported that on Jan.
8, two Serbian tanks and n force
of 30 to 40Serbian soldiers rwilted
H b.N. .irmoicd ^.ir approximately
500 yards from th*»
Sarajevo dirport. Inside the armored
pcrcon! nel carrier was one
of the thiw Deputy Prime Ministers
of the Muslim-led Bosnian
Government, Hakija Turajlic.
The Scrbum svilaiers ordered
the three* U.M. soldiers operating
the vehicle rn hand over Turajlic.
The U.N. is a paper tiger
r>unru! the hmir anil 4S minutt 1
confrontation, one of th.» Serbian
soldiers shot through the open
door of ihe armored vehk> and
killed Turajlic. The U.N. wMters
did not read.
Tlie U.N. has not reacted to
other situations in Bosnia. In 1948,
die U.N. drew up an international
convention that made genocide .i
frinn', but ignnn* the fact that
Serbians arucommitunggeniKide
in Bosnia right now.
The Serbians are practicing
whtU they call "ethnic cieansing"
of Muslims in Bosnia. Even with
ddtrcctvkiLitKm of the UN. regulation,
Ihe U.M. has not responded
with any show of power to enfoixv
tht*se rales In other coun-
complaining.
Many Chinese say Hut admission
should be based on index
i>cores alone, and the highest
scores slwuldbeadmitted regardless
of ethnicity. It's not that
simple. What if a law required
employers to hire only those jobr-cekers
with pristine English
skills. N«it a totally irration.il idt »,
but you can bet th?t Chinese affirmative
action would have
argued like 'tell against that one.
Similarly, there are legitimate
socio-wmomic reasons why certain
minorities would be disadvantageii
under a color-blind admtt&on
process.
Sure, irate parents, you had
eveiy right in the world to be angry
But don't point accusing finger>atother
minorities. Blame the
grcntestofall5C.rietal tailings: our
inability to at once satisfy the
masses and appease each and
every individual, ti the CADG
truly loves the principles of democracy,
they should understand
Lh'it we live in a majoritnrian, not
a consensus, democracy. Some
people will be mihappy. Some
people will be \eft out.
ties, the govemnu nt has all but
collapsed and they need help and
council fom the U.N. However,
ihe U.N.doesnotoffer help or advice
for fear thai they will bo "i?nposinR*
on the situation.
The U.N. has played ih^i Ru^i.nn'i ntvH advisors to
hi'Ip them rruike th«- necessary
changes. Otherwise, Russia will
surrender to racial division, economic
paucity, and a new underru>cratic
govemnwry;
Although there ruvrVbeen donates
about whether iir not the
U^., the most powerful member
of the U.N. should be ihe world's
policemen, the entire U.N.should
act as mediator. The U N. is neurralwhundeatingwiih
individual
With represeiitiilives from almost
every countn; the U-N. has
a worldwide out^'pkon inlematifinal
affair*., which suits its role
a* a mediator. While the U.N. is
an important fora* in the world,
it is not effective.', enough for the
times we live in,
Gamblers bet it all for an unhealthy addiction
t. ,- Joe, an average American l.v
• v r b6rer, is a little short on his rent
this month. He calls up Marty at
4 p.m. to get the spreads for
.,;. tonight's college and N.B.A. bos-
A < ketball games. Joe looks over the
. lines, calls a few friends for their
•:• - opinion*, and makes his picks.
.,;.'•• Ten minutes later, he calls Marty
.: back and puts down his bets,
-s-XV-iahgtag from $200 to $1,000 per
~i,US|H«' Ppuf *irty arrives and Joe
' prepares for an
..-. This scene has become com
mon in today's society, in which
gambling has become a hidden
ilWh addfetions to alcohol.
recognized and treated as major
problems, gambling is often negfetd
^ t i t j ^ G g i . J
^^ ^definitely rnore hidden. Cam-
blinglias fewer "trap marks" than
substann* tibuM*, such as inooti
swinp* denial, and extreme exhaustion,
according to Dr. Paul
Good from San Francisco'sCam-
blers Recovery' Program. "Gamblers
can hide thei r addictions
more," Good said.
According to Good, most
people can gamble reaoaticnaJly,
but recent research dons by trie
California Commission on Compulsive
Gambling reveals that
about five percent of the adult
population in California (equal to
one million people) have a problem.
In addition, about one million
teenagers, nationwide a re ad -
dieted to gamblirg.
In the past, gambling was considered
more of an evil than an
illness. It wasn't until 1980, when
tlv* Commission on Compulsive
Gambling was formed, tUit gambling
began to be considered seriously
addictive.
Gambling is an illness, .with.
symptoms like all other kinds of
addictions.Gamblirs show tolerance
to the mental tension of the
addiction but lack the judgment
thai allows the gambler to see the
danger.
Sports gamblers, who comprise
most of the people in recovery
programs, ? ,-e the most dangerous
and thf nost susceptible
to addiction.
Sports )• trrs have much
easier acr, to their form of gambling,
"rt phone caH to a bookie is
all it takes," Cooosaid. "It's surely
easier than going to the track or
going ti> the casinos."
Gambling is currently a very
profitable business opportunity.
Stocks, such as Harrah's, which
own and ope..;te casinos in several
cities are rapidly rising and
returning big dividends.
Entire cities devoted to gambling,
such as las Vegas and
Reno, are attracting more and
more residents. But as legitimate
gamblingoperations grow,to will
illegal sports books
Illegal sport* bookies ate
springing up everywhere- The
profit marj^i > U high and the risk
is low. On n fcx-t of $100, he can
either winS100 or UbeSllO.Ov/;
a long period of time, the ten per*
cent bookie fee cm add up and
become a debt that geb out of
hand for the aver-agp cimbler.
The police are doing very little
U> crack down on small-time gambling
operations, so the risL level
b quite low. With such an attractive
package it isn't difficult to
uno*?rstand why bookies can be
found just about anywhere.
Gamblers can create huge
problems for tin; gambler if he.'
she can not pay up after losing a
bet- Most booklvsaUowclients to
play on credit, although they will
eventually be threatened to pay
up his losses.
"1 lost my job, car, home, and
wife to gambling," said Will, a
recovering gambler in 'Gamblers
Anonymous a nationwide fellowship
uf former gamblers and
their families.
Even with all these dangers,
more and more people continue
hi gamble. It is difficult to understand
f his phenomenon, until one
doe* try it for himself. The rush of
gambling is exhilarating, much
like the use of illegal drugs.
Some gamblers continue to bet
even after they've lost all their
money in order to make up for
past losses. SomesimpK/"feelUke
they have to," according to Pete
from Gamblers Anonymous.
Most of the time, their continued
gambling just puts them into
more debt and deeper trouble.
Chances are that you know
*omeone who is secretly a gamblingaddict
The person using the
pay phone next to you could be
betting thousands of dollars Your
nexl-door neighbor could be
gambling away his house.
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