Expanding definitions
Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 15:12 EST
Article Tools
Opinion
I can’t believe that my four years at Butler are about to come to an end -- after I finish writing six essays and take my Honors exam, of course. I can’t believe that my time writing a weekly Opinion column for Dawgnet has come to an end.
Four years ago, when I came to Butler, we were in the throes of the 2004 Presidential election. I ate, slept and breathed the race between John Kerry and George W. Bush. Based upon my three years of being a student at Butler University, I have noticed two different philosophies that professors have when it comes to evaluating, assessing and ultimately grading students. The drastic differences between these philosophies ultimately hurt students.
I did not realize this until one of my professors shared his thoughts on grade inflation to a small group of students before class. He told us that more students are getting “A’s” and “B’s” than they did when he first starting teaching at Butler a long time ago. Imagine that you purchased a repeated service from a company. After purchasing the service you expect the service to be rendered each time that the service is paid for. If the company fails to provide the service at any point you expect to be compensated by the company.
One way to think of Butler University is that it is a business and the students are the paying customers. Compared to the K-12 public school system, students choose to attend Butler. Children are essentially coerced to attend a public school or they and their patents face penalties. On April 16, I returned to my apartment in the Apartment Village at about 4 p.m. It was sunny and 75 degrees and I was loving the fact that I was done with class for the day. Finding myself to be the first of my four roommates to arrive home, I proceeded into my bedroom where I started to send some e-mails.
Ten minutes later, I looked up to find a man standing at my bedroom door. I remember thinking to myself, “I am about to be raped.” Friday night a man died right in front of my house.
You may have seen the story on Channel 13. He was riding a motorcycle and wrecked into a truck.
However, I would like to revisit this issue again, especially after reading some articles about what messages Pope Benedict XVI is sending to the American people as he finishes his visit to the United States. One of the major things Pope Benedict is focusing on here in the States is telling us to stay true to the church’s teaching on the sanctity of life.
I understand and value the church’s belief in the sanctity of life. The larger point is the way in which the church portrays and carries out the teaching on the sanctity of life -- with all the focus on abortions, with a smattering of anti-death penalty thrown in here or there. The sanctity of life means all life -- babies, teens, adults, sinners, saints, catholics, non-catholics, etc. To me, this sanctity of life also, and very importantly, translates into a clear anti-war position -- the sanctity of the lives of the 4,000 Americans, the lives of our allies fighting in Iraq and the thousands and thousands of Iraqis that have been killed during this conflict.
I appreciate the generalized prayers for peace in the "Prayers of the Faithful" every week, and I am whole-heartedly praying for peace in Iraq -- in the United States.
However, I take issue when the church’s huge emphasis on the sanctity of life seems to not extend to those who are being killed by war every day, to be overshadowed by the small crosses that are many times set up outside catholic churches in memorial for aborted babies. What about crosses for those who are dying in armed conflict?
If the church cares enough about the sanctity of life that it will instruct its members to boycott the Komen Foundation, how about if the church cares enough about the sanctity of life to call on it’s members to protest the War in Iraq in a vocal and organized manner?
Related article:
"We stay anyway"