Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 3-5-20 E-edition
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Thursday, March 5, 2020 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION The bar is being lowered
in education system
I was once educated; it took me a long time to get over it! No less of a sage than Mark Twain penned those words well over a century ago. Given the current status of the educational process, they seem to ring even more true today that Twain wrote his plaint.
Choosing not to choose limits your choices
Rick Curiel — Sanger Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except them- selves.”
— Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007)
My concerns are especially piqued
with the stories of classes for gifted
students being eliminated in the name
of diversity. Why take established programs that have been proved successful and trash them? The very idea of mainstreaming ESL classes with normal curriculum would appear to me to be slowing down the entire pro- cess. There simply has to be a better way than target- ing the lowest common denominator. Surely, with the ex- traordinarily expensive educations being provided by our colleges one of those “smarter than all of us” professors could come up with an answer of addressing the needs of both migrant students and those who are locally grown.
That's exactly what is happening to the school sys- tems in Oregon and Washington and, if not already un- derway, California will soon follow suit. More consid- eration is being paid to artificially established quotas and goals aimed at inclusion than producing the student who is able to perform at his or her full potential. Given the mindset of today's populace, there should be little doubt that survival of the fittest can't help become the standard for existence.
Of course, that doesn't take into consideration cli- mate change, which we are told every day by the press is existential. No room there — it's basically do as we are told by junk science or die!
The best we can ever hope for is to provide all man- kind the freedom and opportunity for success. Never will we be able to assure equal outcomes which seems to be the thrust of this new brand of educator. IQs are not a symmetrical situation. Neither is drive or initia- tive. Better that the truly gifted be unimpeded by a curriculum that has been drawn for the lowest common level. There is no better prescription for the develop- ment of a second-rate country.
There will always be a segment of our population who will be considered the best and brightest. That's not to diminish all of those who perform duties which make this world operate properly. No country is more proficient at assuring that vocational, technical and manual labor is well compensated and appreciated by the citizenry.
It's finally time for all of us to begin to take serious- ly this tendency to continue to lower the bar, especially in education. Sadly, we see it occur all around us with the lowering of qualification standards for important professions because of the increasingly accepted po- litically correct position of there being unquestioned diversity in all walks of life. For centuries, God's chil- dren have had their feelings hurt at not being number one or number one's equal — somehow they always got over it without some teacher “grading on the curve” or otherwise compensating for second-rate work.
Since many of the Democrats who would be moder- ate in their world view have been pulled so far to the left over the past 10 years, it's a bit scary. Radical ideas seem to be holding sway over an increasing number of young Americans, and they are becoming more involved in the process.The number of radical, young Democrats who have recently achieved national office in the Con- gress provide good reason for Americans to worry. The very last thing we need is a whole new generation about to exit our public institutions expecting that life is going to be easy and everything will provided free by some benevolent source known as “the government.” The government is the guy living next door. Young man or woman, it's their pocket you will be in.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Fred Hall
So if you took the opportu- nity to vote on Tuesday, and I hope you did, depending on your party affiliation, you may have noticed something missing on the primary ballot – at least I did.
With the current divisive- ness plaguing our country’s po- litical climate, I made a move that many concerned citizens may have done recently. When registering to vote this year I opted to not pick any political affiliation and chose ‘nonparti- san’.
In doing so, I never consid- ered that the choice would limit my options when it came time to vote.
Tuesday morning, when en- tering the polling station in my hometown of Dinuba, I first discovered that choosing ‘non- partisan’ granted me the option to vote only by mail. But being that I was already there, I was told by a volunteer that I could opt out by surrendering that option and voting there using a provisional ballot.
Fair enough. After all, I was there for a reason. I was there to vote.
So after filling out another form and providing my person- al information I was asked once again to choose my political af- filiation. I chose, once again, not to choose and marked the box for ‘nonpartisan’.
I handed the form back to a volunteer, who in turn asked an-
other volunteer to hand me the appropriate ballot. I watched in amazement as that volunteer looked down at a myriad of bal- lots spread out in front of him on a table. There were green ballots, blue ballots, red ones and, from what I could gather, every color of the rainbow.
I couldn’t help but think to myself, ‘why so many options?’ I was handed a provisional ballot for nonpartisans and proceeded to the nearest voting booth. To my surprise, the very first thing I noticed, aside from how little voting options there were on the ballot, was the fact that I did not have the option to vote for the Democratic presi-
dential nominee.
‘What in the world,’ I thought
to myself.
Marking the three boxes to
correspond with my three op- tions, I returned my ballot to the volunteer’s table as I was instructed. And I, being the in- quisitive person I am, couldn’t help but ask, ‘Hey, can I ask you a question?’
The volunteer obliged and I asked, ‘Why is it that, as a non- partisan, I don’t have the option to vote for a presidential candi- date?’
I apparently caught the vol- unteer off guard as he scram- bled to find an answer for me. And I could tell from his response that he really didn’t have an answer for me. So he did what anyone else would
have done in his position, he directed me to another volun- teer who might know better.
I talked to at
least four vol-
unteers, each of whom racked their brains for the best re- sponse. And what I got from them was that, basically, I could vote for a presidential candi- date but I would have to select the democrat ballot.
I was, however, reassured that come November I would be able to vote for whomever I chose. But in this case, because it is considered a ‘closed prima- ry’, I did not have that option as a ‘nonpartisan’.
Shouldn’t everyone have the right to vote for a presidential candidate, or any other candi- date, regardless of party affili- ation or lack thereof.
I chose to register as ‘non- partisan’ because I felt no one should be forced to choose one party or the other and that there should be room for true democracy for those of us who find ourselves somewhere in the middle.
One should be able to vote for whomever they chose, pe- riod. Stop forcing us to pick a side.
Rick Curiel is Sanger editor for The Times.
Rick Curiel
Allergies aside, Blossom Trail events this weekend are worth attending
It's Blossom Trail season. For many people, it's time to stock up on the tissues, Bena- dryl and antihistamines. The flowering buds from the many stone fruit and nut orchards throughout Fresno and Tulare County can lead to plenty of sneezing, a little wheezing and coughing. That doesn't even take into account the global scare surrounding coronavirus.
But enough of the draw- backs. There's plenty of posi- tives to experience with the Blossom Trail once the calendar turns to March. That's especial- ly true this Saturday, March 7, when Sanger and Reedley will host their two big annual events surrounding the Trail.
In Sanger, there's the Blos- som Trail Festival to liven up the streets of downtown from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Activities in- clude food, games and vendor booths along with two longtime
traditions — the 14th annual car show (hosted by Webber Realty Group) and a popular 10-kilo- meter run through the streets. And for the third year, the Blos- som Trail Lego Car Show allows children to show off their toy vehicles as well.
In Reedley, there's the 31st annual Kings River Blossom Bike Ride that starts and ends at the Reedley College east parking lot just off Reed Avenue. Start- ing at 7:30 a.m., cyclists will take part in non-competitive rides ranging from a short in-city pedal up to a 60-mile round-trip ride to the foothills and back.It's a fun site to see the riders mak- ing their way down rural roads north of the city.
While the forecast calls for cloudy conditions (and we real- ly can use the rain), it should be ideal weather for both events. Come out and enjoy these two community events.
•••
It's another
job well done by
Erik Valencia
and the Greater
Reedley Cham-
ber of Com-
merce, which
put on its annual
Business & Community Awards Gala on Feb. 29 in the Reedley College cafeteria. A capacity crowd of 300 people turned out to salute this year's winners and enjoy this year's theme of "Take Flight in Reedley."
Congratulations go out to Hall of Fame recipients Greg and Karen Musson, Citizen of the Year Ken Baker and the other eight award honorees.
Sanger, you're up next. That city's awards dinner is sched- uled for Friday, March 27.
Jon Earnest is Reedley edi- tor for The Times.
Jon Earnest