CHEERS to all the kind, devoted teachers who spend so much time and energy giving their young students a little respite from academic pressures around Halloween. Many of these teachers provide snacks and entertainment and join the kids in dressing up for the day. The kids appreciate it, and it shows them the "human" side of their teachers — early and enduring role models for life.
JEERS to all the interruptions imposed on families this time of year by overzealous political cheerleaders. It used to be that election messages were delivered in newspapers and on TV and radio. When political operatives discovered the telephone, family life took a turn for the worse. We're told of pollsters for certain candidates who call up and actually try to talk the people into speaking favorably about the caller's candidate. This seems unavailing for someone trying to honestly measure the preferences of the voters. But to give you an idea of the level of annoyance some of these frequent calls can generate, here's a message we received from an occasional Letter to the Editor contributor the week before the election: "Yesterday, I received eight prerecorded political messages. This is ridiculous. But there is nothing I can do about them. At first, I decided I would not answer the phone, but that gains me nothing, because I am still interrupted. So I decided to listen to the messages. If it is a message in favor of a candidate, I will tally one stroke against that candidate. If it is a negative message about a candidate, I will tally two stokes for that candidate. On Election Day, I will count the strokes and vote for the candidate that bothered me the least, regardless of party. Everyone should do that." All that vigorous electioneering and polling can wind up being worse than useless. If one is not careful, it could send targets of the phone activity fleeing to the other party.
CHEERS to Plattsburgh State students who showed up a protest last week to express their dissatisfaction with Gov. Paterson's plan to cut $90 million from SUNY, which amounts to more than $3 million from the local college. Paterson is doing nothing more than his job in ordering the cuts — nobody said remedying $50 billion in state deficits was going to be painless — but we've said we believe SUNY is an investment in the future worth protecting. Without a robust class of graduates each year to fill the need for new workers and fresh ideas, the deficit will be far worse than it is now. But even if you don't believe SUNY should be granted at least some dispensation from the budget ax, give the kids credit for exercising their First Amendment rights to say and show what's on their minds. It's far more exciting and encouraging to see young people fighting for their interests than to see them accepting government impositions without a whimper.
