Not that bad

I'm getting slightly irritated at hearing about all the doom and gloom news that we are headed into or that we are currently in a recession. The main issue is this: We are in an election year. Politicians get elected by telling us that the sky is falling and only they can save us - thus the news is constantly negative. The reality is that we need two straight quarters of negative growth to call it a recession. We haven't even had one yet. I would like to introduce some good news:

1) Despite hearing calls for a recession for the past 7 months, it has yet to arrive. 2) The relatively weaker dollar has yielded strong exports. With the dollar volume of exports about three times the amount spent on housing, you have to wonder why housing gets all the attention. 3) The unemployment rate remains at 4.8 percent, which is a very low level. Yes, it is higher than in the past couple years here in the U.S. but the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development considers anywhere from 4-6 percent to be full employment in a country. 4) Business inventories are at low levels, reducing pressure on businesses to cut their labor force. 5) Interest rates are near record lows, making business investment affordable. 6) Inflation remains low. 7) If politicians threaten our future with higher taxes, we can still fire them.

This may shock you, but the media doesn't always present straight facts. Don't believe everything in the news.

Natali Wyson
St. George

No obligation

I simply have to respond to the author of the “Professional Preparation” letter that appeared March 28. The author points out that you cannot skip work just because you think it will be boring that day. This is true. I have been working as a software engineer for almost four years now and my manager has never told me to “go home if you’re bored.”

However, I don’t mind being at work on those days for one simple reason. I am getting paid for being there. I realize that if I took the day off I would probably lose my job. However, in school, I am paying someone to teach me things I want to learn about. The key being in one instance I am paying (no obligation to me), in the other I am being paid (I am obligated to be there).

If I pay for a service, I don’t have to actually use it. Purchasing a plane ticket doesn’t require me to board the plane. I am paying for it to be there under certain conditions so that if I want to take advantage of it I can. Attendance is only mandatory if you are the one providing the service, not the one receiving it. I skipped probably close to half of my classes my senior year at BYU and took the time to practice what I was learning and get some experience.

Derek Fry
Nashua, N.H.

No curve needed

I used to wonder whether the chemistry department graded too harshly. Especially in the more general classes of 105 and 106, I thought maybe the tests were too difficult and there was too much material.

After being a T.A. three times, I have to say I was dead wrong. In my last chance as a 105 TA, I had the opportunity to organize and keep grades. When all was said and done, no curve was needed. The students choose their own grade through their dedication or lack thereof.

I have taught some 400 students the past 3 years and, believe me, the problem with grading is rarely held by the professor. Maybe someone just has a beef with the workload of chemistry?

Taylor Cline
Frazier Park, Calif.

Microcredit’s promise

We often hear the statement "give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day; teach a man how to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime." This is an incomplete solution to poverty. The world's poor already know "how to fish," (or possess marketable skills). The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Mohammed Yunnus came up with a solution. In 1983 he founded the Grameen Bank, that extends Microcredit, which are unsecured, less than $200 , loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

Ultimately, 98.15 percent of the people receiving these loans will repay them, and 64 percent of them will raise their families out of poverty in a few years. Too many students at BYU give little thought to the rest of the world that lives in squalor; it is time that more people become educated about this promising way to change the world. Students need to visit grameen-bank.org and learn how they can help.

Only when Microcredit becomes available to all the world's poor will the impoverished actually be able to get the loans they need in order "to go fishing," that they may be go on to make enough money to truly be able to "eat for a lifetime."

Charlene Bury
Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Intramural "Officiating"

The intramural basketball rules specifically state, "Each team must have a non-playing scorekeeper at each of their games. A forfeit will be given if a team fails to supply a scorekeeper at game time." I understand that there would be a lot of forfeited games if this rule were adhered to without any kind of leniency. I believe that's why players are sometimes allowed to keep score as long as they sit out a full half.

Putting aside the many times I've seen this rule entirely overlooked, there's one specific example that warrants attention. At the most recent game I attended, the supervisor informed me that it didn't matter that the other team didn't provide someone to keep score, but if I decided that I didn't want to do it or if I hadn't been at the game at all, the team I was there to cheer for would have had to forfeit the game. To be told that, yet it be perfectly acceptable for her to fill in for the other team's required scorekeeper helps me understand why players get so upset at poor officiating on the court.

To make matters worse, after the game, I overheard the supervisor speaking to one of the referees and mocking my comments about how illogical her rationale was. If you're going to get paid for a job, do your job. Don't make exceptions to rules and then threaten and mock those that follow the rules when your "authority" is tested.

Heather Harris
Houston, Texas

Copyright Brigham Young University 31 Mar 2008