Tearing Down Joe Pat Statue? Yeah or Nay?

Joe Paterno Statue at Penn State

Joe Pat... should his statue stay or go? Ever since the Freeh report came out there has been a vocal group who are shouting "Take it down!" Others say "No way, Joe should stay!" From students, former students, and football fans and former football players and citizens, everyone has their own opinion.

In an interiew with the Altoona Mirror, former New York Jets NFL player John Ebersole, a former top Penn State player in the 60's who currently lives in South Carolina, firmly believes Joe's statue should stay in it's place of pride in front of Beaver Stadium.

He is quoted as saying "I'm still a firm believer Joe never knew what was all going on, so it they tear down the statue I think they're crazy." He contends that "Joe is Penn State," and "I mean, it's never going to change with me. I'll admire the guy until the end."

Admire a man who the Freeh Reports says may have been complicit in covering up child abuse going on right under his nose? Sounds to me like Ebersole is still entrenched in the Happy Valley mentality of "Football is All!" Did he hear the Freeh report that revealed Joe and key Penn State administrators "concealed critical facts" about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of minors.  Minors! Sexual abuse! For more than 10 YEARS! Where is this man's head? No football program is more important that the well being of children.

Still others have called for the immediate suspension of Penn State's football program as part of the NCAA. Others more specifically want the Joe Pat statue taken down. The argument will continue for some time or until the statue comes down.

Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden believes that statue should come down, but his reasons have more to do with promoting football than Joe Paterno's knowledge of Sandusky's actions. He still believe Joe was a great man but in a radio interview with Cory Giger he said:

"Should his statue be removed? In my opinion, yes," Bowden said. "Now the reason is, Penn State's job now is to try to forget this thing. But every time somebody walks by and sees that statue, they're not going to remember the 80 good years, they're going to remember this thing with (former assistant coach Jerry) Sandusky."

"Just think, every time you go to a ballgame at Penn State and they shine a camera on that statue, that's going to be brought up again. So if I was Penn State, if I was Joe's family, I'd say, 'move on from all that stuff.'"

I guess we all have our reasons, but many of us say 'take it away!'

I am personally appalled that Happy Valley, in pursuit of the power of their football program allowed this atrocity to continue. Face it, in Happy Valley football is king. If someone who coached the debate team had acted in the same way they would have been gone and prosecuted a long time ago. But Penn State worships at the altar of football. Long live football, so at Penn State they let Sandusky continue breaking the law and continue sexually abusing minors. How many lives did Penn State ruin so they could win a game of football? How many young men were assauted and never reported it?

Some argue that Penn State's football program can't be pulled by the NCAA because it isn't covered under their rules. They'll pull a program for giving players fancy cars but NOT for not reporting ongoing abuse of children? Hmmm, something wrong in this picture.

Are you for or against tearing down the Joe Pat statue at Penn State? Did the good Joe Pat did while at Penn State outweigh his grievous lack of a moral compass in the Sandusky matter? Are you a pro Joe? Tell me what you think they should do with the statue of Joe Paterno at Penn State. If it was your decision what would you do?

Sandusky Not Forfeiting $59,000 Pension?

Jerry Sandusky, former assistant football coach at Penn State who was convicted of 45 of 48 criminal counts surrounding his abuse of children over fifteen years, will still recieve his pension of $59,000 a year. It seems Sandusky's crimes do not fall under PA Act 140, a state statute that allows prosecutors to require criminals to forfeit their pensions. Although Sandusky is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison (at our expense) we also get to pay him his $59,000 pension. What's wrong with this picture?

You and I will work to pay taxes to house and feed Sandusky. But he also gets to gouge us for $59,000 for his pension. What is wrong with those who crafted this statute that they neglected to included child abusers under this statute? Instead Act 140 covers crimes like forgery, witness tampering, embezzlement and other similar crimes. 140 is meant to cover a wide range of abuse of power while an individual holds a position in a public entity.

While many have commented that Pennsylvania lawmakers should immediately get to work to reform this law where does that leave Sandusky? Richer each year by $59,000. Any laws passes now likely would not be enforcable retroactively so Sandusky will continue to collect.

My only hope is that civil law suits will take every cent the man has now as well as his yearly $59,000. It is obscene that I have to pay state taxes to give this man one cent. I encourage you to contact your lawmakers to make thoughtful changes to this law, this time taking into account any criminal activity by a public official.

I realize $59,000 isn't a huge sum. But as we sit in a state that doesn't have enough money to pay education costs it seems that paying Sandusky any money out of the state budget is another crime! Sandusky's crimes are far worse than any of the crimes currently covered in Act 140.  We need to stop adding insult to injury by allowing the state to pay him his pension.

 

The Dumbing Down of America

Are students today a product of the 'dumbing down of America?'  Were the Baby Boomer generation better prepared for college than students today? In my opinion the answer is an unequivocal YES.  The teachers in my past prepared me by not just teaching me facts and figures but by teaching me how to find the answers and giving me a desire to learn new things.

When I went back to college as an adult (40+) I was thrown into classes where the majority of the students were half my age.  Culture shock to say the least!  I came from being a stay at home mom of two to a full time student.  Most of the rest of my class were 20-23, and age I hadn't been in a long time! I quickly learned that age wasn't the only thing separating us.  They came from a totally different world.  One where correct English wasn't important, History wasn't taught, basic Biology wasn't understood and Art was an anathema. 

Their slang was different, their education had been different, and I ran into 'the dumbing down of America' first hand. 

The slang I could handle, although the constant parroting of 'that's so gay' took a bit of getting used to.  It was the lack of a good basic education that astounded me.  Their grammar didn't exist.  History didn't include some very basic important events.  And the concept of art appreciation was....under appreciated, basic biology poorly understood.

I was in a class where we were discussing busing.  It wasn't a history class, but it was obvious that to most of the class 'busing' had to do with how to take SEPTA (Philadelphia's local transit authority) and had nothing to do with civil rights.  I remember the professor (who was about the same age I was) looking at me as if to say 'you know what I'm talking about right? I'm not the only one who knows this happened.' 

I admit to being blown away at how ignorant many of the younger students were about current events or recent history.  I could understand if they didn't have a good grasp on the Crimean War... but busing? Come on!  So if you're a history teacher today, please take the time to bring your students up to speed on events that effect their own daily lives--like civil rights. 

Another example of the 'dumbing down' occurred when two of us were doing an oral report on making mobiles.  OK, mobiles, not rocket science, almost every baby has one hanging over their crib and most kids make them in preschool.  But we were talking about Alexander Calder's mobiles.  A little more advanced, but the same concept.  People kept interrupting and saying 'slow down, I don't know what that means.'  Have you been to the Philadelphia Art Museum? That giant thing hanging over your head in the lobby? Right, Calder, mobile.  Did they ever have an art history class?  Read Time or Newsweek?  If so they should have been familiar with Calder.  And even if they weren't we had photos so they'd be able to understand what we were talking about.  But they were so used to being spoon fed information using words with one syllable that they had a hard time following the presentation. 

Basic biology also seemed to present a problem.  One class in human reproduction seemed to stymie the men in the class. Out of nearly thirty students only fifteen passed the class--most of them dropped out after failing the test on human reproduction. Very scary.  After that class I no longer wondered how so many teens end up pregnant.

Another time a group of us were doing a oral presentation on Elder Abuse. A serious topic and one people working in health care need to be aware of. One student came to class for the presentation unprepared and with note cards written in English on the level of a 2nd grader. This wasn't a student who grew up going to poor schools or who had a learning disability. She'd graduated from Penn State. I guess I expected she had to pass a decent English Composition before she got out. 

Are students today as well prepared for college as the Baby Boomer generation was? In my experience, definitely not.  They are the result of 'the dumbing down of America.'  Unfortunately with the new 'teaching to test' mindset the actual education of our children and grandchildren isn't going to get any better.