Monday, May 28, 2007

Don't piss off your kids; you'll need them someday


"For where your treasure is,
there also will your heart be."

-- Luke 12:34


IF PARENTS ABUSE THEIR CHILDREN, disrespect their children and abjectly refuse to meet the basic needs of their children, they'll surely "get theirs" . . . one way or another.

From a public policy perspective, that goes double for a state or locality and what happens to its children -- how they're cared for, the environment they grow up in, how they're educated.

Louisiana is in it deep, and folks -- by all appearances -- are too damn stupid to realize "payback" lies around the corner, as its next generation grows up to be dead, stupid, shiftless . . . or living somewhere else.

Here, from last fall, is one example of what that particular state thinks (for lack of a better word) about its future. In this case, its best and brightest children. From what I hear, nothing much has changed on that story.

And here's a fresh example from the world of -- such as it is -- "higher education." The (Baton Rouge) Advocate has the damning evidence:

The historic and picturesque French House at LSU is surrounded by oak and palm trees.

On the inside, however, roof leaks, broken floors, wall holes and an unusable third floor paint a different picture for the facility that houses the LSU Honors College.

One interesting juxtaposition is an old French portrait in the “living room” flanked by walls torn up from water damage.

“It’s beautiful on the outside, but really deteriorating on the inside,” said Nancy Clark, dean of the Honors College. “There’s been continuous water damage the past few years.”

That is why Clark is leading the charge to renovate the interior and expand the 72-year-old French House to modernize the facilities and create multimedia classrooms, theater space and a technology lounge for LSU’s brightest students.

But finding the money is a different matter, Clark admitted, when many private donors look to LSU sports before the honors program.

Fortunately for her, LSU System President William Jenkins said the French House is one of his top two fund-raising priorities.

“The LSU Honors College is a fantastic asset for the state,” Jenkins said.

The $6 million to $10 million project would represent part of a proposed “Honors Campus” for the 1,300 students in the Honors College, who need at least a 30 ACT score and 3.5 grade-point average to enter the program.

The nearby honors dormitories, East and West Laville, are to be renovated beginning in January.

Jenkins said he hopes the projects can be completed within three years.

This year, nearly 3,500 students applied to the Honors College, fewer than 1,000 were accepted, and about 500 enrolled, Clark said.

After Clark and some top students presented plans to the LSU Board of Supervisors last month, LSU moved the French House from 31st to sixth on its construction list.

A similar plea last week with the Louisiana Board of Regents was less successful. A day prior, the Regents had decided against placing the French House on the state’s construction list this year because the request came too late, without enough time for analysis.

Even though the Regents, who oversee the state’s higher education, did not prioritize the French House, the Honors College’s successes resulted in glowing praise from the Regents board members.

“Mike the Tiger has a $3 million habitat, but the French House is falling apart,” said Regent Mary Ellen Roy of New Orleans. “We need to focus more on challenging our best and brightest.”

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