Sartell Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com
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Friday, Feb. 22, 2013
Opinion Our View
Ability to work together makes Sartell special The reason Sartell is such a thriving, dynamic, wonderful city to live in is very simple, really. Its people are adept at working together. One can see that in how the city staff works together as a unit to solve problems and to explore opportunities. That team spirit came to the forefront in the wake of the Verso paper mill disaster last year, but it’s been there all along. The police and fire department personnel, along with city staff, worked incredibly as a team during those long, anguished days and nights. The ability to work together is everywhere evident in Sartell’s schools, and it’s no wonder at all most people who move to the city cite “excellent school system” as their reason. The newspaper hears that again and again from new residents and from those who have lived in the city for a long time. This working together in community spirit is especially evident to the Newsleader news staff. Through hundreds of Sartell-based stories throughout the years, that community spirit has been a constant, recurring theme. Typically, when there is a triumph or success of some kind, people involved are quick to give credit to others or to laud the team effort. The following are just two recent examples. In a news-story interview with teacher Jen Richason, who was named statewide Middle School Social Studies Teacher of the Year, she praised her students, their parents and the Sartell community for the honor that was bestowed upon her. Those supportive qualities, especially her keenly interested and bright students, create an environment in which it’s “easy” to be a good teacher, Richason said. And this was not false modesty at all. Richason, in a kind of hushed voice of awe, elaborated on how and why Sartell is such a supportive place to work. Such strong support, she said, naturally brings out the best in people’s efforts. Another Newsleader story is about the Sabre Dance Team, who took two honors at the state tourney at Target Center last weekend. One of the dancers interviewed, Ashley Regnier, gave credit to the hard work of all of the team dancers. And so did the head coach, Kelly McCarney. The dancing awards, she said, are a direct result of tight teamwork, Regnier said, giving special praise to the teamwork of the coaches. That theme surfaces again and again in news stories about school successes – academic, athletic and in all extracurricular programs. Students and teachers and other residents give credit where credit is due, to individuals involved, but they always underline the importance of the team and the support system that helped individuals achieve what they did. They make it abundantly clear that success does not occur in a vacuum – that many sources nourish it and make it possible. Such sterling qualities, of course, are not unique just to Sartell. But anyone who has worked in the city and observed its workings for any length of time will testify the spirit of community in Sartell is indeed remarkable. Alive and well. And it’s refreshing these days to hear people not crow about “me, me, me” but rather “us, us, us.”
Should students have to learn foreign language? Should study of a foreign language be required in high school or college? I used to think so; now I’m not so sure. After all, how many foreign-language students go on to advanced study of a language to become fluent enough to use that language in their lives? Most who took a year or two of a language can remember only a phrase or two of what they’d learned. Those “Rosetta Stone” commercials imply acquiring language proficiency is a snap. When the people on that commercial say they learned to “speak” a language, what do they mean by “speak?” Do they mean a handful of handy phrases to be used abroad when shopping or asking directions to the nearest bathroom? Do they mean an ability to carry on a deep conversation or merely a kindergarten-level give-and-take with native speakers? Now don’t get me wrong. Rosetta Stone is as good or better than any language-learning program available. However, I think people should know that learning a language – truly learning it – is a lot more difficult than they would suppose. It takes extended time, effort and dedicated study. I took two years of French in high school. I chose that language because I admired the French painters and authors so much. My high-school hope was to learn French well enough at least to read
Dennis Dalman Editor some of those writers in the original. It was a thrill, many years later, when I visited France, to be able to speak “un peu de francais” (a little French), and I do mean “a little.” I knew enough to get by – barely. Crude as my language skills were, it was exhilarating to hear living French all around me – the language I’d only known as classroom-textbook exercises years before. “J’entre dans la salle de classe,” is what the stunning Ms. Schneiderhan said to us as she entered that classroom at St. Cloud’s South Junior High School the first day of French class in 1961. “I’m entering the classroom” is what the words meant. In those school days, I never even imagined I’d someday get to go to France. When I did, in 1981, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. After my visit to France, I was determined to improve my French. I studied vocabulary, pondered lists of verb tenses, listened to all kinds of videocassettes (and later CDs) similar to Rosetta Stone. After all these years, I’m still studying French with no illusions that I will come even close to mastering it. It’s
an ongoing struggle I enjoy. I can now read French novels fairly well, although with a French-English dictionary ready at one elbow and sometimes even the English version of the novel propped up nearby on the table. Reading French is still one of my methods of studying it, trying to improve. Another method is to order French movies via Netflix so I can try to understand the dialogue without peeking at the subtitles. I peek a lot, partly because there is so much slang, which French characters rattle off at such lickety-split speed. Some people, including most kids, have an inborn facility for quickly learning languages. How I envy them. What a pleasure it would be to spend another lifetime mastering many languages. It’s not to be, but meantime I’m enjoying my adventures in French studies. I’ve always been grateful for my “professeurs de francais” – Miss Schneiderhan and Mr. Fortier. They encouraged me to keep studying the language. I’m glad French was an academic offering in high school. Otherwise, I’m sure I would never have pursued it. I hope lots of students get “hooked” on a foreign language the way I got hooked on French. I’m still not sure foreign languages should be required, but I do hope they will at least be always and everywhere available for any student eager to embark on a lifetime language adventure.
Letters to editor
Lines of opportunity abound with wind industry by John Crabtree johnc@cfra.org, Center for Rural Affairs Tapping America’s vast wind resources requires a commitment to building high-capacity transmission infrastructure. An improved electrical grid will create rural jobs in both transmission and wind industries, bring more wind energy online and help secure a clean energy future in regions rich in wind potential. Unfortunately, the existing transmission network was not designed to penetrate lightly populated regions of the Midwest and Great Plains, a region brimming with wind-energy potential. Instead, the grid was designed to connect large, individual generating units with specific population centers. Conse-
quently, states like Minnesota, with the 10th best wind-development potential among the states, are leaving too much on the table when it comes to economic development and energy independence. Transmission lines of 400 kV or larger are needed in greater numbers if these states hope to integrate more wind power into their energy portfolio. But a recent Center for Rural Affairs report (http:// files.cfra.org/pdf/OpportunityontheLine. pdf) found current transmission infrastructure in the 10 states with the highest potential for wind development have only 6 percent of such high-capacity transmission lines - 2,348 of 37,736 miles nationally. Moreover, of the 3,710 miles of lines
with carrying capacity greater than 600 kV across the country, only 9 miles are located in states that lead the nation in wind potential, accounting for less than 0.3 percent of the total. More efficient use of infrastructure now in place is a crucial first step, and commitment to an improved, expanded grid must come next. The Center for Rural Affairs was established in 1973 as an unaffiliated nonprofit corporation under IRS code 501(c)3. The Center for Rural Affairs was formed by rural Nebraskans concerned about family farms and rural communities, and we work to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities.
Reader offers link to test motion-induced blindness Ken Hiemenz, St. Joseph I write this in the hope it will keep people safe while driving. Some of you may already know this. This is frightening! It works exactly like it says, and is one major reason people in cars can look right at you (when you’re on a motorcycle or bicycle) and not see you. From a former naval aviator. This is a great illustration of what we were
taught about scanning outside the cockpit when I went through training back in the 1950s. We were told to scan the horizon for a short distance, stop momentarily, and repeat the process. I can remember being told why this was the most effective technique to locate other aircraft. It was emphasized (repeatedly) to NOT fix your gaze for more than a couple of seconds on any single object. The instructors, some of whom were WWII veterans with years of experience,
instructed us to continually “keep our eyes moving and our head on a swivel” because this was the best way to survive, not only in combat, but from peacetime hazards (like a midair collision) as well. We basically had to take the advice on faith (until we could experience it for ourselves) because the technology to demonstrate it didn’t exist at that time. Go to the following link below for a demonstration, http://www.msf-usa.org/ motion.htm.
15 issue. It is wonderful to hear the voice of reason in what sometimes seems to be
the headquarters for illogical and narrow-minded thinking. (I live in Stearns County).
Reader says fabulous opinion column in the Feb. 15 issue Fairness and ethics
Newsleader staff members have the responsibility to report news fairly and accurately and are accountable to the public. Readers who feel we’ve fallen short of these standards are urged to call the Newsleader office at 363-7741. If matters cannot be resolved locally, readers are encouraged to take complaints to the Minnesota News Council, an independent agency designed to improve relationships between the public and the media and resolve conflicts. The council office may be reached at 612-341-9357.
Judith Bergerson, Sartell Fabulous opinion column in the Feb.
Send it to: The Newsleaders P.O. Box 324 St. Joseph, MN 56374
or email us at: news@thenewsleaders.com Please include your full name for publication (and address and phone number for verification only).