Sherwood Watson
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
Higher education is given the name for obvious reasons. It’s the education students should get that is beyond what is needed for a base existence. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley seems to think the xenophobic elimination of all information about the Chinese is a good thing, in addition to charging MU for half of all defaulted student loans. Hawley has clearly done little research in the area of Chinese culture. There is a vast difference between the Chinese government’s agenda, and the culture of the Chinese people.
One of my best friends is Chinese, and I find him to be a man of great integrity. The Chinese have a wealth of martial-arts skill, which is of great value. The Chinese culture also offers Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, all of which are profound methods of living a peaceful, productive existence. I would be thrilled if I could speak and write Chinese. The Chinese built one heck of a wall that puts all other border walls to shame.
MU hired a hatchet man to cut expenses, which he did quite handily, to the point of eliminating or nullifying a number of programs that represent the higher aspect of higher education, to include music programs. Interestingly, MU had no trouble finding funding for a lavish research facility, upon which they have already broken ground. No sports programs ever suffer cuts. Our spectator, arm-chair society couldn’t tolerate that. Forcing MU to pay half of all defaulted student loans will only cause the university to double down and cut more programs they feel won’t ensure students jobs.
College isn’t just about employment. It’s where students can develop critical thinking skills, develop their own ideas, and lay the ground work for being well-rounded adults. Hawley must have missed the higher part of his education. His only goal is to be a hero. Our nation doesn’t need any more wannabes. Congress has become an abysmal, laughable collection of self-centered, ego-driven children (squads) that have no clue how to tend the business of our great country.
The kind of drivel Hawley’s spewing is what I’d expect of a beer chugging, gun-toting redneck. Maybe that’s what the population wants. Maybe the statue at the top of the Capitol building should be Red Green with a gun, a hunting dog and a six-pack of beer. It’s enough to make me weep.