Brief opinions about events of the past week:
Merit: For the continuing decline in the use of corporal punishment in North Carolina public schools. According to Action for Children North Carolina, 18 school systems have banned physical punishment since this summer. That leaves only 27 of the state’s 115 school districts that allow the practice, and only 15 have actually used it in recent years.
We’re still out of step with the rest of the world. Most nations have long banned corporal punishment in schools. Only 20 states still allow it. The decision to spank or not to spank is a parent’s right and doing it is a parent’s responsibility (if the parent so chooses). It doesn’t belong in the schools.
Demerit: For the continuing delays in construction of a new reservoir for Southern Pines. The project has been plagued by missed deadlines and cost overruns. It’s a year late and $1.4 million over its initial cost estimate. If the town had its 140-million-gallon reservoir this summer, it likely would have avoided two mandatory water conservation orders during dry spells.
Originally, completion was scheduled for last December The deadline was pushed back to this month. Now, engineer Fred Hobbs says it will be December. We hope this one’s written in indelible ink.
Merit: For the Cumberland County school system’s college fair, which is growing to one of the biggest in the state. The fair, which will be held at the Crown Expo Center on Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m., is drawing representatives from at least 86 colleges and universities this year, up from 72 last year.
The fair drew about 5,000 students and parents last year and is expected to see an even bigger crowd this year. Schools from as far away as New York are attending. It’s a great way for students and their families to chart their course into higher education.
Demerit: For the computer glitch that wiped the names of 24 towns off the latest edition of the state Department of Transportation’s North Carolina map. The DOT used new mapping software this year, and somehow it printed the names of those towns in white – and thus made them invisible. About 225,000 maps were printed with the errors. One Zebulon resident who discovered the problem had a good sense of humor about his town’s omission: “I could only surmise that we’d been incorporated into a greater metropolitan Lizard Lick,” he said.
Merit: For the college formerly known as St. Andrews, which is continuing in its successful quest for survival. The Laurinburg college is changing its name to St. Andrews University, to reflect new program opportunities that include online options, master’s-level programs and other pre-professional programs. In part, the new offerings stem from the school’s alliance with Webber International University, a business school in Babson Park, Fla. Webber has taken over academic and administrative operations at St. Andrews. We hope this gives the storied school a chance to thrive once again.