Thumbs Up/Down
Make wishes known
THUMBS UP: The town hall meeting held by District 88 this week is one way the district is letting people make their wishes known on what to include in a new high school and the other buildings that are getting revamped.
A sizeable contingent of soccer supporters were on hand to call for a wider football field that would be usable for soccer. That’s a great idea and one that shouldn’t be too hard or costly to accomodate.
We agree with the point made by board member Patricia Hoffman, who talke about building a school with “flexible, future oriented learning spaces.” We don’t know today what education will look like 20 years in the future. With online classes and video confereing becoming more common, one teacher might be talking to students in two or three different rooms, not to mention a couple at home. A new school that is adaptable to different needs in the future would be a good idea.
Tournament time
THUMBS UP: Congratulations to our area state football tournament teams. Today, New Ulm Cathedral faces Minneota in Marshall in the Class A tournament, and Nicollet plays Edgerton/Ellsworth in Nine-Man at Marshall.
Good luck to both teams.
Bipartisanship?
THUMBS DOWN: A lot of politicians paid a lot of lip service to bipartisanship and breaking the gridlock after Tuesday’s elections. In Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton talked about meeting in the middle, as long as the Republicans who now control the House were willing to do the same. It didn’t sound like he was exactly holding his breath.
In Washington, President Barack Obama talked about talking to Republican leaders John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, but cautioned against anyone expecting him to give up on his positions.
Voter turnout
THUMBS DOWN: Minnesota usually prides itself on its voter turnout. But Tuesday’s 50 percent voter turnout wasn’t much to brag about. Brown County did much better, at 64.07 percent. Nationwide, the turnout was right around 34 percent.
It was a mid-term election, to be sure. No presidential race to get people excited enough to vote. But still, half of Minnesota’s eligible voters, and two-thirds of the nation’s voters didn’t think it was worth their while to vote.
One interpretation is that people are so happy with the way things are they don’t feel a need to vote, but with the rock-bottom Congressional approval ratings we know that’s not the reason. More likely is the thought that people are so disgusted and discouraged with politicians that they just don’t want to get involved. That’s sad.