Paradoxical Pirates

The front page of the Daily Pilot today reflected an interesting juxtaposition of articles having to do with the Pirates of Orange Coast College.

THE PLEDGE
One article was captioned, "Pledge of Allegiance controversy", and addressed the decision by members of the student government at Orange Coast College - one of the premier two-year schools in the country - to remove The Pledge from their agendas. This caused an uproar among other students, which apparently resulted in a decision by a student vice president to order that the pledge be recited at all upcoming meetings. One of the leaders of this move to reject The Pledge is a young man who was dragged from the City Council chambers and arrested at City Hall nearly a year ago when he refused to relinquish the speaker's podium and cursed Mayor Allan Mansoor.

THE PREDICAMENT
Elsewhere on the front page was an article captioned, "Rabbit Island: To sell or not to sail?", which discussed the "problem" the administrators at the self-same Orange Coast College have with the future of Rabbit Island, off the coast of British Columbia. Rabbit Island was donated to the Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship by Southern California sailor Henry Wheeler. However, it costs a hunk of money to maintain the island, $60,000 - $75,000 per year, according to the Pilot. So, after three years of use, there are folks who feel it's time to abandon the educational uses, sell the island for the estimated $1.25 - $1.75 million anticipated and plow those dollars into some much-needed infrastructure improvements.

THE PARADOX
So, here we are. On one hand we have a group of militant student administrators trying to expunge the Pledge of Allegiance from existence at OCC and, on the other, we have some very privileged young people trying to find a way to maintain their own, private island. Seems to me that we have a slight clash of cultures and values here.

THE PERFORMANCE
Adding to the mix is an article found inside the same edition that tells us, among other things, that, beginning in January, 2007, OCC will be the beneficiary of a fee schedule reduction of 25%. The same article tells us that OCC is among the top two-year schools in transfers to major universities. Of the 109 community colleges in this state, it is number one in transfers to the Cal State University system and fifth in transfers to the University of California system. It's ranked third in combined transfers, and the No. 1 transfer institution to UC Irvine.

THE POINT
What's the point of my entry today? Well, I just find it paradoxical that such a fine institution of higher education, where young people are obviously being well-prepared to continue their education elsewhere, have such strange choices facing them. Where else in this wonderful country would young people, being educated for the life ahead, even contemplate the problem of what to do with a private island? And who among us - those who have worked hard, served this country and are supremely grateful for the opportunities it provides and the wonderful lives we lead - would conceive the idea of rejecting the Pledge of Allegiance?

Those young folks who are worrying about "the island" will likely become the movers and shakers of this community in the next decade. It's likely that this dilemma, so unimaginable to most of us, will be a fairly typical problem with which they are faced in the future.

The young people who disrespect the flag and what it stands for by refusing to say the pledge, on the other hand, represent to me a troubling aspect of our society today. The education made available to them for a mere pittance relative to other costs today should be reason enough for them to stand proudly each morning and pledge allegiance to the flag "and to the republic for which it stands". If they find that objectionable, then perhaps they should reconsider their options and look elsewhere for educational opportunities. I can sure think of better ways to spend my tax dollars.