11/15/98

Opelika * Auburn News
* THE NEWSPAPER OF EAST ALABAMA*
11/15/98

Guest column: YRS a good idea

N.S. Malladi
Guest colurnnist

After reading an O-A News editorial of Nov. 12 on the importance of "play in a child's day," I found that it is the "child" in me who desired the present day school kids also to relax and play a lot at the end of every quarter, as I did, that made me write so many letters in support of YRS.

I grew up in India as a poor child, but rich with play time with my friends everyday. We played several games in creative ways just for fun at home, on trees and around paddy fields of the village and yet had enough time to memorize the prose and poetry for the next day! In fact, play-time and school-time complemented each other so well for me, that I became the valedictorian for the class of '58, with least effort, though I was an at-risk student initially.

I looked at the YRS "survey" as a child, a Ph.D. whose thesis was on the analysis of motion and a designer of mechanisms in PCs, ATMs and other actuators. To move an object, such as a rocking horse, between two given positions, we can come up with infinite number of four-link mechanisms. But a good designer picks the one with "the transmission angle close to 90 degrees" during its range of motion, since such a device requires the lowest horse-power motor compared to other designs. However, we have to note that even the choice of the best mechanism does not guarantee economy and long life unless it is frequently lubricated.

I studied the calendar options from the above considerations of design and maintainability. Of the calendars the Traditional Calendar with its second quarter extending beyond the Christmas holiday season and into the new year with no good 'brakes,' is the one with least efficiency and hardest to maintain during the year! But with a powerful motor it can be run as it is now, with several middle and high school kids, going to bed only after mid night almost everyday.

Hence it is not surprising that more than 85 percent of the ACS teachers informally chose the Alternative Calendars in stead of the Traditional. I also gather that only a third of the AU faculty are in favor of "STOP YRS," that too with the assumption that YRS means only four weeks of summer vacation! I am not surprised to learn that with two summer sessions and several extension, outreach, research and developmental programs during summer, only about 5 percent of the AU faculty will not have summer contracts with the university. Hence YRS has no major effect on the university community, or the rest, contrary to what we were repeatedly told to believe by a few.

Considering the uniform and all-round robustness, the best pick would be Alternative Calendar C. Compared to the Traditional, it has half a week more Christmas vacation after the second quarter, one week more of spring vacation and an additional two weeks of fall vacation. That means a total of three-and-a-half weeks more of vacation during the year. Yet its summer vacation (nine weeks) is only two weeks short of Traditional summer ( 11 weeks). Hence there is a net gain of one-and-a-half weeks of vacation with a new fall vacation. It is a very good design with good maintainability and opportunities to lubricate the system in the form of remedial action and relaxation. I sincerely congratulate the designers for a very fine job done.

The close-up of Calendar C looks even better. For example, holidays for Labor Day and Thanksgiving are during the middle of first and second quarters. Thus Calendar C's "transmission angles for both teaching and learning" are almost perfect. If we lubricate the mechanism of this Alternative Calendar frequently, it will give us long, reliable and economical service.

Let us look for the good and praise it. Remember to vote for it!

N.S. Malladi Ph.D., is a resident of Auburn