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4
Battalion Editorials
Page 2
THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1955
Which Way Now?
Last week, The Battalion ran an editorial
titled “Coming Closer,” in which what is
probably A&M’s most severe problem was
stated.
The problem is that A&M is going to
have to change, and the next few years are
going to decide which way that change will
be made.
A&M’s educational facilities are good,
and are keeping up with the times.
However, students are generally attrac
ted to a school by the comparatively super
ficial aspects of student life. A&M’s en
rollment the last few years has increased
slightly, but the enrollment of all the other
colleges in the state has increased much
more. A&M is not getting its share of the
over-all state increase.
Since a school needs students to survive,
this is the problem that is facing A&M. It’s
not an easy problem with a pat solution, but
we can explore some of the facets of it.
Three Choices
A&M, as it stands now, has three choices:
military, mediocrity, or coeducation. A&M
is about at the middle stage now, the inbe-
tween stage. It cannot continue this way.
For many years after its founding, A&M
gained fame as" a military school. It was
the only school in the Southwest that offered
military training, and the comfortable dis
tance of wars made the uniform something
desirable.
Then the ROTC program was put into al
most every college that asked for it. Students
in civilian school ROTC units wear the uni
form only a few times a week, and they don’t
live under military discipline all the time.
Yet they receive the same contract pay and
commission benefits as A&M students.
Also, World War I, World War II, and the
four-year Korean police action came in rapid
succession. Almost every American male
has at sometime or another been in uniform,
or at least been surrounded by uniforms.
Because of this, the prestige of all uniforms,
including A&M’s, has declined. America is
just tired of uniforms. These factors have
affected' A&M’s enrollment.
Now to the alternatives: either improve
the present situation, or become exactly like
other schools. (Admittedly, this is an over
simplification of the problem, but it will
serve to start people to thinking about it,
which is the purpose of an editorial.)
Others Did It
Three military schools, faced by the same
problems A&M has, have become coeduca
tional. They have not been very successful.
Few girls entered, but the colleges still had
to bear the expense involved in the change
over. The chances are that if A&M w e r e
suddenly made co-ed, the result would be the
same: not enough girls would enter to gain
the advantages of coeducation.
However, coeducation for A&M has been
discussed, both unofficially and by the board
of directors. Two years ago there was a
proposal for merging A&M and TSCW, evi
dently lost in the shuffle.
The other side is strengthening the mili
tary here, to make it a good drawing card
and a better training agency. This falls into
two categories: inside and outside.
From the outside, A&M and military
schools in general will have to receive some
additional recognition for the services they
perform. A&M ROTC students, because
they get what is recognized as better train
ing, should get the increased benefits that go
with that, such as assurance of commissions
and contracts and increased subsistence pay.
The president, the commandant, Texas
congressmen, and others have been very ac
tive in working for this, and the formation
of the Council of Military College Presidents
was a step in this direction. But the pro
posals are now in the indefinite stage.
‘Tightened Up’
From within, A&M’s military will have to
be “tightened up,” as the soldiers say. This
means making the corps more of a military
unit, and less of a playground for college
boys with perpetually sophomoric minds.
Here is the heart of the matter, and it is
the part that only the students themselves
can do. The final responsibility for the
quality of the corps, and thereby the attrac
tiveness of the corps, rests with the corps
students, particularly the upperclassmen ca
det officers.
Some progress has been made in this re
cently—the consolidation of the corps being
one of the most noteworthy. Most of the
ranking cadet officers and the other cadets
are trying to make the corps a really good
military unit, but everybody has to try.
Along with this tightening up of the mil
itary program, A&M will have to improve its
civilian student program. That is, give the
civilian students some student life—an esprit
de corps of their own.
This will require starting from scratch;
there is no such program now, but there
should be. Civilian students are increasing
in number, aided by the board ruling making
military optional.
Students’ Responsibility
Again, this responsibility rests with the
students. The civilian students themselves
must want a student life of their own, and
they must want it bad enough to work for it.
If this doesn’t work—If the corps and the
civilian students can’t or won’t improve their
own lot, then A&M must take the other
course, coeducation, and trying to compete
with other Texas schools on their own
ground.
We realize that we have not really an
swered the question ‘where do we go from
here,’ but we hope we have presented some
of the elements and clarified somewhat the
situation.
It is up to the students to decide what
type of school they want A&M to be, and to
work to make it like that.
A Friend in Need
A friend of A&M and A&M students is
having a hard go of it now.
“Pinky” known to generations of A&M
students, is in a Galveston hospital, serious
ly ill. He would probably appreciate nothing
as much as a few letters from the A&M stu
dents who are his friends.
His address is P. L. Downs jr., St. Mary’s
infirmary Room 302, Galveston, Texas.
“Pinky” will be 71, Saturday.
Letters to the Editors
The Battalion
The Editorial Policy of The Battalion
Represents the Views of the Student Editors
The Battalion, newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical
College of Texas and the City of College Station, is published by stu
dents four times a week during the regular school year. During the
summer terms The Battalion is published twice a week, and during
examination and vacation periods, once a week. Days of publication
are Tuesday through Friday for the regular school year, Tuesday and
Thursday during the summer terms, and Thursday during examination
and vacation periods. The Battalion is not published on the Wednesday
immediately . preceding Easter or Thanksgiving. Subscription rates
are $3.50 per semester, $6.00 per school year, $7.00 per full year, or
$1.00 per month. Advertising rates furnished on request.
Bctcred as second-class
matter at Post Office at
College Station. Texas
under the Act of Con
gress of March 3. 1870.
Member of
The Associated Press
Represented nationally by
National Advertising
Services. Inc., at New
York City. Chicago. Ltom
Angeles, and San Fran
cisco.
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republi
cation of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in i
the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Rights !
of republication of all other matter herein are also reserved.
News contributions may be made by telephone (4-5444 or 4-7604) or '
at the editorial office room, 202 Goodwin Hall. Classified ads may be j
placed by telephone (4-5324) or at the Student Publication Office. :
Room 207 Goodwin Hall. |
BOB BORISKIE, HARRI BAKER H
Jon Kinslow
Jerry Wizig
Don Shepard, Ralph Cole JL
Bill Fullerton
Ronnie Greathouse
Roger Coad. \\V
Mrs. Jo Ann Co
Miss Betsy Bun
Maurice fIlian
Larry Liglitfoot.
Co-Editors
Managing Editor
Sports Editor
News Editors
- City Editor
— Sports Writer
Jones, John Warner Reporters
>ugher Women’s Editor
d - A&M Consolidated Correspondent
. ... A&M Consolidated Sports Correspondent
Circulation Manager
Job Calls
• Wed., Feb. 23—Colgate-Palm
olive representatives will interview
business administration, account
ing, chemistry, chemical, mechani
cal, electrical, industrial, civil en
gineering majors.
• Wed., Feb. 23—The Pure Oil
company—representatives from the
Fort Worth and the Chicago offices
will interview chemical, civil, elec
trical, industrial, mechanical petro
leum engineering, physics, geology,
geophysics, accounting, business
administration, chemical.
• Wed., Thurs.—Feb. 2.'^. 24—
Phillips Petroleum company—ma
jor's called for: chemical, mechani
cal, civil, electrical, industrial, ar
chitectural, petroleum engineering.
• Wed., Thurs., Feb. 23, 24—
Esso Standard Oil Co. refinery will
interview chemists, civil, chemical,
industrial, electrical, mechanical en
gineers for technical work in the
refinery. Esso Laboratories will
interview chemists, chemical engi
neers for employment in Research
and Pilot Plant work.
L'se of fertilizer in the United
States reached an all-time high of
23,113,060 tons iu 1053.
(Editor’s note: All letters to
the Editors submitted will be
printed, provided they are sign
ed and contain no liberious or
obscene material. We request,
however, that the letters be
kept to about 250 words, be
cause of space limitations.
Editors:
Don’t you worry about the stu
dents forgetting the Tonkawa
Tribe, Mr. Editor. How could
anyone forget when you continu
ously write your condemning, one
sided editorials ? For every time
McDade brought the TT’s before
the eyes of the student body you
have scores of times. Can’t you
understand that the Administra
tion and student body forgave
these Aggies when they let them
return to A&M. You seem to think
that the Executive committee is
foolish to believe the ex-TT’s. Af
ter all, where can you get in life
if you don’t trust people? How
far above people are you ?
Most of the TT’s are gone now
—not because they didn’t love
A&M, but because they never had
a chance. You know, people can
only take so much and then they
think it best for everyone if they
leave. How would you like to be
accused and judged everytime you
read a Bait ?
Tell me, why is it you always
look on the dirty side of every
thing? This year, more than once,
you have proceeded to darken the
face of an outfit or a person.
Sometimes after the person is
gone from A&M or even dead. Why
not try to do some good. for the
school ? Give credit where credit
is due— encourage students to sup
port the basketball team — stress
good relations with other schools
—These are some of the thing that
Aggies would like to see printed.
Let us put the Batt behind A&M
instead of against it. , . .
Pat Kirksey ’56
•
Editors:
Although it took a rather long
time to do so, I finally discovered
one good feature in your “coedi
torial” of February 17. You know
the old story which says there must
be some good in everything, no
matter how basically rotten it may
be. The good in your editorial lies
in the fact that you have finally
gotten enough starch in your back
bone to show your true colors: you
have come out with more or less
wholehearted support for the insti
tution of coeducation at Texas
A&M. Thank you so very much
for at least being truthful, though
somewhat misguided.
So A&M must have “special rec
ognition” as a military college in
order to survive as it is today, eh ?
Never in the past has A&M had
any recognition as a military col
lege and as a school for the in
struction of good, solid men, both
civilian and military ? On our
country’s battlefields, have A&M
men generally behaved in a cow
ardly fashion and never with skill,
prowess, or valor? Has the school
made no military contributions of
an exceptional nature whatsoever,
and are its military graduates pro
fessionally viewed as black sheep
from an inferior fold? Have its
graduates entering civilian life
had none of the discipline of mind
and body and none of the training
in the facts of life and in the art
of living with others that 'wall pre
pare them for success ? Are Ag
gie-exes looked down upon as mis
fits and as unstable persons—are
they people who, for lack of “spe
cial recognition” of Texas A&M as
a military college, are to be pitied
because they chose to attend such
a school ? Have they nothing to
be proud of in their sense of be
longing to A&M and of sharing
such traditions as Silver Taps, the
Aggie Muster, the Spirit, and all
the other one-for-all, all-for-one
traditions of unity and just pride ?
Oh! the poor, poor souls!
“‘Recognition!!’” you scream.
“Give us ‘recognition’ (or coeduca
tion), or we will surely perish!”—
the words echo back through the
years and encircle the globe of
time and space, rebounding from
the souls of the A&M men who
have worked to give to A&M its
present pre-eminent and unrivaled
position at the summit of the
mound of higher education. What
greater recognition than this top
most position of summit-dwelling,
let me ask, can a person desire for
a school ?
It has always been a prime ob
jective of the A&M College to de
velop men—men of sound charac
ter, level-headedness, sharp minds,
strong bodies, and fieiy, unquench
able spirits. Has this objective
been lost upon us ? Do we no long
er need such men in today’s world,
and do we no longer need an anvil
on which to forge them ? If so,
then—by all means—let us open
the floodgates of coeducation and
complete civilian life to engulf our
school and to dent our anvil. If
we do. not want to produce well-
developed men at A&M, then let
us go ahead and turn out well-in
dulged men, at least (along with
their sister “Aggies”).
We should point the prow of the
ship of our intentions steadfastly
and immediately towaid one of two
destinations. The first may well
be only “a short step” away, Mi 1 .
Editor. With very little action and
even less thought, A&M can easily
be converted into a conventional,
up-to-date, run-of-the-mill, coedu
cational flophouse for the girlies as
well as for the “men.” The other
course—the one that leads to lofti
ness and immortality for Texas
A&M College, its Spirit, and the
spirits of Aggies—is the course
which can be charted by realizing
that A&M has, potentially, all the
“recognition” it will ever need, if it
will only become aware of that fact
and endeavor to utilize it in a con
tinuing and ever-improving appli
cation of the basic principles and
inherent traditions which , have
(See LETTERS, Page 4)
Tuesday and Wednesday
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