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Viewpoint The Battalion • Texas A&M University • Thursday • August 2, 1979 ‘Black English’ to aid learning The opinion of a federal judge in Detroit notwithstanding, we can’t buy the idea that “black English” is a legitimate lan guage in its own right. Whatever origins it may have in African speech patterns, it is a variant of standard English, a dialect of the ghetto. Nevertheless, millions of black youngsters do use this dialect in their everyday lives. And insofar as U.S. District Judge Charles W. Joiner’s ruling can facilitate their learning of standard English — as well as other other academic studies — we think it is a worthwhile decision. In a suit brought by the parents of 11 black children. Joiner ordered the Ann Arbor, Mich., school board to identify chil dren speaking black English as their “home language” and to use that knowledge in teaching standard English. As we understand it, this by no means confers linguistic equality on black English, despite the judge’s calling it a legitimate language. Students will not be taught black English, or taught algebra or history in black English, as some misguided people have advocated. What the order is intended to do is break down a barrier that may exist between teachers and students, not because they can’t understand each other, but because, as Joiner said in his opinion, “In the process of attempting to teach students how to speak standard English, the students are somehow made to feel inferior and thereby turned off from the learning process.” Put that way, the ruling strikes us as a sensible step toward bringing black children into the mainstream of American cul ture. “Black pride” activists shouldn’t carry it any further than that. Scripps-Hotvard Newspapers by Jim Earle Slouch WASN’T STAMP COLLECTING MORE FUN?‘ Beachcomber: Beware of Mexicans bearing oil slicks By ROY BRAGG In the early 70s, the first energy crisis hit. Another one has hit us this year. Between the two blessed events, PEMEX, the Mexican national oil com pany, announced it had discovered a mammoth pool of oil under its country. More oil than the Arabs had. More that the Soviets. Certainly more than the U.S. Up until then, Mexico had been consid ered by many Americans as just a nice place to go on vacation. Sure, a few Americans bought drugs there, but we never really felt comfortable in a place where the water left lingering effects. It was a nice place to ridicule, but don’t not our favorite place. Not anymore though. Tequila and marijuana may have been the most famous exports of Mexico in the past, but crude oil is a lot more important nowadays. So, we suddenly decided to start paying attention to Mexico and what Mexico was saying. And what Mexico was saying was “Get lost, gringos!” Imaging an excerpt of a conversation be tween a PEMEX official and an American oil company representitive: “We d like to buy lots of Mexican oil as cheaply as possible,” the American says. “Wed like Texas back,” the Mexican replies coolly. “But, that’s ridiculous,” the American gasps. “We stole, uh, I mean, won Texas fair and square.” The Mexican shrugs his shoulders, smiles and points to the door. Well, okay, we said. The Mexicans can keep their damn oil. We thought that was the end of it. We were wrong. Now that we re learn ing to cut down on oil consumption, the Mexicans have decided to send us the oil after all. The only problem is, they’re not using supertankers or pipelines. They’re not even using low-flying airplanes. They’re sending us an oil slick. “Senor, you can have all of our crude oil you want, ” the PEMEX official says to the American government official. “Well, thank you very much,” said the American. ‘But, you have to scrape it off of this pelican, ” said the Mexican, smiling as he holds a writhing, oil-soaked bird at arms length and dropping it on the American’s desk. The American is too busy moving his potted plants away from the the dying bird to notice the Mexican exiting. So, there is the situation. The oil is about 90 miles from the Texas Coast. If you’re going to Corpus Christi soon, don’t worry about taking a suntan lotion — there’ll be plenty of oil there. Those people you 11 see who look incred ibly tanned are just covered with oil. You can tell who they are because their hair is tanned, too. Another thing: don’t smoke on the beach. the small society by Brickman 31 ^ tsi ^ tSl 1 (N RAY WkON HAP A C*rWN/ \ 0(3c6 Washington Star Syndicate. Inc. 8-2. ‘Deal with me as a human heing Carter turning eyes to 1980 election By HELEN THOMAS United Press International WASHINGTON — President Carter has put his house in order for his re- election campaign. And he is learning the political powers and advantages of an in cumbent. Many of the promises he made at the start of his administration are out the win dow now. He has forced out five members of his Cabinet. He also has decided to break his commitment to hold regular news conferences and is moving in other directions to control all the news flow from the White House. Last week, his spokesman refused to an swer such simple questions as to when Moon Landrieu was offered the position of secretary of Housing and Urban develop ment, and when Landrieu accepted. He also refused to say whether Landrieu had spent the night at the White House. Carter also met with 60 out-of-town editors, but kept the meeting off of his on- the-record appointment schedule. When he named Neil Goldschmitt of Portland, Ore., to be secretary of trans portation, press secretary Jody Powell permitted only reporters from Oregon newspapers and broadcast stations to talk to Goldschmitt at the White House. Although he asked for the resignations of all of his top White House advisers, none has been given his walking papers. In fact, his 1976 Georgia campaign team, which runs the White House, has re mained totally intact. Carter’s White House team is beginning to meet regularly to plan strategy for the 1980 race, as Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon did during their re-election periods. In pep talks last week. Carter put the hundreds of White House workers on notice that “loyalty and teamwork” are the order of the day, and he met with hun dreds more appointees throughout the government to give them the same mes sage. He has begun to the use the executive mansion for small luncheons and gather ings with leaders of groups who can be helpful in his election campaign. In addition. Carter has found a way to travel around the country without an nouncing his candidacy. The “Town Meet ing” format that puts him in contact with the grass roots is one at which he excels. During August, Carter plans to make a series of one-day trips around the country that will keep him in the news while Con gress is away from Washington on a vaca tion recess. In many ways. Carter has faced his own “crisis of confidence.” His private pollster, Pat Caddell, paid by the Democratic Na tional Committee, is at the White House almost daily. Caddell has presented Carter with data on the country that did not bode well for his own political future. Most of the leaders he invited to Camp David during the soul-searching period were supportive, while giving him blunt advice. At a recent White House luncheon he held a reunion of the “Domestic Sum mit” advisers and told them he was taking their criticism to heart. “I would hope that I have a special group of people now throughout the na tion who can deal with me as a human being and without restraint and with a maximum of frankness,” he told them. “In that way you can be an extra benefit to me and to our country.” He also asked the leaders to carry his message throughout the country to help him achieve his goals in energy conserva tion and “the repairing of the conscious ness and attitudes of our nation.” Carter and his aides all say that nary a word was spoken on “politics” at during those extraordinary mountaintop sessions. But most of the results have been trans lated in terms of the shaping the political future of President Carter. Top of the News the STATE AW Food stamp eligibility changes A change in eligibility standards for food stamps will allow house holds to claim an $83 allowance in lieu of utility expenses when calculating income, state officials in Austin have announced. A spokesman for the Department of Human Resources said Tuesday the $83 allowance toward a foodstamp household’s shelter deduction helps determine the amount of stamps the household is eligible for. Actual utility costs that are higher than the $83 standard may be used if they can be verified. NATION Flash fire injures four in Pasadena A flash fire in a gasoline additives manufacturing area of an Ethyl Corp. plant in Pasadena Tuesday injured four men, two seriously. The spokesman said it was unclear whether an explosion occurred and added there was no immediate estimate of damage or the possi ble effect on production. United ] SHADY P B. Bensoi Siinous seclr lie run from [is first day ‘porters anc I ith relatives The x- ri officially 6y. He said le Kiamichi Istern Oklah He went . exas, Air Foi [rgeant rep ould not ma pould leave ok the advic [was more t Ion realized legal act. The next 3< file run, Ben ared he woi I' shot. I But Wedne OWJ Arson possible cause in Ohio fire n ei The Holiday Inn motel, located just south of Cambridge, Ohio, had 170 rooms and all but four of them were occupied by summer travel ers when a fire broke out Tuesday. The state fire marshal's office is investigating the possibility of arson that started in a first-floor hall way. It spread quickly through the motel’s north wing. A fire alarm was sounded by two teen-agers playing a pinball machine. People trapped in their rooms used chairs and other furniture to try to smash their way through sealed, double-pane floor-to-ceiling glass panels, which could not be opened. Nine died, four of them children, and 78 others were injured. :ans Florida kidnapper knows' wrong United DES MOI ew mandate x>k full effec isposable be I ling of the j: I It also mas traditional lx I‘st of crush ii 1 tme of "toss I dw,” simple I rage distribi James Keith Tucker, 18, from High Point, N.C., w'ho apparently inadvertently kidnapped Caroline Thompson, 5, last Saturday, has refused the services of a public defender. “I don’t need a lawyer to tell me what I done wrong,” he said in a jailhouse interview from Florence, S.C., Tuesday while awaiting extradition to Florida. He said he was high on glue Saturday when he took over the station wagon of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Thompson in a motel parking lot at Daytona Beach, Fla. “When I’m high on glue, 1 don’t think too good." It was a shock, he said, when he discovered the blond, blue eyed little girl and two dogs in the back seat. Muggers get wallet and hot’ dog Don’t try to tell Albert Chistante of Seattle that dog is man’s best friend. His dog seems to prefer women. Chistante, 55, was walking his dog in downtown Seattle Tuesday when two women attacked him, hit him several times and grabbed his wallet. As Chistante yelled for help, the women ran and jumped into a nearby car. And what of Chistante’s dog — a mix of a German shepherd and a Doberman? Police said the dog “jumped into the suspects’ car and left with them.” ir consumer: Wife tells court about robbery plat The estranged wife of murder defendant Roger Dale Stafford Wednesday told a packed courtroom in Oklahoma City how she, her husband and brother-in-law planned a robbery of a Sirloin Stockade restaurant in July 1978 in which six persons were killed. Mrs. Stafford said the trio decided to stage a robbery when they did not receive a welfare check they were expecting. “We was very desperate for money at that time,” said Verna Stafford, testifying in the first day ofa preliminary hearing for her husband. As well as being charged with slaying the six restaurant employees, Stafford is considered a prime suspect in the June 22, 1978. slayings of three members of a Texas family near Purcell. Authorities have determined the same weapons killed the restaurant victims and the Texas family. I “You got t( f.E. Sinks, lepsi-Cola G I les Moines v I xmt the ne\ I "We expei I he trend in I jvernment ii I ists. We’re I ue socialism I Pepsi-Cola weeks ago to I grating the I Sinks said I ists 46 cent mts is for tl large and 21 pst of covera The law, egislature to rve resourc eposit on m It was w phases. The first p ay 1, when lores began i |s on liquor i ednesday, iposits on n< r soft drink WORLD Seventeen die in plane crash Seventeen people aboard a twin-propeller plane died Tuesday when the plane rolled off the runway in Lerwick, Shetland Islands during takeoff and nose-dived over the rocky coastline into the North Sea. Thirty others either swam to safety or were pulled from the choppy water by helicopters and small fishing boats. The plane was ferrying 44 oil workers and a crew of three through heavy rain to a vacation in Scotland. “(The pilot) went off the end going slightly sideways and ended about 20 yards offshore, said Capt. Johnathan DalrympleSmith, 39, a pilot who saw the crash. The plane sank in 70 feet of water and officials said 11 bodies were still trapped inside when the search for survivors was suspended at dusk. 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Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress - Editor Karen W* News Editor Debbie Parsoi 1 : Sports Editor Sean Pel 1 ' City Editor Roy Brafi Campus Editor Keith Tayk'' Staff Writers Robin Thompson Louie Arthur, Carolyn Blosser, Davie Boggan Photo Editor Clay Cockff Photographer Lynn Blane | Cartoonist Greg SprosW , Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor dr of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, s4 supporting enterprise operated by studenti as a university and community newspm Editorial policy is determined by the editor