Viewpoint
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The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Monday
October 6, 1980
Slouch
By Jim Earle
1 don't care for it too much, but they say our room is directly over a
rich oil deposit, so what the heck, it may be worthwhile. “
Hot dogs meant to be round
By S
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — My neighbor Flintstopp
was fuming.
“If Mother Nature had intended hot dogs to
be flat, she would have given us square buns,”
he told me over his backyard grill.
A traditionalist from the tip of his heat-
resistant mittens to the bow of his “Chief Cook
and Bottle Washer” apron, Flintstopp was sore
ly offended by a Johns Hopkins University
study of hot dog configuration.
The main conclusion drawn by researcher
Susan Baker was that flat franks would be safer
for children, a number of whom choke on hot
dogs each year.
Moreover, her report indicated that flat hot
dogs would be less likely to roll off the grill into
the charcoal briquettes.
Radical findings of this type go down hard for
orthodox hot dog reactionaries like Flintstopp.
Actually, contrary to the impression har
bored by some of the more dedicated defenders
of the hot dog status quo, there is nothing hal
lowed about the cylindrical shape of frankfur
ters.
It is true the basic design dates back to the
Middle Ages. But architectural perfection was a
minor consideration, if that. Those exemplar
franks were made by stuffing meat into sheep
intestines. Ergo, they took that general confor
mation, which was the line of least resistance.
The hot dog as we know it — that is, the frank
on a bun — did not come into existence until
128, or 113 or 78 years ago, depending on which
authority you consult.
Some historians say the hot dog was invented
in 1867 by Charles Feltman, a Coney Island pie
salesman, who, being a native of Frankfurt,
Germany, called his creation a frankfurter.
(Had Feltman been born in Hamburg, Ger
many, he presumably would have called it a
hamburger.)
».nd then
grasshopper
jftob Horn
Friday nign
Other historians claim the first hogdoi§yd ie
not constructed until 1902 and that itwasml was he
that name by Tad Dorgan, a San FranH^. an ^ *
cartoonist, because it reminded him of nK
shund.
Still other historians insist the hot dot
invented in 1883 by Anton Ludwig Feucklj
ger, a St. Louis sausage monger.
If you get deeply involved in thiscontn
sy, as I have done, you can even finddainrt
the name “hot dog” stemmed from “hum
implications that they were made ffo»
meat.
The Johns Hopkins study said it hadi
proven that flat hot dogs were techno]
feasible. I can believe that. With the ad'
cellulose casings, hot dogs no longer™
low the contours of sheep intestines.
But as so often happens with era
issues, the upshot probably will beacon
ise. I look for eventual agreement on all
hot dog, still elongated in the tradition;
ner but with six fiat sides.
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■ ©IW/04&60 T0(kt&~
Education should allow
for brain growth rates
By PATRICIA McCORMACK
United Press International
A new explanation for why some children lag
in school, then suddenly spurt in learning abil
ity has been put forth — the theory that brain
tissue does not always grow at a steady rate.
For school administrators, teachers, and pa
rents, as well as kids, the theory of irregular
brain growth raises all sorts of questions. Some
samples: .. i( . , ^
— Should a child’s school curriculum be
geared to brain growth and pauses — strong
during the growth periods, easy during the
pauses?
— Since kindergarten may be too late to do
right by a toddler’s brain under circumstances
envisioned by this theory, when should a pa
rent attempt to enrich a pre-school child’s
brain? And with what? Nonsense stuff in
periods of pause and Plato and calculus in time
of growth?
The theory is discussed in a report in “The
School Administrator,” put out by the Amer
ican Association of School Administrators,
Arlington, Va.
Noting that the theory of irregular growth
conflicts with the old notion that the brain
grows at a constate rate, Conrad Toepfer and
Richard Mills say some changes in curriculum
may be called for. Toepfer is from the Universi
ty of Georgia, and Mills is president of the
AASA.
“We have held this myth, as I call it, that the
brain grows on a constant continuum and the
object of teachers has been to challenge youngs
ters on the cutting edge of this continuing
growth,” Toepfer said. “However, the brain
does not grow on a continuum but rather in a
series of stages. If a youngster is in a plateau or
period of no growth and we attempt to push him
beyond his neurological capacity to think, he
goes into a turn-off situation. ”
Toepfer, associate professor of middle school
education, said research about these things
“gives us some very frightening information.”
“That is,” he said, “a child’s emotional turn
off is such that even when he comes to the next
period of great brain growth, he is not going to
succeed because he has the feeling that he is a
failure and no matter how hard he tries on the
level the school expects of him, he can’t cut it. ”
Here, from the report, are questions and
answers on the theory called “brain growth
periodization”:
Q. What is brain growth periodization?
A. “It is a term that... now identifies a scien
tific fact: that the brain does not grow on a
constant continuum as we have assumed in edu
cation. Research from neurobiology, biophy
sics, biology, cadaver and autopsy have con
firmed that the brain grows at certain times
with intervening plateau periods. This is highly
fixed for between 85 and 90 percent of all
youngsters of average or above average ability. ”
Q. When do these plateaus or spurts occur?
A. “Eighty-five to 90 percent of youngsters
go through brain growth spurts between the
ages of 3 and 10 months, 2 and 4 years, 6 and 8
years, 10 and 12 years, and the last one we ever
have is 14 to 16-plus years of age, which coin
cides with the transformation of pubescence. ”
. Q. What happens during brain growth?
- A. “The maturation of the synapses anchthe-
extension of the synapses is taking place. Dur
ing the periods of great growth, we have been
able to identify the telegraphy that connects
synapses, the axons which are the sending im
pulses, and the dendrites which are the receiv
ing impulses, grow and branch and length
tremendously. It’s the physical development of
new neural networks during the brain growth
periods which is the phenomena that has to
relate to how youngsters can learn. And this
happens for between 85 and 90 percent of kids
of average or above average ability during these
times.”
Q. What does this mean for teachers?
A. “In every place we have done research it is
quite clear if you do teach youngsters in terms
of when they can be challenged and when they
can’t, the achievement and maturation of think
ing skills is astounding. ”
Q. Are there sex differences in terms of brain
growth stages?
A. “... between 11 and 12 years of age, which
is the last half of the 10-to-12 brain growth
stage, girls outgain boys three to one in brain
growth. This reciprocates in favor of boys be
tween 14 and 15, which is the first half of that
last brain growth stage. The National Institute
of Education ... is trying to investigate the
problems of women and mathematics. One of
their concerns is that despite the fact that
women are innately more intelligent than men,
boys outperform girls and men outperform
women about three to one in serious studies of
the analytical and theoretical areas beginning in
high school, continuing into college and enter
ing into the professions.”
Q. Do findings about brain growth spurt and
no growth periods impact on Head Start prog
rams?
A. “Most Head Start programs occur be
tween 4-6 years of age, a period of plateau.
Where Head Start programs are given to chil
dren between 6 and 8, period of brain growth,
there is continuing educational gain.”
Q. What about implications for pre-school
children?
A. “It might be that the public school or some
form of organized education is going to begin for
children between the ages of one and four, two
and four. But we know the 2-4 period is a period
of great brain growth and if we do the best of
what can be done — such as in the really good
Montessori Schools — this might be a clue. ”
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It’s your turn
Research shouldn 't hinder teaching
Editor:
Lately a question has been bothering me,
“What is the purpose of a university?” Asked a
few years ago, I would have answered without
hesitating, “To provide students with a proper
education.” Now, however, it is evident that
research plays an important role as well. The
problem here is which one is more important?
To the students the obvious answer is educa
tion. Also, it would prove difficult to have re
search without educated people. Some instruc
tors seem to disagree, however, by conveying
an obvious attitude of indifference in the clas
sroom and out. Since more money is available
in most research rather than in teaching, it is
understandable for their desire to work in that
area. Learning is not made easier though, when
these instructors reveal their apparent lack of
concern for the students. After all, most of us
are here for an education and it is within our
rights to achieve this goal. Now it seems that
those who are “indispensible” as teachers, i.e.
(Oct. 2) Dr. Brown, and underplay research’s
importance are refused tenure. In all fairness,
the instructors here mainly for research, who
care less about teaching, should be treated
equally.
Yet even the high officials of this university
reveal a problem defining education’s import
ance (as noted in the article concerning Hubert
and Miller). A board of rich, power-hungry
members evidently has received the right to
withdraw the education system’s power, plac
ing it in the research area instead. What, be
sides deterioration in quality, effect will this
action have on the education system? Where
are the funds supporting this move coming from
(will the former students appreciate this money
transfer)?
As a student at Texas A&M I’d like to be
accurately informed on this matter. It seems
our leaders need to reevaluate the university’s
goals in order to provide definite information.
The education system should be expanded, not
hindered in growth.
Tina L. Hrncir ’82
We're basically OK
Editor:
This letter is one we feel needs to be written
and all pessimistic Ags should pay attention.
Lately there have been numerous criticisms
concerning Mike Mosley and the football team,
the way people conduct themselves at concerts
and yell practice, and even Grandpa Reagan
and Smilin’ Jimmy.
We feel that some people, regardless of
creed, race or non-reg and military status on
campus would complain or critically state the
problems concerning the price of rice
It takes all types to make the world functiob
guess we are a couple of Ags that are no I
perfect as others and hope we will notbecof
mned for that. We have both been guilt 1
neglecting tradition and even the cardinals
yelling at concerts but we hope we are
destined for Satan’s chamber for this. Evide
someone, while straightening their halot *
they must play mother or good BOY aad
critical of our every error we so viscioi
commit.
Our opinion is that everyone is basically?
and their actions are not meant to be hannfo
anyone else. We surly hope next timewefo 1
some tradition someone doesn’t take it oil
sively. If we do, don’t play Joe Good Ag<
condemn us for it, nothing annoys us more'
hope you will look in the mirror and realize
are not perfect, as we are not. Besides you
not appreciate our non-reg two percenter re]
or action (as it has been stated). So worry
your own faults and keep on swimmin’.
Brian Davis
Mike Weis*
fall
AND
SPE(
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D
Warped
By Scott McCutlar
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Dillard Stone
Managing Editor Rhonda Watters
Asst. Managing Editor Scott Haring
City Editor Becky Swanson
Sports Editor Richard Oliver
Asst. Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Scot K. Meyer
News Editors Lynn Blanco,
Gwen Ham, Todd Woodard
Staff Writers Jennifer Afflerbach, Kurt Allen,
Nancy Andersen, Marcy Boyce, Mike Burrichter,
Pat Davidson, Jon Heidtke, Uschi Michel-Howell,
Debbie Nelson, Liz Newlin, Cathy Saathoff,
Rick Stolle
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photo Editor • Pat O’Malley
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Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station.'
77843.
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