Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
December 10, 1980
By CA'
Slouch
By Jim Earle
'Now that's what I call a Christmas tree!'
The rich are the new
heroes of college kids
By PATRICIA McCORMACK
United Press International
College kids have new heroes these days —
the college graduates who are making fat
paychecks out in the business world.
That’s according to a report from the Carne
gie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Educa
tion, which adds that “fat” in this case means
“enough to ... go first class.”
The report, entitled “When Dreams and
Heroes Die”, condenses studies of students on
campuses coast to coast who are working to
attain college degress which carry the highest
price tag in history — over $40,000 for some
schools.
Arthur Levine, the report’s author, said
many students view their own futures as bright
but the country’s as poor, so that they see
themselves “going first class on the Titanic. ”
Levine said 91 percent of those polled say
they are optimistic about themselves but only
41 percent are optimistic about the country.
“For the past four years, the Institute for
Social Research at the University of Michigan
has studied the future outlook of college-bound
high school seniors.
“With each succeeding year, students have
grown slightly more pessimistic about the coun
try until 1979. That year pessimism increased
by a full fifth. In contrast, nine out of every 10
students were quite positive about their own
futures.”
Levine said a typical “about the future” inter
view with a college student goes like this:
Interviewer: Will the United States be a bet
ter or worse place to live in the next 10 years?
Student: The U. S. will definitely be a worse
place to live.
Interviewer: Then you must be pessimistic
about the future?
Student: No, I’m optimistic.
Interviewer (with surprise): Why?
Student: Because I have a high grade point
average and I’m going to get a good job, make a
lot of money, and live in a nice house.
Among the worries cited:
— Fears over the economy, polution, ener
gy, crime, morals and nuclear war.
— Apprehension over nuclear power, cor
porations, greed, illegal aliens and the right
wing.
— Concerns over Anita Bryant and her anti
homosexual campaign, Phyllis Schlafly and her
anti-Equal-Rights-Amendment campaign.
“There is a sense among today’s undergradu
ates that they are passengers on a sinking ship, a
And what about after graduation?
“They want their own home (not an apart
ment or a condominium) with a big yard, well-
kept lawn, appliances, stereo and the like,”
the University of Michigan Institute for Social
Research found.
“About half think it is extremely important to
have clothes in the latest style.”
The focus is on the material joys of life.
Levine said: “Glitter and gold are part of the
driving force for this generation, more so than
for their predecessors of the 1960s.”
And a philosophy of life is much less impor
tant.
“Perhaps if one believes that he or she is ...
on a doomed ship, a philosophy of life becomes
meaningless, ” Levine said. “It is a world where
freedom of individual action seems pathetically
limited and a time when situational ethics
appear to make more sense than a philosophy of
life.”
The report ends with recommendations.
It said “self-centered and me-oriented” col
lege students — also weak in basic skills — are
in serious need of education with at least four
distinctive qualities. To wit:
1) Education that teaches the skills of read
ing, writing, arithmetic, speaking, problem
solving, lifelong learning, “crap detection”
(identifying the drivel, exaggerations and un
truths that we hear and read every day), and
surviving.
2) Education which emphasizes our common
humanity and which is concerned with our
common problems and the ways that we
together can solve them. “This is ever so impor
tant in mitigating the self-concern that, more
than any other characteristic, stands out in this
generation.”
3) Education which stresses issues of value
and questions of ethics. “For a pragmatic, com
petitive generation with a Titanic mentality and
a propensity for taking academic shortcuts, this
is essential.”
4) Education that gives students a base from
which to continue learning and the skills neces
sary to perform well in a succession of jobs.
Warped
Calls for S. Africa sanction!
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By CHARLES MITCHELL
United Press International
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — South
Africa’s stubborn opposition to independence
for South West Africa has brought new calls for
international sanctions from the United Nations
council for the territory, a region as big as Texas
and Arkansas that also is known as Namibia.
Sanctions have hung over South Africa’s
head since it adopted a policy of race segrega
tion or apartheid two decades ago. So, despite
government warnings to prepare for the worst,
the man in the street appears more concerned
about the supply of scotch whiskey than the
national economy.
“Sanctions can’t hurt us, ” said Jan Van As, a
building contractor. “Little things like cigaret
tes and whiskey might become short, but so
what? This country is loaded. South Africa is a
survivor.”
Prime Minister Pieter Botha likes to refer to
sanctions as “a double-edged sword.” As the
mineral supermarket of the West, South Africa
can withhold minerals such as chrome and plati
num and cause disruptions in numerous world
economies.
Following the bloody 1976 riots in the all
black Johannesburg suburb of Soweto, South
Africa increased its overseas borrowing by 50
percent and poured the money into huge capit
al projects aimed at making the country self-
sufficient in industries as diverse as energy,
automobiles, petro-chemicals, agriculture —
even whiskey.
Faced with an arms embargo after riots in the
Soweto riots, South Africa gave top priority to
establishing an arms industry. Starting from
scratch, it became an arms exporter in four
years.
Stockpiling has become official government
policy. In some strategic industries, govern
ment loans do not have to be repaid as long as
inventories are kept at a certain level. All types
of rationing programs could be put into effect in
less than a week.
A comprehensive study of sanctions by Pro
fessor Arnt Spandau of Johannesburg’s Wit-
watersrand University predicted trade sanc
tions only 20 percent effective would put about
90,000 whites and 340,000 blacks out of work or
about 20 percent of the respective labor forces.
His economic model shows “the rate of black
job advancement will decline” and chances are
that blacks, the intended benefactors of the
boycott, “will suffer most” from it.
Spandau predicts that, if Britain were to tot
ally boycott South Africa, more than 60,000
Britons would lose their jobs because of the
high trade volume between the two® ,clerks don
But sanctions would be a moresen'cl; While s
to black southern African states tfaj blue-e
heavily on South Africa for mani»
goods, food and employment. IvVj
South Africa employes an estimated;L me anc ]
foreign blacks from Lesotho, Swazilaiil»,“We w:
wana, Malawi, Mozambique and Ziife getting
Most are on a contract basis with pa; day,” she
gold remitted directly to the foreign* Her cut
ment. Those workers would bethefoMp 5 °^ f
January-to-September trade fig»^ ineer r
South African exports to black state;®^ rsi y
$1.1 billion while imports amounted:Kj ar | )ert;
million. to bother i
Internally, sanctions pose a greattpes the v
relations between South Africa’s 4®^eing le
whites and 18 million blacks. vision of n
“Sanctions would be interpreted tprection
leftist radicals as a victory over I
and this could certainly lead to interralJ
and high black expectations for chasgtl
John Barret, director of the Instituteolk
tional Affairs.
Political anaylists point out thatinteiifepognize
rest might be met with renewed govti j^rs and vi
crackdowns and would certainly slorlRI’m rea
forms introduced by Botha since het P°pl e oc
power almost two years ago.
Titanic if you will, called the United States or
the world,” Levine said.
“Perhaps this is part of the reason why
suicide has become the second leading cause of
death among students in the 1970s, exceeded
only by accidents.
“Today’s fatalism fuels a spirit of justified
hedonism.
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Corps values pretentious, hypocritia
Editor:
I’d like to take this time to voice my opinions
on the Corps of Cadets and the values they
pretend to uphold. Before I go further I would
like to make it clear that I am a member of the
Corps. Now to continue, what is the purpose of
the Corps? Leadership? Integrity? Wrong!
What the Corps is is the biggest bunch of
hypocrites I have ever seen. Sure, for the pub
lic and other students on campus, they uphold a
false image, but when it comes down to it they
discriminate worse than the Klan does to
minorities. I think that anyone that sues the
Corps for discrimination is in the right. I say
that because I experience the Corps discrimina
tion every day. I came to this University in 1978
and joined the Corps because I (at the time)
thought the Corps represented a high standard
of a person. But I was fooled by the false image
they had. Well, when I got in I was labeled as a
“head. ” (’70s term for hippie.) That prejudice of
labeling has given trouble for almost three years
now. But I’ve stayed in for I feel someone has to
try to put a stop to the prejudices that the Corps
has is against the female cadets. They have been
here now over five years and if people can’t
accept them by now, I don’t think that shows
any leadership at all. In fact a senior told me I
could not associate with them while he was
around because he’s a senior and he said so.
Now is that any way for a leader with integrity
to talk? Other prejudices: A cadet was not
accepted for a staff position because they said he
was too religious. Now I ask is that leadership or
is that leadership? As I write this lettfi!
think of all the hypocrites in the Corps tt
try to do “something” about this letter l)«
again that is the childish leadership 4
been allowed in the Coips. Also I will
catch hell from the Trigon for this
then again the Trigon likes to restrict
constitutional right of freedom to exprf
self. The truth in this case does hurt
about time for the Corps to accept peof
what they can give of themselves and
demn them for their beliefs.
Paul SIK
;omo wa
use of its
â– een said
The Battalion
I SPS 045 360
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