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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1983)
The Battalion Serving the University community Vol 78 No. 36 USPS 0453110 10 pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, October 18,1983 Who's in the running? Michael Wolf, a freshman agricultural minute to check out the candidates in the economics major from Cuero, takes a upcoming freshmen elections. Education group compares schools by Robin Black Battalion Staff The Select Committee on Public Education, created by the state legisla ture to examine the condition of pub lic education in Texas, has moved to the next phase of research, the dean of the College of Education says. Dean C. Corrigan is one of 15 members appointed to the committee by Gov. Mark White, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, and Speaker of the House Gib Lewis. The committee traveled around the state in September to examine school districts in areas from Brown sville to El Paso to Sherman. The panel members visited school districts in high- and low-income areas and urban and rural areas to compare problems present in each system. Every school district is different and has its own unique problems, Corrigan said. “For example, we visited Spring’s school district, which is in an essential ly wealthy area, and Brownsville’s school district, which is in a very low- income area,” Corrigan said, “yet both districts’ biggest complaint was insufficient funding.” Now that the committee has seen the variety of conditions in school dis tricts, Corrigan said, it can move into the problem-analysis phase of re search. When not on the road, the commit tee was in Austin hearing interest groups and resource people speak on teacher excellence, competency and compensation, distribution of finan cial resources, revenue funding for education and special programs and problems. These areas are the com mittee’s main objectives. To deal with the problem of attract ing and retaining quality teachers, Corrigan said the committee must re view the state’s salary schedule and assess its effectiveness. The committee also will recom mend constructive changes and viable alternatives and additions to the cur rent pay schedule, including ideas for incentive compensation to meet speci fic district needs and to reward quality performance, he said. Finally, the committee will make re commendations regarding the feasi bility of a comprehensive fringe be nefits package for educational per sonnel, he said. One idea presented to the commit tee by the Texas State Teachers Asso ciation was that the state toughen its requirements for education majors in the state colleges by extending prepa ration for teaching to a five-year de gree program. The increased course require ments would include more academic classes in the major and minor fields plus instruction in critical thinking, problem solving and creativity, hu man growth and development, learn ing theories and decision-making and communications skills. The proposal also provides that education majors spend one year as a paid student teacher in a school sys tem under the supervision of a “mas ter teacher” prior to certification. Corrigan said higher standards for certification are important because the public won’t provide the money for higher salaries and teacher incen tives unless they are assured of quality performance by the teachers. “We have to match any new re quirements with new incentives that will attract and keep quality educa tors,” he said. “One won’t work with out the other. “We need to move as fast on salaries and other incentives as we have on establishing new policies and stan dards.” he said. The committee hasn’t brought up the issue of merit pay — the reason behind the committee’s birth — be cause the state must first get teacher salaries to a level competitive with jobs of similar training, Corrigan said. “That’s why the committee was cre ated in the first place,” he said, “be cause the argument of researching and establishing a competitive base salary and incentives could not be set tled by the legislature.” The committee also is looking into increased course requirements for public school students, Corrigan said, probably a generalized outline that would be applied to all districts in the state. “We need to establish some basic skills requirements, he said, “with a See TEACHERS, page 8 Vietnam MIA rescuer to speak tonight in Theater by Steve Thomas Battalion Staff The Vietnam war still rages for James “Bo” Gritz, and the Missing In Action soldiers he’s trying to find. The controversial rescuer of MI A’s will be at Texas A&M tonight, his first time to speak at a university. Jim Ke pler of Kepler Associates, an agent for Gritz, said he has received more than $50,000 worth of offers from univer sities for Gritz to speak, but that Texas A&M’s is the first Gritz has accepted. Gritz will discuss his opinion that MI A’s are still being held by commun ists in Vietnam, and that he feels it is his job to get them out. The program starts at 8 tonight in Rudder Theater and is sponsored by the MSC Great Issues committee. Admission is free. In 1964, Gritz went to Vietnam with the Special Forces. He raided enemy headquarters, captured gen erals, destroyed bridges, and killed over 450 enemy soldiers in the pro cess. General William C. Westmoreland, in his book on Vietnam, called Gritz “the daring young commander of one of the first mobile South Vietnamese guerilla forces to be organized.” Gritz also operated secretly in Laos and Cambodia, where he says 700 air men went down and not one re turned. In 1972 Gritz left Vietnam with 60 decorations and the rank of lieute nant colonel. Later, he was assigned to the Defense Security Agency, which dealt with the POW-M1A issue. In October 1978, Lt. Gen. Harold Aaron, deputy director of the De fense Intelligence Agency, told Gritz that there was evidence that Amer ican prisoners were still being held captive by the communists, and asked if Gritz would consider retiring and pursuing this issue from the private sector. Only months away from becoming a full colonel, Gritz immediately re tired and began research into the MIA situation. Gritz will dine with the Corps of Cadets tonight in Duncan Dining Hall and the Corps will give him a military review. Woman should_ contact police Attackers fought off, cadet says by Wanda Winkler Battalion Staff ffliniversity Police are looking for a woman who probably can provide additional information about a recent Hault with a weapon in the student parking lot west of Wellborn Road. ■Until she reports to the University Police, police officials cannot verify what was witnessed by Clarence “Bud dy” Brown, University Police Chief ■ner E. Schneider Jr. said. ■ Early Sunday morning, Brown, a Inior in the Corps of Cadets, was inside Around town 8 Classified |Local ' . . 3 National 7 1 Opinions 2 Sports 9 1 State. ’. 4 'What’s up 6 forecast : Fair with clear skies — lows in the niid-forties. jogging through parking lot 61 when he said he thought he saw four people with car trouble. Brown, a health and physical edu cation major, ran toward the people because He was curious to see what they were doing at 3 a.m., he said. About 30 minutes later, the Texas A&M Emergency Care Team would be treating him for knife or razor cuts on his left forearm, stomach and face. When his jogging brought him ab out 30 feet from the woman and three men he saw, Brown said he heard the woman scream. He then saw that one of the men had the woman pinned up against a parked Monte Carlo, Brown said. The other two men, one white and one black, ran toward him. The w'hite man had a small knife or razor and cut Brown on the forearm, he said. Brown, a green belt in karate, said he ran between the two and kick ed the third man, knocking him to the ground. “He never saw what hit him,” Brown said. “His back was to me the whole time.” Brown told the blonde, 5-foot-4 woman to run. She took off toward the railroad depot, west of Wellborn Road, he said. The third man was still lying on the ground, when the black man hit Brown in the back. “I turned and gave him a forceful shove,” Brown said. “I fought them (the three) for ab out five minutes, because I wanted to give her (the woman) enough time to get away,” he said. Brown fought the armed man, who made “five or six nicks” on his sto mach and a 3-inch cut on his face, he said. “I kicked him in the ribs,” Brown said. “I hope I broke them, because I heard something go.” He said the kick threw the man ab out six feet, where he hit a parked truck and “slowly, sagged out.” The black man helped the other attacker up from the ground, and they ran toward the Wellborn Road crosswalk. Brown said the third man ran off to the northeast. “My adrenaline was really going,” he said. “I made a quick search around the lot, but I couldn’t find her (the woman). Then I ran to the guard room, where I was treated right there on the steps.” Brown gave descriptions of the four persons to the University Police Department. The white man with the weapon was described as 6 feet tall, of medium build, sandy-blonde and age 21. Brown said the 5-foot-9 black man had a stocky build and wore his brown hair braided on the right side of his head. The third man was six feet tall and had dark hair, he said. Cadet first female here to receive Abrams award by Charles P. Dungan Battalion Reporter Texas A&M cadet Susan K. Linn was presented with the Gen. Creight on W. Abrams scholarship for the Third Army ROTC region last week. Linn, commander of Company W-l, is the first female and the second cadet from Texas A&M to win the award. Linn was notified of her award last month by Capt. Robert Cardini of the Military Science department. Linn said she was shocked to hear she won knowing the quality of her competi tion. Linn spent six weeks with cadets from around the region at ROTC summer camp at Fort Riley, Kan. Linn was one of two cadets to win the award this year. Usually only one cadet is honored, but last year’s win ner was later found to be physically unable to join the Army. That cadet’s award was returned to be used this year. A cadet from the University of Ala bama also received the award. The two cadets were chosen from appli cants from the 90 colleges in the ROTC region. The award is presented based on grades, character and integrity. The Military Science Department re viewed the grades of eligible cadets and asked Linn if she would like to apply, she said. Linn submitted her application in September and underwent an exten sive interview by academic, military and cadet leaders. The results of the interview were sent to the region headquarters for evaluation. Linn received the award last week at a convention of military science commandants in Arlington. She re ceived a $1,000 scholarship That she said she intends to use for next year’s tuition. Linn plans to graduate in May with a degree in food science. She will then will join her husband, Lt. Bryan Linn, Class of ’82, at Fort Lewis, Wash. staff photo by Guy Hood Rolled to a stop These two students were pulled over by the University Police Monday for obstructing traffic. The two were reprimanded for cycling and skating on campus streets.