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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 1984)
Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, August 2,1984 Opinion ■ w Aggie paramedics giving qualify care The work of paramedics and emer gency medical technicians is one of those things that is often taken for granted. If you are sick or injured, you expect the ambulance crew to do ev erything possible to help. If you are not, usually you don’t care. But the service has to be there, and be good, in spite of apathy. The epit ome of emergency medicine, the state- of-the-art, is advanced life support: procedures like starting IV’s and in serting advanced airway tubes. Aggies are lucky. The Texas A&M Emergency Medical Services has had the capability to use these advanced techniques since its inception in 1979, although it has rarely been permitted to. So it was something of a milestone Tuesday when Texas A&M EMS re ceived permission from St. Joseph Hospital to make use of that training and start an IV on a fireman training school participant with heart problems who collapsed in the MSC. The use of those advanced skills was a big step for the Texas A&M EMS program. David Phillips, the Texas A&iyi EMS chief, sees it as step toward full acceptance of the controversial area of advanced life support by both St. Joseph Hospital and the Bryan- College Station area. It’s nice to know that the program is being more fully accepted by the local medical community. And we can ex pect continued top-notch basic care for people injured on the Texas A&M campus. That’s worth at least $15 a semester, wouldn’t you say. — The Battalion Editorial Board Foreign TA's strive When I found out two surrtmers ago that my hus band would be sharing an office with a graduate student named Krishnamurty Muralidhar, I had some reservations. Would we be able to understand him? Would he find anything in common with us? How well would he be able to teach? ' Both Kris and my husband started their doctoral programs in business analysis during the summer of 1982. Both were assigned to assist with a class that summer, and both, though graduate students, were soon given charge of a class. My husband began teaching in the fall of 1982 while Kris had to wait until spring to teach, both with master’s students assigned to them as TA’s. Watching Kris in the office with his students these past two years has erased my doubts about the effective ness of foreign graduate teaching as sistants. Last spring Kris was assigned to teach the same class my husband teaches. Now that I could compare students in the same course both taught by graduate students, one from the United States and one from India, I began to wonder how the problems of teaching as a graduate student are compounded for foreign students. Jim Lane, assistant international student adviser, says language prob lems and culture shock are the biggest adjustments for all foreign students, not just those teaching classes. Adapting to English is not a prob lem that Kris, nor any of his friends from India, has to face. Although In dia has many different native lan guages, classes are taught in English in most of the schools. .... CREBCNW nmllWaA- or Ui l 6P3AT SFRYICBI VO I 6£T G&VmmPS,VX)? > ..SORRY... JUST GRE£N&fOCS... AUS1 Wednes Rep. Sa likely ch as Texas I Faint< r hite’s .id one uesda) iractice White will nai hough rently ir hate ani .igton, luently Wedd lave th< 'i wa; Iford, s ment c ror” th this e turned visory to take Burl as chie jtection month enviroi pointn whelm the H< Senate Her the Na Ocean for student understanding For this reason, Kris understand ably gets angry when students say he can’t speak English. We laughed at the end of the spring semester at a crit icism one of his students wrote on an evaluation form. “Basically, I would have enjoyed the class alot (sic) more if I had another prof who wasn’t such a smart ass (un derlined), sarcastic, pig-headed, and spoke English,” a student said. And I’m sure Kris would have en joyed teaching more if he had more students who could write a decent En glish sentence. I realize my view of foreign grad uate teaching assistants is biased; after all one is my husband’s best friend. I also sympathize with the foreign stu dents who barely speak English, re membering the stories my father told me. As a child new to the United States he was thrust into a classroom and hardly spoke more than a few words in class for an entire year. I can also sympathize with students who actually have a problem under standing a foreign TA. When I ar ranged an interview with Ishwar Mur- thy, also a doctoral student in business analysis from India, I arrived at room 115 at the appointed time. When I got there, it was the wrong room. He had told me room 150, not 115, but I mis understood. It is more than just my opinion, however, that students don’t always give foreign graduate teaching assis tants a fair chance. Tina Watkins, in ternational student adviser, says stu dents from the United States don’t realize the high standards the foreign students must meet before they are even admitted. A required 3.5 mini mum grade point average, satisfactory results on the Test Of English as a For eign Lanuage, and departmental in terviews and screenings for graduate students who want to teach bring only the best international students to Texas A&M. “We put enough restrictions on for eign students that they really bti want to come,” she says. Dr. Bill Perry, associate profed mathematics and coordinator orientation program for math I says students having problems n foreign TA usually request a chan^l section during the first week of cm He says this isn’t enough time fori students to evaluate the foreign I! performance, so he advises then stay with the TA another week. Aa that, most have adjusted totheacct he says. Although Kris has been s[ English all his life, he knows he has an Indian accent. Heisalsoaie of his cultural differences butte think they should interfere with teaching ability. “I definitely think some studec have reservations about me,”he» “‘By the time they get out, I hope! changed their opinions.” (Rebecca Dimeo is a senior jounfy lism major.) quire and R ignore corner she wa But Larry Reaga dent ‘ Burfo Bur cated i the jol rado i Letters: Kansas State prof appreciates Aggies Editor: While trying to get to the airport Thursday morning, July 19,1 received much-appreciated assistance from two fine ladies at the desk of the guest house of the Memorial Student Cen ter. An expected taxi did not arrive and the ladies made calls to the taxi company, to the airport to ask that my plane be held and, finally one of them rushed me to the airport in her own car (no doubt losing a good parking place.) We arrived only a minute be fore boarding time. During the flurry of activity I failed to get the names of the women; I hope this letter conveys to them how much I appreciated their unselfish and cour teous efforts in my behalf. Also, while I was waiting out front for the cab, and still expecting it, a student just coming off night duty at the Center offered to take me to the airport. During the three days I spent on your campus I was impressed by the friendliness of the students, and oth ers, the majority of whom would greet us with a smile and a “howdy” as they passed. I’m beginning to understand why Texans brag about Texas. Thanks, ladies! Robert B. Mills Professor of Entomology Kansas State University New check policy not thought out Editor: I agree 100 percent with Ms. Flue- gal’s editorial on the new check cash ing policy of the fiscal department. Not all students bank in College Sta tion, and not all student’s banks offer automated teller services. The fiscal department may have eliminated the lines in the Coke Building but now the lines will be extremely long in the MSC. More thought should have been put into the effects of such a policy. Shelli R. Shivers- G.O.P. searches for convention protesters “The Sierra Club is going to be in the Sierras, the Audobon Society told me they’d rather be birdwatching, and the Friends of the Earth are holding their own convention in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. I couldn’t even get a handful of anti-nuke demonstrators to come in from New Hampshire. ” By ART BUCHWALD „ Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate The stage managers in charge of the Republican National Convention in Dallas are in a tizzy. How do you keep the TV public’s attention for four days when the nominations of the President and his Vice President are a sure thing? I went over to Republican campaign headquarters to see what was going on. One of the people producing the show was screaming at his assistant. “The only thing that will set this con vention on fire are angry demonstra tors on the outside of the hall.” “No one wants to demonstrate against Reagan in Dallas," the assistant said. “I’ve been talking to the gay com munity in San Francisco and they turned me down flat.” “Did you tell them we’d pay their way if they’d throw stones and block streets?” “Of course I did. But they said they would rather go to the beach in Au- gust.” “How about the environmental groups? Surely they have reason to protest this administration.” “The Sierra Club is going to be in the Sierras, the Audobon Society told me they’d rather be birdwatching, and the Friends of the Earth are holding their own convention in the Grand Te tons in Wyoming. I couldn’t even get a handful of anti-nuke demonstrators to come in from New Hampshire.” “What about the peaceniks who want us to pull out of Central Ameri ca?” “They were afraid to come because of Texas’ reputation for police brutali ty-” The stage manager was frustrated. “They all scream about the Reagan ad ministration, but where are they when we need them? I told the party hon chos Dallas was a lousy place to hold our show.” “Why do you need demonstrators?” I asked him. “Because we have to show some contrast between what’s going on in side the hall and what’s going on out side. How can our speakers attack the people demonstrating outside when there is nobody there? Couldn’t you find any hardcore secular humanists willing to demonstrate against prayers in school?” the manager asked. “Most secular humanists are on va cation in August.” “What about the National Organiza tion for Women? Can’t we get them to come to Dallas?” “They said they were thinking about demonstrating at our conven tion, but concluded it would be a waste of time. “I promised ABC, CBS and NBC there would be riots outside of the convention hall and the National Guard would be standing by. We haven’t even come up with one Hi panic to protest the Simpson-Maza bill.” “If you want my opinion,” theasi tant said, “I think there is a conspire amongst all the organizations whoa: against Reagan to boycott our conve: tion. They figure if there is no tur® everyone will watch an old movie« an independant channel, and no o: will even see our candidates on it air.” “That very thought dawnedonffi the stage manager said. “Well, ifthf don’t want to play that game well pt it ourselves. Get me the Dallas chief police.” The assistant dialed and handed phone to the manager. “Chief, thi the convention planner. Listen, thei is going to be a bearded guy outsits the convention hall with a big Monda< button on his shirt holding a‘Get Of of El Salvador’ sign. When the T cameras show up he’s going to set fid to an American flag. You can arres him, but tell your people not to be* up on him too much, because h really my assistant and I’m going need him to organize the show insi the hall.” (iff OUT OF P£BT FRB6 CARP,,,, The Battalion (ISPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Rebeca Zimmermann, Editor Bill Robinson, Editorial Page Editor Shelley Hoekstra, City Editor Brigid Brockman, News Editor Kathleen Hart, News Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editor Robin Black Assistant News Editors Dena Brown, Bonnie Langford Staff Writers Ed Alanis, Kari Fluegel,Bob McGlohon, Sarah Oates Copy Writers Karen Bloch, Cyndy Davis Copy Editor Tracie Holub Photographers Peter Rocha, Eric Evan Lee Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryin- College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those ol tlx Editorial Board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&rM administrators, lacvhf or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper lot students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Communications. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words i« length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length but will make every effort to maintain the author's intent. Each letter must be signed and must in clude the address and telephone number of the writer. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday dur ing Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. 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