Page 2/The Battalion/Friday August 9, 1985
OPINION
Editorials from around the state:
'Exit tesf needed
The new mandatory high school graduation test is a good
idea, but a tragic commentary on our educational system.
. . . There is no argument that the “exit tests” will ensure
Texas graduates have competency in certain areas. But is this
really enough? The test is a sad reminder that the school system
cannot guarantee the skills of a student who has been promoted
through the system without a final check.
And there is the possibility that passing the test will become
the single focus of all the education that precedes it.
Ideally, each grade level should be a challenge for students,
and their promotion from one to the other should rest on their
ability to meet this challenge.
. . . But this is the real world and graduation tests are a con
cession to reality. In real life, students don’t advance through
grades because they are ready to do so. In real life, a graduation
test is necessary. And that’s a saddening fact.
The Odessa American
Good from bod
The tragic news that movie star Rock Hudson has contracted
the usually fatal disease AIDS has stunned the world.
But sometimes bad news can bring some good.
Once considered a disease of gay men, hemophiliacs and
Haitian refugees, AIDS has rapidly spread into the mainstream
population. At least 11,871 Americans have been diagnosed as
having AIDS, and half of them are now dead.
Now a famous, popular movie and television star has been
diagnosed as having the virus that incapacitates the body’s im
mune system, leaving it vulnerable to other diseases.
AIDS is suddenly considered a real threat because someone
everyone knows has it.
The Galveston Daily News
Mail Call
Sniff the java, Karl
EDITOR:
Throughout this summer I have read
various columns of Karl Pallmeyer’s,
some were good, some were not so
good. Your article Living In The
Shadow Of A Mushroom Cloud dealing
with the subject living with nuclear
weapons caused me to reply. Your heart
seems to be in the right place, but Karl,
you really need to wake up and smell
the coffee! Nuclear weapons are a real
ity, we cannot simply wish them away.
Nuclear weapons will only disappear
when new and more advanced weapons
are developed to protect American core
and middle range domestic and foreign
policy goals.
Karl you keep harping on the fact
that nuclear weapons will be the de
struction of mankind, maybe they will,
but did you ever consider the fact that
nuclear deterrence value might be our
only hope to peaceful coexistence. Cur
rently the United States uses the deter
rence strategy of mutual assured de
struction (MAD) (balance of terror).
MAD is the theory that, the United
Mews VITNV. APPROVES A iQSfc BUD6ET AS IT (DOES ON VACaTiOM.
Must students pay price
for new computer woes?
Once u pon a
time there was a
young man named
Fred J. Alpheratz.
Fred was a student
at Texas A&M
about to begin his
senior year. Fred
had preregistered
for the Fall semes
ter but he didn’t
get all the classes
he needed. Fred
through drop-add.
Karl
Pallmeyer
would have to
g°
thunderstruck. Hundreds of his fellow
students were lined up to get into the
place. He had thought, like many other
students, that he would beat the crowd
by coming early. Unfortunately, the
registrar’s office had the same idea.
They didn’t think that many students
would come to open registration on the
first day. They were not prepared for
the crowds that came on Monday. The
fact that the new computer system they
had just started using for registration
kept breaking down didn’t ftelp matters
much. \
Exe<
Univet
nan Je
Ad van
Progra
ing Me
ta:
state f
for res
going to summer school and wanis
take advantage of this early regiffi
period. Some of these students!
driven a long way so that theycouit
advantage of this early registration
riod. Some of these students wouli
be able to drop-add later. Whatf
their reasons, there were hundred
students wanting to go throughregis
tion Monday.
n
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in 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 include the address and telephone number of the writer.
States could absorb a 1st strike and re
taliate with a 2nd strike that will yield
unacceptable levels of damage upon the
aggressor. Since the USA and the USSR
both possess viable 1st and 2nd strike ca
pability, neither country will have any
rational incentive for a pre-emptive 1st
strike since it would only lead to their
own destruction.
I particularly don’t like the people of
the United States and the world being
held as nuclear hostages and I really
don’t consider the policy of MAD to be
all that sane but it is a very rational and
effective policy.
Karl, I am not proclaiming nuclear
weapons are the only solution, but that
they are a viable component in the pro
tection of Americas homeland and her
vital interest.
In conclusion we feel that you should
try to broaden your knowledge base as
to the pruposes of nuclear weapons and
their impact on American and world se
curity before you again start espousing
your somewhat limited views on nuclear
weapons.
Lance Fragomeli ’85
Michael Wreaver ’85
Fred had gone through drop-add be
fore, it was not the most fun thing in the
world. All Fred had to do was add the
one class he needed, but he was worried.
Fred was going to leave for his vacation
in Japan on August 6 and he wouldn’t
be back until school started on Septem
ber 2. Usually the drop-add period
didn’t open until a week before school
started.
When Fred got his fall fee slip he was
pleased to discover that there would be
an open registration period starting
Monday. His problems were over. He
felt that he would be able to drop-add
on August 5 then catch his plane to Hi
roshima the next day.
For Fred, Monday was a disaster.
There were hundreds of students wait
ing to drop-add or register. Fred waited
in line until noon when the registration
people put up a sign that said: “Regis
tration is closed until 8:00 a.m. tomor
row.” Fred was upset: Fred was con
fused and angry. Fred was mad as hell.
He had driven 300 miles, spent six
hours on the road and stood in a long
line in 90 degree heat for almost two
hours. What for? Nothing. He had to go
back home tonight so he could go leave
for his vacation, so he couldn’t wait
overnight even if he could find a place
to stay in College Station.
Had Fred waited just a little bit
he probably would have been ab
add his class. The registration
took down their “closed” sign and
their best to take care of everyone
came to drop-add Monday. OnTui
the registration people set up
computer terminals to help make
tration easier.
Dr.
said tl
W
AUS
sued b
the no-
— advi
and w;
the «:
eased.
“No
be eas)
some k
“All
teache
give tl
chance
The
key el<
enacte
Fred woke up bright and early Mon
day morning; he had a long drive ahead
of him. He had been on the road for six
hours when he arrived in College Sta
tion at 10 a.m. He parked his car and
went to see his adviser.
Fred went home. He didn’t get to add
his class and his plans for graduation
had to be changed. Fred was a de
pressed man. When he got to Hiro
shima Tuesday he went to the first bar
he could find and got bombed.
The problems Fred and others
dents faced Monday were uncalled 1|
The registrar’s office should have!)
prepared for uny number of
The new computer system thatwass
posed to save time actually wasted I
Maybe the new system will be benelij
when all the bugs are worked out.!!
why did we have to be the guineapid
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior journalii
major and a columnist for The ilasj
ion
01
At his adviser’s office he picked up
the printout to see if there was any space
left in the class he wanted to take. He
was in luck, there was room for 15 more
students. Fred had his adviser fill out his
drop-add card and headed over to the
Pavilion.
Fred is not a real person. He is just a
character I use from time to time to
make a point. But the situation Fred
faced was not uncommon.
When Fred got to the Pavilion he was
Many students wanted to go through
free registration Monday. Some of these
students needed to register for the fall.
Some of these students wanted to get a
jump on adding the classes they needed
for the fall. Some of these students were
Pronies' make an art out of accidents
I read somewhere
there are no acci
dent-prone people.
This is simply not
true. I know this be
cause I am a “pro-
nie.”
Rhonda
Rubin
Guest Columnist
machine. She was making neat zig-zag
patterns on some material. I decided to
experiment after she left. Unfortu
nately, my feet found the switch and
soon there were neat zig-zag patterns on
my thumb.
the first person injured in a game of
four-square. In junior high I was kicked
in the head during gym class when
someone tried to jump over me. In high
school I was voted “Most Likely to be
Run Over By Stampeding Llamas.”
Anybody can have an accident, but a
pronie is creative. Pronies find new and
innovative ways to hurt themselves.
I began to have “little” accidents as a
small child. My mother has told me
about the time I wanted to play with her
keys and mistook an electrical outlet for
a keyhole. This may explain why every
one in my family has straight hair and
mine is curly.
Things didn’t get much better as I got
older. When people ask me how I got
the scar on my chin, I say, “Which
time?” Pronies also have a bad habit of
not learning from their mistakes.
When I was three years old, I saw
Mommy “playing” with her new sewing
Then there was the time some friends
and I were sliding down a hill on flat
tened cardboard boxes. My box sud
denly stopped. I kept going and found a
piece of glass sticking out of the ground.
It was nearly a week before I was able to
sit down again.
Right after high school, 1 managed to
keep the emergency room staff of a
Houston hospital laughing for two
hours after I showed up with their first
musical injury. As I was stringing my
guitar, a string broke and wound up in
my thumb. I told the desk nurse it was a
wire to avoid embarrassment. She
wanted to know what kind of wire it was,
and when I told her, she laughed for
five minutes.
When I came to A&M, I thought that
by being around mature responsible
people, I could overcome my proniness.
I was wrong. In the last three years I
have managed to twist both my foot and
my ankle during a flag football game,
get hit with a golf ball, fall out of a shut
tle-bus, split my pants, fall UP a slide,
run into a brick wall, bang my head in
the shower and trip over a squirrel.
However, I do know I’m not the only
pronie on this campus. We’re easy to
spot. Usually, we’re seen looking cau
tiously both ways before crossing a one
way street and then getting mowed
down by a bicyclist upon reaching the
other side.
In elementary school I managed to be
When the doctor showed up
giggled and said, “Oh, an E-string.”
he
Rhonda Rubin is a junior journalism
major.
Iff
vent
rents
only
from
Drivi
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Kellie Dworaczyk, Editor
Kay Mallett,John Hallett, News Editors
Loren StefTy, Opinion Page Editor
Sarah Oates, City Editor
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
B<
and
Poli.
char
flow
with
built
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editor
Katherine Hu:
Assistant News Editors
Cathie Anderson, Trent Leoplill
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, WalterSmiiJ
Staff Writers Karen 1
Ed C ;assavoy, Jerry Osliil
Brian Pearsorj
Copy Editor Trent LeopoHJ
Make-up Editor Ed Cassavou
Columnists Cheryl ClarU
Karl Pallmcydl
Photographers Greg Bailed
Anthony Caspej
CHIN
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