Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, October 14, 1985
Opinion
What better reason?
The Bill of Rights supports the idea that all Americans are
innocent until proven guilty. Attorney General Edwin Meese ap
parently doesn’t agree. Meese, in an interview with U.S. News
and World Report, said, “. . . you don’t have many suspects who
are innocent of a crime .... If a person is innocent of a crime,
then he is not a suspect.” This kind of reasoning is not only ludi
crous, it raises questions as to the competency of the man who
said them.
An attorney general should be well versed in law, especially
the basic building block of the American legal system. To say
that suspects are not innocent of crimes is absum. If that were
true, there would be no need for courts, judges, juries, lawyers
and Ed Meeses.
Meese’s statement came in an interview concerning the Mi
randa ruling, which gives suspects the right to have an attorney
present before police questioning. The magazine allowed Meese
to review his answers before publication. A spokesman for
Meese said the attorney general meant that many suspects who
are guilty get off on technicalities surrounding the Miranda rul-
ing.
Perhaps Meese is upset over the loopholes Miranda creates,
but that does not justify his blatant disregard for the Bill of
Rights. In the United States, the state must prove the de
fendant’s guilt, the defendant does not have to prove innocence
to the state.
In voicing his opposition to the ruling, Meese certainly
struck a solid blow in favor of the opposition. What better rea
son for a law protecting a suspect’s innocence than an attorney
general who doesn’t believe that right of innocence exists.
The Battalion Editorial Board
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Is University recognition worth if
Letter to the Readers
Just a matter of ethics
As part of its quest
to become -“world
class,” Texas A&M
has granted social or
ganizations, a.k.a. =
Greeks, the opportunity
)nn
Rebecca
Delong
(inesi Cola i/i n is
rich organizations which can
lots of revenue f or the school.
Second is the hope that officially
bar
"S between re
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If people are in
fluenced by what
they see on tele
vision, it’s no wonder
Americans distrust
Michelle
Rowe
Managing Editor
journalists. American television is great
for stereotyping people: politicians,
wealthy oil men, l exans, journalists.
Journalists are always depicted on .opinion is to serve the general welfare
television and in the movies as unprin- informing the people and enabling
pens to be sensationalistic or negative,
that does not mean we have twisted the
news, it is merely a sad statement about
our society.
To quote from the American Society
of Newspaper Editors’ Statement of
Principles: “The primary purpose of
gathering and distributing news and
cipled, unfeeling news hounds, who are
always looking for some dirt to kick up
and willing to do anything for a story. If
they aren’t sticking microphones in peo
ple’s faces, they are breaking into offices
to find the information they seek or
going undercover to sucker some poor
fool into exposing himself to the world.
This may be a romantic image for
kids sitting at home in the living room
dreaming of adventure and drama. But
it just ain’t so.
This distorted picture of journalists is
partly a result of ignorance on the part
of the people who invent these fantasies
on film. Television and movie screenw
riters’ associations with the media are
probably limited to “reporters” from
Entertainment Tonight and the Na
tional Enquirer. I use the term “repor
ters” loosely, because these people
aren’t journalists — they are gossip col
umnists and fiction writers. But as ob
vious as this distinction would seem to
be, people continually lump grocery
store reading together with real newspa
pers and newsmagazines and the result
is that the real journalists suffer from
the comparison.
The portrayal of journalists breaking
and entering, and donning disguises to
get the story is just plain wrong. The
misconceptions caused by this stereo
type are damaging to the field bf jour
nalism, and hamper the ability of honest
reporters to do their jobs.
Journalists have ethics which we en
force upon ourselves. These guidelines
are designed to keep the journalist free
from conflicts of interest, and objective
and unbiased in his reporting. The jour
nalist’s purpose is to serve the truth, to
report the news fairly, accurately, objec
tively, responsibly.
The majority of journalists follow
these rules willingly, because to aban
don these principles is to abandon the
cause and the integrity of the free press.
The Janet Cookes — young reporters
with their eyes on Pulitzer Prizes rather
than the truth —■, are the exception
rather than the rule.
them to make judgements on the issues
of the time. Newspapermen and women
who abuse the power of their profes
sional role for selfish motives or unwor
thy purposes are faithless to that public
trust.”
This is the policy we have followed in
the past at The Battalion, and the policy
we will continue to follow. We try to
maintain good faith with our readers,
because good faith with the reader is the
foundation of good journalism.
Michelle Powe is the Managing Editor
for The Battalion.
to apply for
“official” University recognition, with all
the benefits and privileges that such rec
ognition entails.
To be recognized or not to be recog
nized; that was, and still is, the question.
It’s no secret that A&M is just a tad
fond of its traditions. As students, we’ve
been indoctrinated to believe that some
things here are gospel; women are not
in the band, gays do not have a club of
their own and Greek is a four-letter
word.
And so it goes. Or should I say “so it
went” Until some brave souls had the
nerve to question the gospel according
to Aggieland and bring about two
changes for the sake of overcoming dis
crimination.
The first change was was recognizing
the Gay Student Services on campus.
The second change was allowing women
in the band. And now a third change
has come in the recognition of Greeks
on campus.
Recognizing the Greeks made sense
for a couple of reasons. First, it is just
good business sense to bacV. VuyawcvaWn
ognizing them will break down barriers
that exist between Greeks and non-
Greeks.
But now that the tables have turned,
it’s up to the Greeks to decide whether
or not there is an advantage to “offi-
cial”recognition.
From the University’s standpoint the
answer is an emphatic “YES!” And why
not? Recognized Greeks will be required
to do their banking through the A&M
financial office and surrender any inter
est on money to the school.
Of course, the Greeks get something
for their money. They’ll be able to con
duct meetings and rush on campus, ad
vertise in The Battalion for half price.
But there’s one aspect of recognition
that is getting glossed over — the clause
that slates that no University organiza
tion shall discriminate.
Uh oh. This is where things get
messy. And this is why it makes no sense
that A&M should recognize fraternities
and sororities.
Forget the fallacy that this will make
the Cheeks more acceptable to the non-
Greeks. The Gorps of Cadets is ob
viously University recognized, and
we’ve ye\. Vo bveaY down \be existing
What it all boils down to
organizations are basicallydt
torv organizations, and to
going to change. Butforaid
as A&M to recognize them
that’s a change indeed. Its
irony that a school which
made two mammoth victone
coming discrimination won
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Everyo
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■ i ess an <
nnuKs .nid ti.uenimts
against everyone, nor just the apl,,
ties. And though Greeks,coKpJ
w ith boosting their membershfB
see it now, there is every '
that they could one day fin
selves slapped with a lawsuit.
So Texas A&M, in its (juts
criminate against no one,has
dieted itself. Greed reared is
head, and the University
and gave recognition to the on
tions which have their very!
lions on discrimination.
Rebecca DeLong is a seniorp
li.srn major.
More to public education
than being a TEAMS player
The Texas Leg
islature has de
cided it’s time to
“get tough on edu
cation.” But in
stead of really
toughening edu
cational standards,
the Texas Educa
tion Agency is try
ing to hoodwink
the public. They ,
introduced teacher
Loren Steffy
competency tests,
and the public cheered. They talked
about a “career ladder” and merit pay,
and the public applauded. Now the
TEA comes up with the Texas Educatio
nal Assessment of Minimum Skills, and
the public is ecstatic.
The TEAMS test is an exit-level ex
amination which all high school juniors
must pass before they can graduate.
The idea of a pre-graduation exam isn’t
bad for monitoring the success of edu
cation programs, but it doesn’t help im
prove the quality education in any way.
Then, if students didn’t meet those ob
jectives, instruction designed specifically
to remediate areas of weakness should
be developed.
Gurrently, students who fail the
TEAMS test are placed in a generic
course aimed at helping them pass the
test. This doesn’t address the individu
al’s specific areas of academic weakness.
The TEAMS test is supposed to assess
basic skills — what the state feels high
school graduates should have learned
during their 12 or 13 years in school.
However, a standardized test such as
TEAMS doesn’t measure children’s ac
tual knowledge, it measures how their
knowledge compares with that of their
peers. The tests don’t measure strengths
or weaknesses of individual achieve
ment. They measure how well one stu
dent’s accomplishments compare with
the group the test has been standard
ized on.
I have heard people state matter-of
factly that The Battalion runs sensatio
nalistic or negative stories because Bat
talion staffers think sensational mean$
news. Wrong.
We don’t search out sensationalist sto
ries to print and purposely try to pro
voke our readers. We report the news,
and we try to report it as fairly and accu
rately as we can. If the news also hap-
If a system of education is inadequate,
and it establishes standards for gradua
tion, those requirements also will be in
adequate. Students who pass a test
which monitors those standards merely
live up. to the inadequacy of the system,
but their education is not improved be
cause of the test.
Because of the emphasis on compari-
tive education, the TEAMS test stresses
uniformity instead of individualism.
The state is saying, “This is what you
must know to be an educated person.” A
child who strives to do well on TEAMS
is striving to be as much like his peers as
he can, at least as far as academic
achievements are concerned.
To ensure that students have an ad
equate knowledge base, tests which mea
sure specific objectives would have to be
administered at the end of each year.
Education should be more than shov
ing children into a mold and producing
millions of homogenized young adults.
Education should be more than just see
ing if students live up to certain math
and English requirements.
The TEAMS test doesn’t measure
writing skills — at least as far as actual
composition is concerned. TEAMS mea
sures none of the social skills a student
needs to get along in the world. These
are valuable and necessary, but the tests
chooses to ignore them.
But the comparative knowledge ar
rangement of the tests is easier to grade.
A computer can process an answer sheet
in a matter of minutes. But a grader
could toil over compositions for hours.
Developing a test that measures social
skills accurately is virtually impossible.
The idea of testing a student’s ability
before he is unleashed on the world is
an excellent idea, but finding a test that
can fairly measure nil that a student has
to offer society is going to be difficult.
The TEAMS test isn’t the answer. It
fails to accurately represent the stu
dent’s overall knowledge.
It’s admirable that the public is de
manding tougher educational standards
in Texas, but they shouldn’t allow this
thirst for better education to be
quenched by the TEAMS test.
Texans shouldn’t be fooled into
thinking the TEA is some sort of fairy
godmother and the TEAMS test is a
magic wand which the TEA can use to
educate children with a wave of its
hand. There’s no room for magic in
public education. Improvement is going
to take a lot of hard, tedious work.
Loren Steffy is a junior journalism ma
jor and the Opinion Page Editor for
The Battalion.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member ol
Texas Press Association
Soulliwest lournalisnitonlcrciw i
The Battalion Editorial Burl
Rhonda Snider. Editor
M ichelc Powe, ManagingEdiv
Loren Steffy, Opinion Pageidittt!
Karen Bloch, City Editor
John f lallcit. Kay Mallett,.Vcwfi j;
Travis Tingle, SportsEdk
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors..
Assistant News Editors
....Kirw
Jtrn#
Cathie Anfc' t
Jarlt
Assistant Sports Editor....Chareanw
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, Walittil
Stall Writers ....Tamara Bell.Meg
Ed Cassavoy.Cif
Doug Hall, PaulHtid
Wendy Johnson, Tamw'
Jens Koepke,TrentL
Mary McVVhorter.Jutitl 1
Tricia Parker, MarybethRok
Frank Smith, KenneikiJ
Scott Surf
Copy Editors Rebecca
Mike Davis,SaraliO*
Bradfli-
Make-up Editor EdCiS
Columnists Cami Brown,!
Karl Pall
Art Director.. ; Waynefo
Photographers ..Grcg^l
Anthony Casper, Fr?iP
Jaime Lopez,JohnR
MichaelS
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