Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, May 9, 1986
Rain for the parade
The results of educational reform the Texas Examination of
Current Administrators (TECAT) are in. Only 6,579, or 3.3
percent, of Texas teachers who took the competency test failed.
Gov' Mark White claims that’s an A in anyone’s book. Perhaps,
but getting an A on TECAT results is like getting an A in Office
Aide I — it doesn’t really mean anything.
Dubbed a competency test, TECAT was proclaimed as the
savior of quality education in the state. But TECAT is at best an
assessment of basic knowelege. It measures such skills as fun
damental writing skills, ability to use an index or table of con
tents and recognition of sentence fragments and basic gramma
tical and spelling errors.
Anyone who lacked these basic necessities for teaching
shouldn’t have been allowed in the classroom in the first place.
But those who did fail will be given a second chance at passing.
TECAT, far from being a beacon of excellence, is more like a
$4.7 million broom used to sweep dead weight out of public
schools.
Aside from a good spring cleaning, TECAT has accom
plished little. Has the quality of education increased? Does it
mean the teachers and administrators who passed the test are
outstanding? Hardly.
The test doesn’t examine how effectively a teacher can relay
information to students. It doesn’t account for an educator’s
ability to inspire students with enthusiasm and a desire to learn.
Classroom performance is nearly impossible to measure with a
standardized test.
TECAT is a step in the right direction, but it is far from a
solution. The sentiments that spawned the test show a genuine
concern for quality instruction — but it’s not enough.
Education in Texas still is ailing. The cure isn’t an answer
sheet and a No. 2 pencil.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Pluses into minuses
I knew a woman
once whose prob
lem was her beau
ty. She said women
; envied her, men
lusted after her
and employers
never took her se
riously. I believed
her until I men
tioned her plight
at a dinner party.
The men nodded in sympathy, but the
women indicated they disagreed. They
threw their napkins at me.
It must have been in the same spirit
that the Washington Dossier, a slick
monthly of no consequence, asked mem-
bers of Congress for some personal in
formation. including their bad habits.
What the magazine got in response was
similar to the complaint of the lady who
said that God had cursed her with beau-
ty. Congressman after congressman con
fessed to working too hard.
Alphabetically speaking. Rep. Michael
Barnes (D-Md.) was the first, to fess up.
He admitted to “compulsive neatness
and punctuality.” Rep. Tony Coelho (D-
Calif.) said he spent “too much time on
the road, working.” Rep. James Jones
(D-Okla.) confessed that he spent “too
much time at work” and Rep. Norman
Mineta (D-Calif.) was forthright enough
to say that he just couldn’t stay away from
the desk. “Workaholism,” he called it.
These confessions are of a type. T hey
are like those in which people admit to
being too good or too generous or too
sensitive. Confessions of this sort usually
are preceded by the words, “I just can’t
help mvself but. . . .” Then comes the
admission of some supposed shortcom
ing that is not a shortcoming at all — and
probably isn’t true, either. With the pos
sible exception of someone complaining
about how wealth has complicated his
life, nothing quite so grates on the ear.
Where is the congressman whose bad
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Cathie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren StefTy. Opinion Page Editor
Frank Smith, City Editor
Sue Krenek. .Yens Editor
Ken Sury. Sports Editor
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resent the opinions of I exas A&rXI administrators, faculty
or the Board of Regents.
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habit is goofing off? Where is the brave
soul who is bored? Where is the man who
chases women, the woman who chases
men, the ones who daydream or whose
worst habit is a craven fear of any interest
group with a postage meter? Where’s the
guy who just can’t turn down a contribu
tion, the one who doesn’t know how to
say no to a speech invitation, the one who
admits to throwing principle out the w in-
dow should the president call on the
phone?
No one like that in our Congress. No,
indeed. We have the most conscientious
and noncontroversial politicians the
w'orld has ever seen. Take Rep. James
Slattery (D-Kan.). According to Dossier,
his political rating is 50 percent liberal,
50 percent conservative. His best friend
is his wife. His heroes are Jesus Christ,
Abraham Lincoln, Harry S. Truman,
Dwight Eisenhower and Robert F. Ken
nedy. A favorite movie is “Chariots of
Fire” and his favorite book is the Bible.
Slattery’s favorite clothing store is in
Kansas. One of his favorite television
shows is the “McNeil/Lehrer News
Hour.” He prefers to vacation in his
home state (he’s just corny about Kansas
in August), and his w ife-cum-best f riend
is a full-time mother “active in civic orga
nizations and Bible studies.” His ultimate
ambition is “To be a good husband and
father and the best congressman I can
be. . . .” But like his colleagues, he too has
bad habits: They are “being late and
trying to do too many things.” I suggest
therapy.
The survey goes on. Rep. Eligio (Kika)
de la Garza (D-Tex..) says his favorite
films are Eddie Albert movies. Rep. John
Dingell _(D-Mich.) says his is “Robin
Hood” and Rep. James Howard (D-
N.J.), chest surely swollen in pride, said
his greatest achievement was “passage of
the 55-miles-per-hour national speed
limit.” Many of the congressmen say
their best friend is their wife, which in
some cases is probably true, in some cases
is nothing of the sort, and in any case has
nothing to do with intimacy and every
thing to do with efficiency. It means you
only have to lie to one person.
The most common ultimate ambition
is to be just a darn good member of Con
gress. There are some exceptions. Rep.
Thomas Dow ney (D-N.Y.) says he wants
to be president; Rep. Jack Kemp (R-
N.Y.) says he wants to be chairman of the
Federal Reserve System and Rep. Mel
Levine (D-Calif.), at age 42, says he still
wants to play first base for the L.A. Dod
gers. Only Levine has a chance.
All in all. Dossiers profiles of Con
gress makes for depressing reading.
Gone, for the most part, are the persona
lities, the characters — the men or
women who could admit to a few really
bad habits. Now many congressmen take
an attribute and try to make you think it’s
a liability. They deserve w hat I got when
I believed that beauty could be an afflic
tion: Ladies, get your napkins.
Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writers Group
Richard
Cohen
Opinion
CAPITOL
DEADER THEATER
INFLUENCE FOR SALE”
BEDTIME FOR RONZD’
r» jei
IN-RATE
L
NEED INFLUENCE?
LETS RAP!
j Dntn Gmaaiy
Two
Sleazeba^///’
Terrorists use atrocities
not media, for attentio
The State De
partment on Lues-
day accused NBC
of encouraging
terrorism because
the network tele
vised an interview
w 11 h terrorist
Mohammed Abul
Abbas but refused
to reveal where the
terrorist was being
interviewed.
Cathie
Anderson
Abbas is under indictment by a federal
grand jury in connection with the mur
der of Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-
bound New Yorker traveling on the
Achille Lauro when it w'as hijacked in the
Mediterranean Sea in October.
Robert Oakley, head of the depart
ment’s counter-terrorism section, said
that when a media organization makes a
deal with a terrorist not to divulge his
whereabouts, it is saying, in ef fect, “we’ve
become his accomplices in order to give
him publicity.”
I can just hear the NBC executives
now. Executive Number 1 says, “Ya’
know w'e should get that guy who’s ac
cused of hijacking the Achille Lauro to
appear on the ‘NBC Nightly News.’ We
could put terror in the hearts and minds
of every red-blooded American. We
could give terrorism a new name. Why
didn’t I think of this before?”
Executive Number 2 picks up on his
friend’s enthusiasm.
“I’ll make sure we get just the right
lighting and make-up to realh show him
at hi.s best. We’ll make this gin a star.
We’ll boost our ratings. If we pla\ <>ui
cards right, we might convince him to let
one of our correspondents go along on
his next raid. We ll get in on the ground
floor, if you know what I mean.”
“Watch out ABC,” says Executive
Number 1. “Whatever it takes we’ll get
this Abbas guy, even if it means promis
ing not to reveal where he’s hiding.”
No debate. No extensive thought.
NBC executives easily decided that the\
needed Abbas’ interview to boost their
ratings and scheduled him for the show.
By allowing Abbas to appeal on the
“NBC Nightly News,” the network, like
State Department spokesman Charles E.
Redman says, gave this terrorist the- plat
form he wanted to disseminate hi.s poli
tical propaganda. Why would an Amer
ican network allow a terrorist to sav Pres
ident Reagan has become “enemy num
ber 1” and that operations on American
soil are envisioned?
tv. macs
list nlam ze
to dis
111 |<*U
heart
i mg a terrora
ne Abbas on:
i says. "Ob
his kindii
fact encoii
■ 11* all seel
•s not llu
pub
licit’
t n lives onamq
ns particularm
is aided by tbj
t mass murden
he worldbfltetf
pie are drawn»
liter thantheoi
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jort theit atrool
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emain ignouh
If NBC and other news media would
give less time and space to terrorists and
more to government officials, Amer
icans could get more of the light infor
mation to make the right decisions. After
all. the government knows whether
■ plane crashes!
e .i svinptoinob
ilia have theoH
>lic informed,
i e neither tern
ekit ions staff. I
tblic’s right to
orjou rnalism mif
ion.
Mail Call
Advice from the opposition
EDITOR:
The words which punctuate the editor’s note to Mike
Foarde’s letter of April 18, . . such expression requires
ef fort on the part of the individual,” are still etched on my
conscience. For too long I’ve heard the groan of Texas A&M
students, myself included, concerning the “liberal-bias” of
The Battalion.
More than once I’ve vowed to post a response to a slanted
editorial or fallacious letter from a reader, only to have my
fervor foregone by more pacifying pursuits such as “The
Cosby Show,” or a large bag of nacho-flavored Doritos.
It is ironic that the target of my criticism has offered the
advice which has awakened me from my apathy and medioc
rity.
Bravo Foarde and Mark Schulz for standing up for what
is right as revealed bv God through his word. However
unpopular this stance may be in these United States of the
1980s in which self-proclaimed gods state that “. . . morality
is the individual’s idea of right and wrong.”
I choose to stand also for the standard of right and wrong
outlined in the Bible, and challenge other on this campus
who maintain this position to stand too and vocalize their
beliefs on the pages of this publication as well as vocally in
classes and on campus — before these rights are taken away
in the name of separation of church and state.
Unfortunately, my daught
man’s name. But as a (om en
thank this young man for hr
young lady in need.
ei die vounggcnil|
1 want to publik
siderate serviceioi
Herb Bailey
Devoted readers
Markel Lee Simmons ’87
Thanks from a concerned dad
EDITOR:
A word of thanks to an unidentified Aggie gentleman
who assisted my daughter in distress.
On April 20 my daughter, a Baylor f reshman, was return
ing to Waco from a visit with friends in Fort Worth when she
had a tire blow out north of Hillsboro.
The gentleman, driving a maroon (what other color for
an Aggie?) Biarritz, and his young lady friend stopped,
changed my daughter’s tire, accompanied her into Hill
sboro, where she bought a new tire and then followed heron
to Waco to assure a safe trip.
EDITOR:
What misanthropic niiise inspires Cynthia Gay asq
composes her masterworks of editorial satire. Surely J
Texas A&M journalism department must be filled
pride as they peruse her latest column, a commentaryonj
recent / exas Month!} comparison of the 'University
Texas and 1 exas A&M. Certainly genius alone guided^
pen as she wove the subtle threads of ibogie and banality^
only proved the point she so brilliantly feigned to coi#
The grand irony of that column did, however, illustra<
the one point on whic h the' Texas Afont/j/y article was
taken. A&M does have an intellectual underground,
invisibility testifies to t he amhem icity of our critical disp® 1
lion. We would never allow ourselves to be paraded at
decorative symbol o( stat us < >n t he bosom of the object of®
discontent.
Obviously Gay is well aquainted with this side of TeO
A&M. In my five years as an undergraduate at this instil 11
tional learning facility, never has a Battalion column 1
served as such a shining symbol to its ideologically dis
franchised. It is Gay’s (not Karl Pallmeyer’s) column tin
feeds the fires ol our discontent. It is her column that*
pass around with laughter, shocked disbelief and the vag 1 *
impression that something greater than ourselves,t*
necessarily benevolent, is going on.
So in case she ever feels her inspiration fading, we want 1
assure her of a devoted readership that appreciates
talents, those of us truly “in touch with the ’80s.”
Jerry Rosrek
Letters to the Editor should not exceed .‘UIO words in lent'th.
editorial staff reserves the right to edit letteis foistyle and length bill
wake every effort to maintain the authot ’s intent. Each letter wit
signed and must include the addi css and telephone number ofthev
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