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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 1986)
Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, July 15, 1986 Misguided intentions The State Department announced Thursday that it will withhold $13.5 million in aid to Zimbabwe until that country’s government apologizes for a July Fourth anti-American speech by a government official. While the administration’s outrage is understandable, cutting off vital aid packages will hurt only the people of the African nation and leave the government unscathed. Zimbabwe’s minister of youth, sport and culture, David Ka- rimanzira, made a diplomatic toast at a July Fourth celebration at the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe. The toast quickly became a criticism of the Reagan administration’s South Africa policies. Karimanzira even went so far as to say the United States should declare war on Pretoria. Karimanzira’s actions, though uncalled for, are somewhat understandable. His country recently has suffered commando raids by South Africa aimed at guerrilla camps allegedly located within Zimbabwe’s borders. The United States should be used to allies disagreeing with our refusal to impose economic sanctions against South Africa’s racist government. The holdout on Zimbabwe’s aid package is an overreaction by the Reagan administration. Its punitive intentions are pointed in the wrong direction. The aid package consisted mostly of family planning and agricultural development pro jects. If these programs are withheld, it will have little effect on the government. But this type of aid is vital, especially to the ru ral populations of developing nations. It’s these people who will suffer if the aid does not arrive. T he Reagan administration has a right to demand an apol ogy for Karimanzira’s unruly behavior. But it shouldn’t use des perately needed aid to make the people of Zimbabwe pay for an indiscriminate big mouth in their government. The Battalion Editorial Board Educational reforms worth studying for We’ve all heard that “Johnny can’t re ad,’’ but trying to determine what to do about it has launched a na tionwide c a m - paign on the part of teachers, poli ticians and par ents to upgrade the quality of edu< school system. Politicians have used the demand for educational reform to win votes. Tea cher competency tests, student compe tency tests and a “return to basics” have been implemented more for their politi cal appeal than as a real solution to the problem. Disgruntled voters will be ap peased if it looks like something is being done. Teacher groups such as the National Education Agency and the American Federation of Teachers have taken much the same route. In the past, the groups have encouraged higher teach ing standards and, of course, higher sal aries. Most recently they called for a na tional certification board to measure teacher competency. But it is not enough. Only radical reforms, such as those proposed last week by the AFT at its na tional convention in Chicago, can save the floundering integrity of the teach ing profession. The report shows a gen uine desire to improve the educational quality, but some members already are lauding the move as anti-union. Well, teaching isn’t about labor solidarity, it’s about education. If teachers are going to become more competent in the pub lic’s eye, they are going to have to make it a priority. The most interesting proposal in the AFT report is a call for the abolition of undergraduate degrees in education. If such a program were instigated, teach ers would have to complete a graduate program before they could become cer tified to teach. The proposal may seem harsh, but it would weed out all but the Loren Steffy in the American The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Michelle Powe, Editor Kay Mallett, Managing Editor Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor Scott Sutherland, City Editor Ken Sttry, Sports Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is n non-profit, self-supporting iwivspu- per operated as a conjniunit\ service to Texas AA-.M and Bi \ ati-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the Editorial Board oi the author, and do not necessarily rep- resent the opinions of Texas AAAI administrators, faculty oi the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory neyvspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Journalism. Second class postage paid at College Station. 7 A' 77843. BOS l MAS TER: Send address changes to The Battal ion. 21 (i Reed .McDonald. 'Texas AA-.M L 'niversitv, College Station TX 77843. most dedicated students. Education colleges have been plagued with bad reputations. The atti tude that “those who can do, those who can’t teach,” scares off prospective stu dents who don’t want to be viewed as lacking motivation or desire. In addi tion, the education curriculum, because of its rumored simplicity, attracts more than its share of “husband hunters,” who fail to uphold the academic credibi lity of the program. The idea that those who “can” might want to teach is not considered in Amer ican society. Excellence in teaching is not seen as a way to get ahead. In the current state, one gets ahead in spite of teachers, not because of them. But the idea of a graduate-degree- only certification program would put teacher training on the same educatio nal plateau as other professions to which people trust their lives. Doctors are not licensed without going to medi cal school. We would not trust our health to them if they were. Lawyers cannot be certified without completing law school. If they were, we would not allow them to represent us in legal and financial matters. Yet teachers have a more vital impact on our lives. They have a hand in shap ing our overall intellectual capabilities. Without teachers there would no doc tors or lawyers — or anything else. De spite this keystone role, teachers are not subjected to the stringent educational requirements that legal and medical professionals are. Eliminating undergraduate certifica tion could change that. A prospective teacher could spend undergraduate years learning the basics, then hone and specialize those skills in the graduate program through internships and other clinical experience. The AFT’s proposal may scare some of its members because they know the public is tired of incompetence in the classroom. Now teacher organizations are starting to respond. No longer can teachers hide behind their unions, which overshadow their inadequate training with complaints of underpay. The public has said, “Show us you’re worth it, and we’ll pay you.” Now the AFT is proposing a way for them to show us — and it’s far better than stan dardized competency tests. Teachers will now prove they’re “worth it” by showing us they’re willing to work for it. Standardized tests may give immedi ate gratification to the reform-hungry public, but it has a minimal effect on the overall quality of education. The only way to improve that quality is to increase the professionalism of educators through the improvement of teacher training programs. Johnny can’t read if his teacher can’t teach. - The AFT proposal may not have the political appeal that state-mandated competency tests do, but it does deal with education in a fundamental sense. Vote-chasing isn’t going to save educa tion, only education can save education. Loren Steffy is a senior journalism ma jor and the Opinion Page editor for The Battalion. Opinion ^uuyg. 10, c rn*L Cjenera.C ^Tclujivc THee^e Uc Ms U v* ""To to MC —iSosU’ce * ■s-kcdxi-e ivv TLe. bacTeyrouuT )nt:e u|v at asked tc dlnate I on camp Tkepit ley Bloo on cam apl will Fountaii the Cor ‘We v M sii aditi 1 iter v W ■Su'i d loi the blgest i blood is ItIko trailing dlnate, ■"You gi' ng I) Iterile Jten t a|av.” Hill Meese’s porn commmission how to evaluate its findings fhe i Basing 'etonnai Herewith a guide on how to respond to the Attorney Gener al’s Commission on Pornogra phy, whose find ings ‘ have been derided so widely. 1. It was a mis- take for the commission’s ex- William F. Buckley Jr. ecutiye director,. Alan Sears, to write to merchandisers who handle the big three pornographic magazines (Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler) using language both hortatory and intimidating. (You “are involved in the sale or distribution of pornography .... Failure to repond will necessarily be accepted as an indica tion of no objection”; i.e., to pornogra phy.) He was properly rebuked by the court for exerting quasi-legal pressure without due process. 2. The commission attempted to demonstrate that reading pornography inclines some readers to illegal behavior, for instance rape, or “aggressive sex." It probably is correct that it does, but al most impossible to prove. It would be much easier to prove that liquor en hances lechery than that Penthouse does. In the 21st century, they’re going to be arguing about whether capital punishment decreases capital offenses. Well, we all know that it does, but would have a difficult time proving it beyond trivial objections. The commission, in other words, accepted a mandate it could not hope to handle. But so is public sentiment IreeioiiB e . act. It violates no oik x ' ig' 11 '"" ■ban < In nize boycotts of any Inn ill il Ii ifliiiB material which encourages undviliztHrs oi behavior. II a boycott were organiaBnd t against bookstores that sold books 801 maea/ines ureiim rat ial dm i imnuii y 111 '' l|1 ‘lift 1 11 I I I preaching the utility of the blacknii:f| primarily as menial, urging :1k- i ) ;!iI that the Jew is geneticalh avariciousjBv on untrustworthy, one dmihts ihat ’ two Imi American Civil Liberties Union won 1 * object to organized boycotts of such om lets. On the other hand, it is uncandid to take the position that the three mags are not pornographic. In order of appeal to lechery, they rank: Hustler (sick), Pent house (much porn), Playboy (least porn), so let us speak of Penthouse as “la revue moyenne sensuelle.” There are many definitions of pornography. The accusation has been made that the com mission never defined it. Well, it did: Porn, said the commission, is material that is “predominantly sexually explicit and intended primarily for the purpose of sexual arousal.” The best way to cope with the argument that Penthouse also publishes non-pornographic material is to laugh at it. Ask yourself the question whether Penthouse would survive three months without the sex. Its readership would be about the size of The Homile tic and Pastoral Review. There is hardly any question that Penthouse et al arouse and semi-satisfy lust. One asks these days: Well, is that bad? Lust is a human predicament, and just as food satisfies hunger, so lust needs satisfaction. The civilized answer to this is of course that lust as appetite is satisfied in marriage, and that unlike food, which is necessary to prolong life, sex can be, and everywhere is, contained and even sublimated. People enter vol untarily into celibacy. The main argument against the por- nographers is less that they depict lust than that in doing so they depict not the love of Romeo and Juliet, satisfied by love and marriage, but the sexual hun ger of Joe for any Jane he can lay his hands upon. A typical ending of a sex ual episode in the pornies sees Joe off after a casual encounter with Jane, in search of other prey. Fhe commission on pornographyJ effect encourages such boycotts, ai the wonder is that the firestorm in cultural press is aimed not atthephik ophizers who preach the kind ofacdvi that results in illegitimacy and broliti homes and is governed by the pria| imperative, but at those who seek toe public attention to smut-for-profit.Tit critics join many libertarians in tvondefl ing how this all became a federal tion. The answer to that is that the fn Amendment is invoked in the least« | munity, when efforts are made tocout I teract the smut peddlers. If the Si I preme Court is going to be coir.: i involved every time a citizen objects# I “The Devil in Miss Jones” beingshow at the local theater, then you aregoiiii to need federal findings on pornogn P h y- Now a free country countenances publishers who advocate callousness to ward women, disregard for sexual re straint as the primal urge, utter noncha lance and irresponsibility for the fate of others; the devil himself is free to pub lish in America. And, finally, it is the feds who paytk cost — that cost that is payable - wanton sex. The Aid to Families Wifi Dependent Children programcosi about $15 billion per year. And it w take any social scientist about five rail utes to find a correlation between tl* birth of the sexual revolution inAmetl ica and the multiple birth of thebastaj in America. Copyright 1986, Universal Press Syndicate M6. CjOKMCHP/, YotSvC- p€&\ QUOTES? A6 'fizyc&ttcAr OffdE SttxTUf or c&e&gM'o n. rr'W'AS Jt/6T AHcTHfK tCXAMmC- of I