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