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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 1986)
3ottalion/Friday, August 8, 1986 Guidelines for making college challenging After five long years, my college career finally is coming to a close (I think). But be fore 1 go (and go I will), I’d like to pass along some tips to incoming students on how to survive college. Upon arrival at school, freshman Michelle Rowe are bombarded with self-help guidelines on how to excel in college and enhance their career opportunities. These tips for success are designed to indoctrinate students into having good study habits. How dull. I offer tips not for high achievement, but tips on how to squeak by with mini mum effort. Doing as little as possible and passing can be hard work. But with a lot of prac tice and perseverance, you too can be a successful underachiever. First and foremost, take easy classes, and avoid courses with tough profes sors. Register late and drop-add as much as possible. Don’t buy textbooks. If you really need to read part of a book, photocopy someone else’s. Skip classes frequently — you don’t want to burn yourself out. Skip the first week of classes — noth ing important happens anyway. Skip classes on Fridays — everyone else does. Skip classes on Mondays long weekends. Never ask questions in class, except for ones like “Are the tests multiple choice?” or “Is the final exam compre hensive?” Never let a professor think you’re concerned about his class. NEVER talk to your professors after class or visit them in their offices. Sit in the back of the class, out of the professor’s line of sight. enjoy Michelle Powe is a senior journalism major and is editor for The Battalion. Who will befriend this constitutional orphan? Friends of the 22nd Amendment are hard to find these days. Repub licans are rustling ahead with a move Donald M. Rothberg -Yen s Au;il\ sis to repeal the limit on presidential ten- ;. Tha ' - _ . - Former Senate Majority Leader How ard H. Baker has some interest in de fending the 22nd Amendment. The Tennessee Republican is talking about funning for president in 1988. Would he defend the amendment? ure. 1 liat ought to make President Rea gan feel appreciated and Vice President Bush a bit uneasy. Democrats afen’t enthusiastic about dropping the two-term limit in order to allow Reagan to run again in 1988. But even they agree that, in principle, the limit is a bad idea. It’s unlikely that Bush will lead a drive to retain the amendment even though he must wonder why so many of his fellow Republicans are jumping at a chance to let Reagan run again rather than face the prospect of Bush or any one else leading the party into the 1988 elections. Surely, somewhere there is someone willing to defend this constitutional or phan. Thomas Mann, executive director of the American Political Science Associa tion, is a ready source of academics who represents a full range of opinions on is sues. But not on this issue. The best he could do on behalf of the 22nd Amendment was suggest that “there are a lot of people who would say it hasn’t been that significant. . . . It’s problems in principle are more clear than its problems in practice.” Rep. Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan, chairman of the House Republican Campaign Committee, thinks the op- g ortunity for four more years of Ronald eagan is ample rationale for amending the Constitution. Cynics have suggested and Vander Jagt has denied that his effort, initially directed to financial contributors, was more of a fund-raising ploy than a se rious campaign. Whatever his motive in launching the drive, Vander Jagt claims the response has been enthusiastic. Hundreds of calls have come into the campaign committee and crowds have greeted Reagan with chants of “Four more years.” All of which must give the 75-year- old president a warm and cuddly feeling but is unlikely to convince him to try for a third term at the iuze of 77. No way. “I suppose the reason we Re publicans were so hot about the 22nd Amendment is our fathers taught us to hate Franklin Roosevelt,” said Baker. The limit was put into the Constitution in 1951, its adoption spurred by a reac tion against the four terms voters gave Roosevelt. History plays tricks, however, and the next two presidents popular enough to be seriously contenders for a third term were Republicans — Dwight D. Eisen hower and now Reagan. Doriald M. Rothberg is the chief politi cal writer of The Associated Press. The president Was one of the first of ficials to suarsfest the two-term limit was a bad idea that ought to be repealed, but he emphasized he thought it ought to benefit future presidents, not himself. OS2N1W-© BB6 ft TWJNE p ij 15 i 0 U.AND5 Don’t go to labs. Anything you have to know will be discussed in class. Don’t keep up with the reading as signments. Any reading that has to be done for an exam can be done the night before or the day of the exam. Don’t participate in class discussions. ( T his rule won’t be difficult to oblige if you follow the previous rule.) Don’t do homework. Put off all course work until the abso lute last minute. Hand in all papers and projects at the last minute. Exert only the minimum amount of effort on projects and papers. Surely you have better things to do with your time. vogr BJ Put off all your difficult classes until your last semester. Change majors as often as possible. Once you’ve settled on a major, change your degree plan once or twice. Don’t expend unnecessary energy. Accumulate the exact number of hours necessary for graduation — no more. Be sure that you need every hour you take your last semester for graduation. Never lose sight of what you’re here for — to have fun. Don’t miss out on any of life’s pleasures because of school work. Tng i6 j/U*jAY$ CtVt&eM&z.*, /ft Respite i gvastated ir, over 1 (led in jroad Prc The Su ttUggled v en P anic ^ope am [dining. “So mai lund,” K jstant to |ni, said. ;as Tec SMU. was all run ■d.hv > Study Abi < of the dej 'trip e* Reagan popularity immune fre to political, economic woes | I.l BP.R ■eding f i longer ca Runty ir Co out often. Watch television avidly. Oversleep a lot. If you really feel you need to go to class, sleep there. Put off planning your career until af ter graduation. Put off planning for graduation until graduation. Most importantly, be sure to have your grades sent to your local address, not to your parents’ address. Above all remember, no matter how bleak your academic future may look don’t exert more the minimum amount of effort. If you follow these simple guidelines, you'll Find college a much more challenging experience and a lot less work. A staple of the o 1 d m o v i e car toons was the scene in which someone ran right off a cliff — and just kept on going until, of course, he looked down. Sometimes the cliff-runner was a fox and sometimes cept m (as “The pr “All this economic bad news would have another president—mm'beenc other president — reeling. Not so Reagan. He does not even uifHonly it public notice of it. ” H Hospital, Richard Cohen a roadrunner, but in real life he is start ing to look amazingly like Ronald Rea gan. Don’t look down, Mr. President. There is bad news below. around 7 percent, which is about where it was when Jimmy Carter went home to Plains, Ga. Business investment, maybe waiting for enactment of the tax bill, is Hat and jobs continue to be lost in man ufacturing industries. Big steel, for in stance, is slowly going bust. score would be close to perfect. pill pay 1 Km mec Ralih net other president could one day delivcnK ^ y ul speech rejecting sanctions against W| B( ‘ mie v Africa and the next day say he mighijtant to tht cept them after all? Someone elsewouH h son have either their competence or principles challenged, but not Reagan predc or The U.S. economy has all but stopped growing. Instead of expanding at the 4 or even 5 percent rate the administra tion once predicted, the economy has instead stalled — a growth rate for the last quarter of 1.1 percent. No one talks 4 percent anymore. If it’s growth you want, try the trade deficit. Despite a 30 percent decline in the value of the dollar when measured against the currencies of Japan or Eu rope, the trade deficit goes on its merry way: a record annual pace of $170 bil lion predicted for this year after a re cord was set just last year. This means that in the short term at least, the at tempt to make American goods cheaper abroad and foreign goods more expen sive here has failed to change matters any. We still continue to import a lot more than we export, losing both in- come.and jobs. The stock market, of course, has taken notice. The Dow Jones average was off about 117 points in July — the largest monthly decline since 1973 when the country was entering a recession brought on by the onset of the energy crisis. Oil prices are down, inflation is down — but so is the nation’s energy in dustry. As for the federal government, it continues to roll up record deficits — maybe as much as $240 billion this fiscal year. Reagan, in his usual pose as a Washington outsider, continues to threaten to come to town and really knock heads. $52 lore DALE e giant peering c 524.6 m Factory orders are down —- off by 0.3 percent in June, the fourth decline in the last six months. The nation’s saving rate, blissfully impervious to the alleged benefits of supply-side economics, con tinues to fall under the Reagan adminis tration instead of rising. Unemploy ment, while down a bit, remains high — All this economic bad news would have another president — any other president — reeling. Not so Reagan. He does not even take public notice of it. Instead, he tours the country proclaim ing us Number One, renewing his faith in lower taxes as a panacea for all eco nomic ills and extolling free trade while our trading partners maintain barriers. The public, it seems, loves it. Maybe the economy will be a ent matter — maybe. But even herciiiif doubtful whether the people will hold the president responsible for his own economic program. Take the mattfro( deficits — central to the economy,per haps the cause of the economic malaise Here is a man who campaigned against them, who thought them prettydoseto quarterly sinful and who promised that he would i i he c( make them disappear. What has hap largest ii pened? The total federal debthasmoif ness, saic than doubled under Reagan, in lam *! ,e * ()SS ° s ; downs O part because he made good on hisothci! tory, pro two promises: He cut taxes and ini Thom creased military spending. Should Ml actually be approaching a recession ii would be hard to apply the standard Keynesian remedy of deficit spendinf. We took that pill when we weren’t sick. dent an Blamed Reagan’s popularity continues to be so high there is talk of amending the Constitution so he could run for a third term. He long ago bettered Dwight Ei senhower’s second-term approval rating (53 percent to Reagan’s 68). And if there were a forgiveness rating, his The political charms of Ronald Re) gan are awesome. Even his critics ha* come to believe in him — believe inte luck, in his ability to be a talisman for® all. But lately, especially when it come to the economy, Reagan seems to be running out of luck. Like the fun® little animal in the cartoons, he has nil out of room and right off the cliff. Doni look down, Mr. President. You’ll see tit economy down there. Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writers 60/ SEAI O B CigoreHeSnxskdnq te Dorvg^taJsTb'ifour Heatfh. ^ ^ The U.S. Congress And Jesse Reims Want 'fou To Subsidize The Tobacco Industry. lift '' Ctn teqan Wants The Surgeon General NaTfo Testify Before Congress cn Banning Tobacco Ads. HI , Tfour Tax Dollars At Work, light Up. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Michelle Powe,Editor Loren Stef f'y, Opinion Page Editor Scott Sutherland, City Editor Sue Krenek, News Editor Ken Sury, Sports Editor Si don The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editor Mona Palmer Assistant News Editor .Jeanne I sen berg Photo Editor. Anthony S. Casper Make-up Editor John Jarvis Staff Artist Mindy Casper Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting norsfia- per operated as a community service to Texas A&M Hlri Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of tht Editorial Board or the of Journalism. The Battalion is published Tuesday through Ihda during the 'Texas AScM summer semester, except for holi day and examination periods. Mail subscriptions at' SI6.75 per semester. $55.25 per school year and $35pO foil year. Advertising rates furnished on request. 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