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.
Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDimld
Building, Texas A&-M University. College Station. M
77845.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 7781)-
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal
ion, 216 Reed McDonald. 'Texas A&-M University, Collegt
Station TX 77845.