Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, March 11, 1987
Opinion
Shredding textbooks is no way to educate a chil
Every year, cov
ers are torn off
thousands of text
books in Texas.
The inside pages
are shredded and
reduced to pulp.
And the state not
only approves but
applauds. Not all
of the books that Loren
are sent to the Steffy
shredder have l “ —l
been soiled and defaced by the little
hands of eager students. Some have
never been used, let alone worn out.
But the textbook-recycling process
gives no consideration to the condition
of teaching materials. If the state of
Texas will no longer be using them,
then no one can.
From an official standpoint, this isn’t
waste, it’s a means of ensuring a quality
education for Texas schoolchildren.
It’s unclear whether the state, the
publishing companies, or both lack con
cern for the fate of these teaching
materials — and it really doesn’t matter.
What matters is that educational re
sources are being destroyed indiscrimi
nately, merely because the state no
longer has a use for them.
The information contained within
the pages of the shredded books could
be valuable tools for libraries, tutors,
student-teachers, or even parents of stu
dents who need extra help in school.
But, to perpetuate the publishing com
panies’ monopoly, the books are de
stroyed regardless of condition or worth
outside of the paper mill.
The state enters into an agreement
with textbook publishers that once
books are no longer being used in Texas
schools, they will be returned to the
publishing company. The publishers
then turn the books over to paper re
cyclers, making a small return on the
tonnage of pulp.
The state is paid an exchange rate by
Do congressmen read the letters?
The public
has been told Kirsten
many times that Dietz
the best way to Guest Columnist
participate in
government, other than voting, is
writing their congressman.
When I thought about writing my
congressman, I navely pictured my
letter being opened and carefully
read by him and his staff. They
would discuss it and then my con
gressman would write me a personal
note. I guess I realized that scenario
wasn’t realistic, but I never thought
about it much.
Like I said, I was nave.
So when I came to Washington
D.C. and began my internship, I was
surprised to learn that when a person
takes the time to write his congress
man, the congressman almost never
sees the letter. Instead, reading and
replying to the avalanche of mail —
Congress received about 300 million
letters last year — falls on the shoul
ders of the staff. The procedure for
answering constituent mail varies
from office to office. Offices such as
mine, which receive a great deal of
mail, send most writers a form letter.
My office has a binder of almost 200
such letters dealing with issues the
senator tends to get a lot of mail
about. The form letters are on a com
puter so, with the push of a button, a
constituent and the office both are
happy. The constituent gets a quick
and personal-looking response on an
issue he feels strongly about, and the
staff doesn’t have to spend a lot of
time on each letter. The letter even
comes out of the computer complete
with the senator’s signature. So the
senator not only never sees the in
coming mail, but he does not even
personally respond to it or sign the
outgoing mail.
This sounds callous, as the constit
uent is the only reason the represen
tative is in office. But it is because the
constituent is so important that he
gets the form letter. Writers must be
answered, but it is unrealistic to ex
pect a congressman and his staff to
answer up to 1,000 letters a week. If
they did, that’s all they would do.
In my office, the Connecticut con
stituent gets priority. Out-of-state is
rarely answered, as a senator’s office
receives so much in-state mail. In
state requests also are honored before
those from out of state.
Admittedly, answering the mail is
time-consuming, and some staff
members feel it is beneath them. So
in many cases when a form letter isn’t
an adequate response, the task of an
swering the mail falls to the lowly in
tern — one of whom is me. This also
bothers me. I don’t feel qualified to
answer a letter on tax reform. Contra
aid or changes in Medicare, even with
access to research. What 20- or 21-
year-old is qualified to speak for a
senator? How would you feel, know
ing that your carefully-written letter
is being answered by a college or
high-school student?
Most of these letters are pieced to
gether by “plagiarizing” a variety of
information sources. Yet sometimes
the intern can formulate the rep
resentative’s opinion on a matter. In
one of the first letters I wrote, the
senator was asked how well the media
draws the nation’s attention to world
hunger. Being a journalism major, of
course I said the media are doing an
“excellent job.” But is that really how
the senator thinks? I have no idea,
and neither does anyone else on his
staff.
Though it seems the constituent is
being treated unfairly, the constitu
ent doesn’t seem to think so. This is
evident not only from the incredible
volume of mail, but from its content.
Some letter writers seem to think
the congressman is capable of any
thing, especially when it comes to
their individual problems. Every of
fice — especially a representative’s, as
he has a smaller district than a sen
ator — handles individual casework.
This includes things such as finding a
lost social security check or helping
smooth the way for a relative’s immi
gration.
One man, who was not doing well
in the snow-plow rental business,
asked the senator to help him get a
defense contract because he had el
derly parents and a child to support.
Another woman asked for an honor
able discharge for her husband who
is stationed in Germany. She is afraid
that their separation will lead to a di
vorce.
People who write these kinds of
letters write their congressman be
cause they have nowhere else to turn.
To them, the congressman is a pow
erful figure who can do just about
anything. But all too often, the
slightly odd letters are trashed with
little or no thought as to why they
ended up in the congressman’s office
to begin with.
So, while the constituent is consid
ered top priority, is he treated as
such?
True, form letters, intern and
staff-generated replies and the auto
pen free the congressman and his
staff to do the things they must get
accomplished that day. But, as a con
stituent, I’m not sure the response is
equal to the effort it takes to write a
congressman.
Kirsten Dietz is a journalism major
who is interning with a U.S. rep
resentative in Washington D.C.
Columns submitted for Farmers Write should be be
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Loren Steffy, Editor
Marybeth Rohsner, Managing Editor
Mike Sullivan, Opinion Page Editor
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Jeanne Isenberg, Sue Krenek, News Editors
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Tom Ownbey, Photo Editor
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the publishers when the books are first
purchased. This gives the publishing
companies several guarantees. First, it
assures the companies that no one else
will get their books, thereby keeping all
other possible markets open. Second, it
means the state will need to purchase
new books every few years.
So the state gets updated books, and
the publishers get an almost-guaranteed
long-term sales contract. It sounds like a
wonderful symbiotic relationship that
benefits students, state and salesmen al
ike. But, of course, there’s a catch.
Once the state is through with its
books, it assumes the texts are worthless
except for their exchange rate. Most
publishing companies didn’t become
multimillion-dollar corporations by
thinking of books in terms of their value
to people. To them, books are commo
dities that must be sold to make a profit.
Since all states need school books, the
publishing companies have their pick of
the arrangements.
I have seen several boxes of textbooks
from an elementary school in Bryan
that are going “out of adoption” — the
official jargon for books that are des
tined for destruction. One set of books,
Departures, a boxed set of supplemen
tary readers published by Harper and
Row, had never been opened. It was in
its original shipping container, also uno
pened.
Other texts that had fallen from
grace included Rhymes and Reasons, a
fourth-grade reader published by Mac
Millan, and Read Better, Learn More
Book A, another reader published by
Ginn and Co. The copies of these books,
while not pristine, obviously had seen
little use.
come?
exch
es up short, the TEAcoordij
tange between the two c.E
c ft
Strict inventories are takentomaltH
no book goes unaccounted.
Some of the books 1 saw were chil
dren’s story books. Because of the 1980
copyright, the state can no longer use
them as supplementary readers in the
classroom. But some of the stories, such
as The Secret of Gourmandy, No Roads
for the Wind, Comits, a Book of Comic
Skits, Lost! and Henry Aaron and Babe
Ruth, are timeless entertainment that
still could benefit children’s sections in
libraries or bookshelves at home.
These books are not controversial.
They don’t contain references to secular
humanism; except for one science book
I saw, none even mentioned evolution.
Their only fault is being copyrighted six
years ago — making them obsolete for
Texas classrooms and, by the state’s
agreement with the publishers, for gen
eral Consumption as well.
All in all, there were 20 to 30 differ
ent texts in the boxes I saw. No one I
talked to in the Texas Education
Agency or the publishing companies
seemed to give a second thought to what
was happening to the books.
But the concern is for monetarl
educational, purposes. It's adirl
that the state wants to keep its teal
resources current. But it’s destJ
that the concern does not exteiJ
yond the classroom. A truecommia
to education means supportingrj
tion in all forms. Just because a tJ
obsolete in the classroom doesn't]
it’s been drained of its education]
tential. Learning can come from!
sources in many settings. ButshtrJ
out-of-adoption books benefitsrI
except the publishers — andttietl
allies lie not with education, bi:I
profit.
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dm in
Destroying good textbooks jd
cause one owner no longer wanui
ought to be a crime. WhethertheJ
the publishing companies,
the villains doesn’t matter. Son
ought to throw the Ixrokatthetn H
Loren Steffy is a journalism i
and editor for The Battalion.
Texas is extremely protective of the
textbooks that are in adoption. Once a
school district is no longer using a
book, the editions must be returned to
the TEA. Teachers are allowed to keep
a few copies as reference resources in
their classrooms. If one district has a
surplus of a certain book and another
Because several members of :
l he Battalion editorial board
Ik- attending the t.olumbiafx J 4
astk Press Asstxiation Conferr** 1 ^
in New York City from March B
14, some of the columns this>>-?,■ 1
will not appear on their retJ§!
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Finals frustration
EDITOR:
A topic that has not received much publicity is the
proposal signed by President Vandiver requiring all
graduating seniors to take final exams. Most students have
not paid any attention to it. But this proposal will affect
ALL students beginning Spring 1988.To accommodate
graduating seniors, finals week will become Friday of Dead
Week, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. With this
schedule, students will not have an entire weekend to
study before finals begin. While we are not completely '
opposed to finals for graduating seniors, they should not
be scheduled at the expense of the entire student body.
This proposal also will make “graduation weekend” a
thing of the past. The commencement will be moved to the
Friday after finals. The commissioning ceremony will be
eliminated and Final Review rescheduled to a different
weekend. Now, some parents will have to make two trips to
see all of the ceremonies. When my parents came down for
my graduation ceremony, they enjoyed seeing campus life
with all the students. Since finals will be over on Tuesday,
the dorms will be cleared out by Wednesday — so much
for students on campus attending commencements. And
what about graduating seniors who live in dorms? Will
they be kicked out on Wednesday and be forced to stay at a
local hotel at their “affordable prices?”
Don’t graduating seniors have enough to worry about
— like interviewing for jobs, going on plant trips
(hopefully) and finding a place to live, among other
things? Isn’t finding a job the ultimate FINAL exam,
anyway? If you’re unhappy about this proposal, contact
Dr. Vandiver and let him know.
Jon Genetti, graduate student
accompanied by 50 signatures
Highway sicks
EDITOR:
Before I arrived at Texas A&M last summer, I used to
wonder why everyone made fun of Aggies. Thanks to The
Battalion’s Mail Call, I now understand. An overwhelming
number of its reply letters reveal the “Highway 6 runs both
ways” attitude so prevalent on this campus, carved into
tradition by the Corps. 1 had hoped that the rest of the
student body could overcome this restrictive attitude.
However, after reading the letter by Sonya Brewer in
Thursday’s Mail Call, I am convinced that the end of
civilization on the A&M campus is very near.
In her letter, Brewer demands that gays, women in th
band, students with opposing viewpoints and even noisy
vehicles traveling through College Station during Silver
Taps (does this include ambulances?) should cease toexisi
because they are irritating “little things” that disturbAggit
tradition. Now, I love Aggie tradition just as muchasan)
other Aggie, but I didn’t know that this tradition included
flagrant disregard for'the rights of people who irritate
you. If every individual on this campus were allowed to
dispose of all the people who annoyed him, Highway 6
might he very crowded, and the A&M campus would loot
like Southern Methodist University’s football stadium.
As fqr the claim that the sun sets and rises on this
campus — everyone would like to belieye that the world
would stop turning if he weren’t there to push it, but
unfortunately this is not true. It is precisely this self-
centeredness which causes so many disputes between
people and among nations. If A&M really is, as Brewer
claims, a place where gays are considered sub-human,
women should he “thanking the University for being
allowed to enroll as students,” and people with differing
opinions are advised to keep cjuiet, then I can think ofotf
place very similar to A&M: the Soviet Union — where
repression of people and ideas is an age-old “tradition.
I propose a new tradition for all you “true Aggies”-
tolerance. fry it. You might be surprised when you find
that gays, minorities , foreign students, women in the
Corps and even students with opposing viewpoints are
actually people and not just material for jokes. As Aggies,
we have a responsibility to make all people feel welcomeai
A&M, not just those people who conform to our individual
standards. After all, Highway ( xes run both ways, but
let’s keep the traffic coming in i»..,tead of leaving.
Melanie Shouse ’90
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Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial A'
reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort*
maintain the author's intent. Each letter must be signed and must includr "■
classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
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