Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, March 24, 1987
rnKmametm
Exchange rates
shouldn’t dictate
' ■ ' r - " >, .
value of texts
Two weeks ago,
I wrote about
Texas public
school t-extbooks
being sent to the
shredder after
they had reached
a certain age.
No consider
ation is given to
the condition of
the books or who
might benefit from these learning re
sources outside of the public school sys
tem.
The publisher’s eternal quest for
profit supersedes any concern for the
spread of knowledge.
But there are some pleasant glitches
in this system of mandatory book de
struction.
While in New York City last week, I
found Dreams and Decisions, an eighth-
grade counterpart to the Rhymes and
Reasons reader published by MacMil
lan.
Rhymes and Reasons was one of the
books on its way from a Bryan elemen
tary school to a recycling plant because
of a 1980 copyright.
What would the publishers say if they
found out their book was being sold for
a dollar at a second-hand bookstore only
a few blocks from their headquarters?
After all, that’s good recycling money
d o <v n the
drain.
New York
isn’t the only
place such
textbooks
have turned
up for sale.
My wife
found an
edition of
Mirrors and
Images, also
kin to
Rhymes and
Reasons, on
sale at
Skaggs Al
pha Beta.
My New
York w a n -
derings also
took me into
the factory
outlet of
Harper and
Row. Appar
ently, such
recycling policies apply to all books, not
just texts.
I heard the lady behind the counter
ask another employee, “If a person
wants a book that’s no longer in print,
and we happen to have it, can we sell it
to them even though we’re supposed to
send it back to the factory?”
Luckily, the bookstore employees did
not share their publishers’ sentiments.
“Yeah,” replied the other employee.
“If they ask, we’ll just say we didn’t
know it was out of print.”
The publishers’ attitudes to their own
products are disturbing because it sets a
limit on the benefits derived from any
given text.
The authors of these books didn’t
write them with the idea that the educa
tional resource they were providing
would be discarded once it reached a
certain age.
Books are one of our most valuable
and fragile resources — so fragile that
natural decay poses almost as great a
threat as the publishers’ recycling con
tracts.
As Vartan Gregorian, president of
the New York Public Library told the
House Subcommittee on Postsecondary
Education earlier this month, books are
deteriorating because of “the ravages of
time, use, misuse and the very content
of the paper itself.”
Gregorian explained that most books
published since the mid-19th century
have been printed on paper containing
self-destructive acids.
“It is ironic,” Gregorian said, “that
the production of cheap paper — which
helped democratize the written word —
also bore the seeds of its own destruc
tion.”
But the “cheap? paper makes enough
in recycling revenues that publishers
can justify their lack of regard for the
book’s contents.
The famous story of young Abraham
Lincoln walking miles to borrow school
books demonstrates the respect he had
for the information contained in their
pages.
If Lincoln had lived in modern-day
Texas, state policy would have made his
quest fruitless.
He would have been rebuffed by
publishers seeking to monopolize their
markets, and a state education agency
that is unconcerned with education be
yond school walls.
When I worked in a restaurant, we
rarely thought of what we served as
food. Orders had to be filled as quickly
as possible.
Portions were slopped on the plate
with little consideration given to the fact
that someone was paying good money to
eat it. After
french fries
sat in a bin
for 15 min
utes, they
were dis
carded —
they weren’t
inedible,
just no
longer at
tractive.
The same
thing is hap
pening with
textbooks.
Pages are
slapped to
gether and
doled out to
the public.
When the
six years is
up on the
copyright,
the books,
like the
french fries
from my restaurant days, are discarded.
The textbook industry has entered
the world of fast-food publishing, and
the public has little input into the menu.
Mass consumption is a bigger concern
than education for the masses.
Textbooks are more than a means of
filling an educational quota in the public
schools. They are, in a way, immortal.
If we can keep them from the paper
shredder, they may never stop teaching.
The book in the New York second
hand store may sit on that shelf for
years. It may never be purchased.
On the other hand, it may find its way
into the hands of a child — or perhaps a
teacher, parent or tutor — who can put
its contents to good use.
If one educational future is helped
because of a second-hand textbook,
then it was worth saving from the scrap
heap.
Loren Steffy is a journalism graduate
and editor for The Battalion.
Steffy
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Loren Steffy, Editor
Marybeth Rohsner, Managing Editor
Mike Sullivan, Opinion Page Editor
Jens Koepke, City Editor
Jeanne Isenberg, Sue Krenek, News Editors
Homer Jacobs, Sports Editor
Tom Ownbey, Photo Editor
Editorial Policy
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tion.
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in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Depart
ment of Journalism.
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TX 77843-4111.
Ann Landers can’t hold a candle to him
Ann Landers,
adviser to the love
lorn, is leaving the
Chicago S u n -
Times, where I
used to work, and
moving across
Michigan Avenue
to the rival Chi
cago Tribune.
It was bound to
happen. Column
ists Bob Greene
and Mike Royko,
Lewis
Grizzard
two of the best,
jumped ship and moved to the Tribune.
I was at the Sun-Times nearly 30
years myself. Actually I was there nearly
three years, but it seemed more like 30.
Chicago wasn’t my kind of town, as I
have noted before. The weather didn’t
suit my clothes and this woman left me
there one cold night and that’s all I want
to say about that.
Still, I’m loyal to an old employer and
now that the Sun-Times has launched a
nationwide search for someone to take
Miss Landers’ place, I would like to
come to the rescue.
I wouldn’t move back to Chicago for
all the gold on Division Street, but I
could do an advice column to the love
lorn from my desk in Atlanta and send
it to Chicago by Greyhound.
Don’t laugh. You’re dealing with a
man of great experience when it comes
to love.
Currently auditioning is under way
for the part of the fourth Mrs. Grizzard
(Dial 1-800-555-LUST if you are inter
ested), so I feel completely qualified to
answer letters from those who have a
need to know in the area of romance.
“Grizzard is my name, romance is my
game,” is how I introduce myself to the
various lovelies who cross my path tie-
spite the fact they usually react either by
calling the police or kneeing me in the
groin.
I’m not all brag here. I can even give
examples of things I know about love,
marriage and that other stuff. Remem
ber these points.
1. Never marry a man whose mother
still refers to him as “Sonny Boy.”
2. Never marry a woman whose
mother has a tattoo and has voting priv
ileges in a bike gang.
3. Never marry anybody who
more troubles than you do.
4. Remember that bad breathdoj
, scandal
make him <>i hei a 1 id person. forced .
5. Love c<m<|u<is all Wear a gasiB ste P
if you have to.
lived with ami
“prince undei
6. Never get inv
who says he is a
sheets.” He may mean he’s a me
the Klan.
7. Beware of anybody who
bingo more than twice even five
I’m not exactly sure why, but trust
8. Beware of any man whose fr
call him “Snake,” and any woman»
friends refer to her in any waytfc
gins with the term “Big,” asin’Bi;
ma” or “Big I lazel,” or “Big Noise
Winnetka.”
married early i
>il the rest of thee
9. Never get
morning and spe
10. Beware: th
free sex anymore
you is the price of
1 anxiously await the Sun-Time:
Copyright 19S6, Cowles Syndicate
point p
SOC iaies
)’ The
dav tha
davs at
Shields
jometin
Shiel
stateme
The re:
ports r<
SMLat
Mans
real rea
But,
and em
point.
Althc
aware.
re is no such thn
The least it win
t condom.
Mail Call
Quit teasing him
EDITOR:
I’m having a little difficulty understanding the
meaning of the cartoon “Waldo” in the March 10 and 11
issues of The Battalion. I guess they’re fairly clear — you
are making fun of God. It may sound like I’m writing this
in judgment; however I’m nowhere near perfect either, so
I need to hear it also.
When I read the cartoons, this scripture came to mind
— “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man
reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful
nature, from that nature wall reap destruction; the one
who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap
eternal life.” Galatians 6:7,8.
The result is clear — life or death. We do need to
spend our lives pleasing God, it is important.
Mary Ann Hisel ’90
Speaking of business
EDITOR:
Last year, Pepsi decided to sell its soft drink in Laos.
To advertise it, they used their successful “Choice of a New
Generation” campaign. Unfortunately, in the Laosian
language their slogan translates as “Pepsi brings your
ancesters back from the dead.”
Although humorous, this blunder underscores two of
the reasons why the American economy has flagged in the
last twenty years: cultural ignorance and cultural ✓
arrogance. They may not be as obvious as inflation, trade
deficits or the national debt, but they’re at least as
important.Cultural ignorance and arrogance are closely
related. Japan, Russia, France and all of our other trading
partners have learned to deal with us in English. Because
of this, we have become lax in learning their languages and
cultures. For the same Reasons we have become arrogant,
expecting foreign businesspeople to learn English, to
know our culture and to know American business
practices.
Knowing all of the preceding, I was surprised when I
found that the A&M College of Business, one of the best in
the country, does not require its students to take a foreign
language. The college is in a position to improve the
national economy and to make its own contribution. It may
not be able to help directly in a solution for inflation or the
national debt, but it can address the problem of cultural
ignorance.To do this would require only minor changes in
the curriculum. One way would be to eliminate the
international elective and one of the humanities electives,
and replace them with a required two semesters in a
foreign language. Although most of the classes included
among the international electives give some insight into
foreign cultures, a foreign language class provides a more
intense study of a particular culture. This way, a business
graduate can improve his or her chances for landing a jot I
It would be safe to assume that nearly every major
American corporation has offices in several foreign
countries. So, those graduates with specialized traininginI
another language would certainly have an advantage in 1
their job market.
Another method would be for the College of Businei'H
to work with the Department of Modern languages in I
developing classes that introduce the students to other 1
cultures. These classes would explore areas such as
politics, business practices, general religious beliefs,and I
possibly a history of the culture. These c lasses would noi m
include language instruction because they would be
covering regions of the world: the Hispanic world, theh'H
East, Africa, etc.Although these curriculum changes
would add four or five hours to the degree requiremenl ;|
the time seems insignificant compared to the graduate’s I
improved chances in the real world and to the overall
improvement of America’s business relations.
Robert Dowdy ’88
Good intentions
EDITOR:
The recent events surrounding the sale of armstoirw
in exchange for hostages and the channelling of funds |
from those sales to revolutionaries in Nicaragua have
captured the headlines for the past several weeks. ||
However, the underlying goals of these two actionsshoulW
not be discolored by the erroneous methods undertaken<H
meet those goals; it is possible to do the right thing in the jfl
wrong way.
The allegation that President Reagan’s administration■
illegally channelled funds to the feedom fighters in
Nicaragua in no way nullifies the justness of the Americaf *
people’s support for those men fighting for their freedom■
any more than the sale of arms to Iran justifies
abandonment of the pursuit of freedom for the hostages 1
held in Lebanon.
The Communist regime of Daniel Ortega is still as i
opressive, the press is still censored, demonstrations are 1
still crushed, and certain unalienable rights endowedtoesH
by our creator are still denied to the people of Nicaragua
As long as injustice of this type exists, it is the obligationoH
the possessor of freedom to pursue the advancement of j
those freedoms, even if he stumbles in that pursuit, and,ai®
Teddy Roosevelt said, even if “at the worst, if he fails,at I
least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never 1
be with those cold and timid souls who know neither
victory nor defeat.”
Markel L. Simmons
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial
serves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make ever) tffrt' I
maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include Hidt l
sification, address and telephone number of the writer.