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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1989)
Wednesday, March 29,1989 The Battalion Page? Home is where the graduate is Research says many students go home after college By Denise Thompson poor performance during college.” Men are more prone to return home al | Schnaiberg says the decision to move home af- graduation than women, Schnaiberg says. C [STAFF WRITER Part of growing up is growing out — out of the j parents’ house and out from under their wings. However, studies by a sociology professor show many college students moving out of college and back in with their parents. While many college graduates return home I for a short period following graduation to look for employment, Allan Schnaiberg, a professor from Northwestern University, says studies show many graduates returning home to live for seve- j ral years. Schnaiberg’s research shows that college grad- [ uates are moving back borne because they’re hav ing difficulty growing up. “They’re spoiled by their parents’ affluence, I and they’re unwilling to go out on their own and | settle for less,” Schnaiberg says. Although no statistics exist detailing how many [Texas A&M students have done this, Census Bu- | reau statistics show that 18 million single adults 18- to 34-years-old are living with their parents. I A surprising number of these are college grad- I uates, Schnaiberg says. “We haven’t finished our work with looking at the number of college graduates who do this, but we’re looking at large numbers, and they’re gro wing,” he says. “The students who do return home are usually the ones with poorer grades. They have constricted opportunties because of poor performance during college.” Schnaiberg says the decision to move home af ter graduation can be a smart one or a stupid one — depending on the person. “If it’s a reflection of some difficulties that the person has in either deferring gratification or in taking risks and picking themselves up after they fumble, then it may be an unfortunate move,” he says. “On the other hand, it’s unclear if any other move would necessarily be better because they haven’t learned to struggle whth this yet,” he says. Schnaiberg says these moves usually have a tremendous effect on parents. “It reduces the degree of parental freedom drastically,” he says. “Here you have these par ents who have raised their children and finally gotten the kids out on their own. “Most of the time, the parents have started making plans to retire or start doing things with their lives that were impossible before because of the children. Just as the parents begin to take ac tion with those long-awaited plans, the ‘child’ moves back in. “At the extreme, what you get is parents being responsible for many of the subsistence needs of the kids. And the kids have whatever money they make being entirely discretionary and recre ational. “What you end up with is a situation where the kids are living something close to an upper-mid dle class life while the parents are thrown into the realm of working-class provider — again.” Men are more prone to return home after graduation than women, Schnaiberg says. Con sensus studies show that more than 51 percent of males as compared to 31 percent of females live with their parents after the age of 24. Schnaiberg says two factors cause this trend. “Staying home is really much more constrictive of young women’s sexuality than it is of young men’s,” he says. “So there’s evidence of a double standard. “The other reason men return home more than women is because parents tend to perform certain domestic services for sons more than daughters. They expect daughters to help with domestic chores, but not sons. “In most cases, the men have it much easier at home, and the women have it much easier on their own.” Rising housing costs and beginning pay rates are two other explanations for these trends that Schnaiberg has studied. Since 1982, rents have risen 28 percent, and 25- to 34-year-old workers are earning only 77 percent of the wages earned by people 10 years older than them. “We are looking at a situation where young people are returning home for some type of eco nomic reason,” he said. “However, whether the majority are returning home for a free ride, or if they’re returning home until they can get on their feet, we haven’t been able to decide.” Lawmaker tries to overhaul parole board AUSTIN (AP) — The Board | of Pardons and Paroles is “very poorly run” and needs to be re- [ vamped, said the sponsor of a bill tentatively approved by the House on Tuesday to create an administrative panel over the agency. "That agency is without lead ership at this time, and it needs a complete and total overhaul ... It is a l950s-type agency that needs considerable change,” Rep. Mark Stiles of Beaumont said. “They’re not being effective, and they’re having to deal with some fairly bad folks that are coming out of TDC (the Texas Department of Corrections) early,” Stiles said after his mea sure won initial House approval without debate. The bill faces an other House vote before it can be sent to the Senate. Karin Armstrong, director of public information for the Board of Pardons and Paroles, did not have an immediate comment. The legislation would create a three-member panel to handle day-to-day administrative duties. The current six-member board would retain power over eligibil ity for release from prison, parole revocation and supervision of those paroled. Rep. Allen Hightower of Huntsville, who heads the House Corrections Committee, said the is needed despite the agency having gone through a sunset re view in the 1987 legislative ses sion that gave the board more of a policy-setting role. Hightower said, “In sunset last session we made it clear . . . that the board was not to interfere in the day-to-day activities of run ning that agency. That is not the process that’s taking place today. “As long as the board contin ues to deal in the everyday opera tions of that agency and try to run it from different direc tions the Legislature cannot get from that agency what they need for that agency to be responsible to peo ple,” he said. Hightower and Stiles said that in 1987 they sent to the board a list of allegations of racial dis crimination and other com plaints. It took until January 1989 to get a response, said Stiles. NCNB officials look toward purchase of bankrupt MCorp CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NCNB Texas National Bank has its eye on parts of MCorp, the big Texas bank ing firm that has announced it will seek bankruptcy protection, NCNB Texas Vice Chairman Timothy Hartman says. NCNB Texas, 20 percent owned and managed by NCNB Corp. of Charlotte, is not formulating a plan to acquire the troubled Dallas bank. But NCNB Texas would be interested in bidding on subsidiary banks if the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sells off parts of the firm, Hartman said. “We have about $21 billion in (Texas) deposits and we would be very interested in any type of transaction (that) would increase our market share,” Hartman said. NCNB Texas is not “knocking on any doors” but would consider bids if asked by the FDIC. “If the phone rings, we’ll answer it,” Hartman said in an interview published Tuesday in the Charlotte Ob server. MCorp announced Monday it would seek protection from creditors under Chapter 1 1 of the U.S. Bank ruptcy Code, in response to involuntary bankruptcy pe titions filed against it. Some analysts believe the bank- ruptcy filing increases the likelihood the FDIC will declare some of MGorp’s 25 banks insolvent and sell off their assets. Any NCNB Texas deal would likely be structured like its February deal to acquire a failing community bank in Abilene, Hartman said. Under terms of the deal, NCNB Texas agreed to pay a premium of $520,000 to assume the bank’s $ 1 70 million in deposits. NCNB Fexas, which has a dominant share of the Dallas market, is interested especially in expanding its share of the San Antonio and Houston markets, Hart man said. MBank of Houston has about $5 billion in as sets, while its San Antonio bank has about $1 billion in assets. ‘Designated Qualified Person’ checks quality of Tennessee Walking Horses BUCKEYE, Tenn. (AP) — It would be nice if everybody could claim the title his government has bestowed upon Charles Thomas, but few measure up. Thomas is, offi cially, a Designated Qualified Per son. “I don’t know who thought up that name,” Thomas says. “I guess they had to call us something.” What Thomas and only about 75 others are designated to be qualified at is deciding whether a horse, spe cifically a Tennessee Walking Horse, is fit to compete in a horse show. “For a while there,” he was saying the other day, stroking the forehead of a brood mare who arnbled over to the fence to greet him, “it looked like the whole walking horse business was going down the drain. That would have been a shame. It’s a beautiful breed.” It is most gentle with an easy gait that doesn’t jar the rider at any speed. It reaches its front feet high and far out, one and then the other, and brings its back feet forward to overstride the front. Its back re mains as level as a love seat. The high stretch of the front feet is what horsemen call “the big lick, 1 ” a crowd-pleasing action prized in show rings. “The gait is bred into the horse,” Thomas says. “With regular training a good horse will develop the big lick naturally. But some trainers weren’t satisfied. They took shortcuts, tried to make something artificial out of whafs supposed to be natural.” The “shortcuts” brought down upon the walking horse industry the wrath of the American Horse Pro tective Association and other hu mane groups and, finally, Congress. In 1970 it passed the Horse Protec tion Act, aimed specifically at Ten nessee Walking Horses, and as signed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enforce its provisions. “What the trainers would do,” Thomas says, grimacing, “was sore the horse. “First they built up the front feet by putting thick pads between the hoof and the shoe. This raised the horse in front and gave him a longer reach, a higher step Then they did the worst part. They burned the horse with a chemical, blistering it above the front hooves, and attached a heavy, rough chain that would rub on the sore part. “The horse would try to kick the chains off, like you would try to throw a bracelet off your wrist that bothered you. The whole effect was to exaggerate the big lick.' “The crowds loved it. It really is exciting to watch. The judges lis tened to the crowds, and soon sor ing, as it was called, became the ac cepted way to treat a walking horse. “I’ve seen horses so sore they couldn’t finish, just give out. I’ve seen horses walk off with blood run ning from above their hooves.” Charles Thomas is 50. He is a gen tle soul with a voice like a Southern lullaby. He and his wife, Christine, and their three children live in a friendly farmhouse a century old, nestled against a clear spring on 96 acres of Cumberland Mountain foot hills in this rural community near Lynchburg. Both Charles and Christine work at the nearby Jack Daniel’s distillery, he in the steam plant, she in the bot tling house. “Walking horses are important to me,” Thomas says, “but just as a sideline. Of course for a lot of folks around here their living is the walk ing horse business.” Quite a business. Shelbyville, a few miles north of here, bills itself as “The Walking Horse Capital of the World” and is the site of an annual 10-day show, called The Cele bration. It is to walking horses what the Kentucky Derby is to thorough breds. Last year’s 50th annual Cele bration drew more than 3,500 horses who competed before a paid attendance of 231,000. Student wins $10,000 for Goetz-inspired paper WASHINGTON (AP) — The story of Bernard Goetz, New York City’s subway gunman who was per petrator to some, defender to oth ers, inspired Stacey Benjamin to un dertake a study that earned her $10,000 in the 1989 Westinghouse Science Talent Search. “My sister — a Westinghouse semifinalist in 1986 — and I were discussing the case in which a white man (Goetz) shot several black youths on a subway train because he felt they were menacing him. “As a result, I was prompted to undertake a one-year study, ‘Color Blind? The Influence of Race on Perception of Crime Severity,”’ Ben jamin, a student at Francis Lewis High School in Flushing, N.Y., says. Her findings, involving more than 200 subjects, was that age and level of education affect perception more than racial bias. Benjamin, 16, who plans to study communications at Brown Univer sity, says she can’t recall exactly when she became interested in sci ence. “I’ve always had an interest in how and why people think the way they do,” she says, “but it wasn’t until high school that I learned how to use scientific methods.” Interviews with the 40 national winners who accepted a total of $140,000 in scholarships disclosed that an interest in science developed when they were young — one-third at 6 years or younger — and that en couragement by parents and teach ers played a major role. “When I was 11, I caught a big, brown beetle at our bug whacker and asked myself, ‘What is this?’ and that’s been the big question motivat ing me ever since,” says David L. Haile of Holy Name H.S. in Read ing, Pa. David’s winning project was devel oping and testing a new method of identifying moths and butterflies. He plans to attend Penn State and to study veterinary medicine. He started work on his project three years ago when a snowstorm cancelled school. “I got out my mi croscope — I had just received it for my birthday,” he says, “and when I put a butterfly wing on a slide, I started to hyperventilate, it was so beautiful.” When Allene Whitney became in trigued with geology of the Grand Canyon, she wanted to learn more about nature and then decided to become a scientist. Back home in Helena, Mont., she undertook a three-year study to develop a faster test to detect algal toxicity in Mon tana lake water. This toxicity may be lethal to cattle and harmful to hu mans, so early detection is essential. She found that water fleas can de termine toxicity within several hours compared to the current laboratory bioassay testing technique that re quires several days for results. Whitney attends Capital H.S. and plans to attend Stanford University to prepare for a career in medical re search. “When I was 10 and in the fifth grade, I saw this chemistry magic show,” Jason S. Flesch, 18, of Ro chester, Minn says. “My interest in science was ignited right there and then as I watched colorless solutions in beakers turn yellow, then blue, then yellow . ..” Flesch’s fascination with magic led to a project in oscillatory chemistry, which took more than 18 months to complete. After study at the University of Chicago, Jason plans to work toward a Ph.D. in physical chemistry for a career as a college professor. A television series about the brain sparked an interest in science for Richard Christie in Penfield, N.Y., when he was 10. Now 15, Christie is this year’s youngest Science Talent Search winner. The Penfield H.S. student did a research study which he believes will increase understand ing of the interactions between the nervous and immune systems and their impact on the brain, behavior and immunity. After study at MIT, Christie hopes to become a neuroscientist. Divya Chander, 17, of River Vale, N.J., says she likes science because “I found it to be like a good detective story — it was a mystery.” Chander’s winning entry was a bi ological research project in which she studied a possible mechanism for bacterial invasion of host tissue. She believes her experiments could prove useful in controlling diseases such as typhoid fever and salmonella food poisoning. Chander, first in her class at Pas- cack Valley H.S. in Hillsdale, N.J.., plans to continue her biology studies at Harvard University. PARTY SPECIAL 10 LARGE PIZZAS 1 topping (each) $79.99 268-BEST $1.99 Pitchers The best pizza In Skagg’s Shopping Center Expires 4/3/89 STUDY ABROAD OFFICE NEED A LOAN TO STUDY ABROAD? NEED HELP WITH THE LOAN PROCESS? ATTEND THE STUDY ABROAD FINANCIAL AID INFORMATIONAL MEETING Friday, 31 March, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. Room 404 Rudder A Financial Aid Counselor will be available to an swer questions about financial aid for Semester and Summer Study Abroad. 5 th ANNUAL SPRING PLANT FAIR SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1989 9:00am - 5:00pm HORTICULTURE/FORESTRY BLDG. Wide variety ot bedding plants, house plants, hanging baskets, herbs and vegetable transplants. Graduate Council Information Booth Displays by the Brazos Valley African Violet Society / PARKING OLD M 1 “NP" ( s HORTICULTURE RD. 1 UNIVERSITY OR. | | VET SCHOOL | § Sponsored by: TAMU Horticulture Society and TAMU Floriculture-Ornamental Horticulture Club IT’S FREE!!! c^Icwn Haul Presents Featuring: An Eclectic Mix Of Epicurean Delights COFFEEHOUSE YOU CAN STILL GET INUOLVED upcoming program f we still need helpJ ROE v. WADE Where Is It Goins, Where Has It Been? general committee meeting Wednesday, March29 ^ 601 Rudder 7p.m.