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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1990)
Tl The Battalion OPINION Tuesday, March 20,1990 Opinion Page Editor Ellen Hobbs 845-5 Irwin Tang Reader’s Opinion Native Africans should govern themselves Many people these days are trying with all their might to contrive excuses for why the Native Africans (blacks) of South Africa should not receive complete, unshackled freedom. Sometimes, it is a result of these people’s subconscious or conscious racism. Other times it may be their need to bend reality to suit their right-wing beliefs. Whatever the reason, Andrew Matthews provided readers with a perfect example of this phenomenon in his column on Feb. 22. First, Matthews stated that Native Africans will not necessarily govern Native Africans well and claimed that Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) would be harmful in office. If Matthews opened his eyes, he would see that the ANC is supported by most Native Africans, Asians and non-racist whites. People do not support those who would be harmful to them. Besides, the ANC supports a democratic form of government in which all may vote — if an administration is harmful, it can be voted out of office. Matthews then argued that the new South Africa must be completely free from government economic regulation. Does Matthews know that economic regulation in the U.S. is what prevents extreme polarization between the very rich and very poor? Sheer logic tells one that not many things would change for Native Africans without economic regulation. What would make the powerf ul white businessman pay blacks as much as whites? What force would push the economy to create jobs or improve housing? In a regulation-free economy, a Native African might legally live in Johanessburg but would only be able to afford the same grotesque shanty as before. Matthews also complained that Mandela calls for a “one person, one vote” system. What Matthews doesn’t seem to understand is that Mandela supports the rights of all people — African, European, Asian, whatever -and calls for these rights to be guaranteed in the constitution. In fact, even 27 years ago, while being persecuted by the white supremist government, Mandela proclaimed that he fought against both white and black domination. I have just rebuked three basic arguments often used to prevent freedom in South Africa. I ask now that the reader rethink his position on South Africa. Is it logical? Is it fair? I have heard too many people on this campus irrationally saying that freedom must be limited or that Mandela should be shot. Irwin Tang is a sophomore political science major. .Mail Call It- Williams rally coverage slanted would think these facilities could at least be adequate. Fhese machinesneedil be operational or be removed. EDITOR: Although the The Battalion’s general coverage of the Clayton Williams’ rally was good, there was an important factor that had been leit out. The vast majority of Williams’ protesters were wearing nazi armbands. Many of them shouted “seig heil” during the rally. 1 find it sad that I had to turn to the Houston Post to see that mentioned. Since three of my friends and I attended the rally, we had expected that The Battalion would have had the common sense to cover that. Obviously not. Nowhere present in the picture of the pro testors can one see the Nazi armbands, although they were present in abun dance. We are not asking The Battalion to condemn Williams’ protesters, but we would like to see the entire story covered. Those responsible for omitting Nazism from the story have the same poor taste as those who came as Nazis. Stacy Miller ’92 II i llea-«dl 1 no i-i 1 cam [per; Ii [Nov Students come for education, not traditions Jeff Franl ‘91 accompanied by two signatures Computer facilities need help EDITOR. I recently had an opportunity to use the Learning Resources Center on the sixth floor of the library. I needed to make corrections on a paper I had typed at home on my Apple lie computer. In the center, I found a compatible computer, the Apple He. The problem is not with the computers themselves, but with the printing facilities. The Epson printers are a waste of valuable time. The paper claspers must be held in place by hand since all of the springs are missing. After two hours of “f iddling” with various printers, one actually began to print. I discovered that it was not even compatible with the Apple- Works word processor. It couldn’t underline, calculate page numbers or cal culate characters per inch. With a $36 a semester computer access fee, one EDITOR: Of all the narrrow-minded, intolerant and downright stupid letters 1 hanl read in The Battalion over the years, the letter b\ Brad Wehner and Tomlin appearing in the February 26 edition is. In far, the worst. 1 don'thaii traditions, I just hate what they make people become. Wehner and Tomlr are sad results of an institution that places too high a value on traditions.Si why don’t I leave, Wehner and Tomlin ask. Gee, it wouldn’t be because I camtj here to get an education, would it? The whole philosophv of "1 lighvvav timid both ways” is so basically flawed that 1 can't believe people actuall) professii Since when has this been a countrv that was intolerant of dissenting opinions It seems to me that America was founded on principles of tolerance and wit ingness to change. Why can't A&M be the same way? 1 here is no best vvayio do things, only a better way. Any institution that ref uses to change forthebti- ter simply because “that’s the way it has alwavs been done" is destined todk That is why open-minded Aggies will continue to f ight closed-minded Aggies We don’t hate A&M. On the contrary, we lose it. And our los e is much mort valuable than Wehner and 'Tomlin’s lose because our los e is not blind. ithe T I Lou j Evic the trasl ! Ilan [trasl B I and fere Oth neai [ outs Si I ture ther only and 1 lead B I duri Ken Fontenot ’91 Have an opinion? Express it! Letters to the editor should not exceed 100 words in length. I he editorial staff resen'es the right t»niitiillr l for style and length, but will make ei'eiy effort to maintain the author's intent. There is no guarantee(ki letters submitted will be printed. Each lettei must he signed and must include tin < lass//nation, flitdmui | telephone number of the writer. All letters mas be brought to 21 (r Heed \ (i Donald, in sent to ( a infills.\k [ Stop 111!. GMAT catches student’s brain on vacatioi 1 took the Graduate Management Admission Test last Saturday. You know, the GMAT, it’s kind of like a SAT for graduate business school. And yes, it was last Saturday — THE Saturday of Saturday’s. The Saturday of spring break. Can you believe that the Educational Testing Service scheduled the GMAT on the Saturday of our spring break? Don’t they have a copy of the A&M all- University calendar? I can’t believe that they didn’t even take into consideration that A&M, (and many other universities), had spring break last week. How inconsiderate of them. And to make matters worse, my brain was still on spring break. No matter how hard I tried to get it to come back, it wouldn’t cooperate. It kept sending me little messages: “Hi, this is your brain. I can’t come to the GMAT right now. So leave your name and synapse number at the tone and I’ll call you back. Thanks.” (My brain never was one for creative messages.) I kept calling, and kept getting the same message. So finally I just decided to wing it without him. I figured that the Stanley H. Kaplan course that I took last year might help me some, but it’s been a long time and I proved to be a little rusty. (And little is an understatement.) When I arrived at the testing center, the monitor asked if I was Swedish. I quickly tried to f igure out if that was a trick question or something. I mean, I don’t look Swedish, or at least I don’t think that I do. Brown hair, brown eyes and Swedish? I told her no, that Arhos is of Greek origin, and she answered that there weren’t many Swedes around here anyway. I guess that I answered the question OK because I got in. It turned out that my seat was at the very front of the room right beneath in front of the test monitors. This can be beneficial when you need something, (like the pencil that 1 forgot, or that my brain forgot to bring back from spring break with him). But it can be detrimental, or even dangerous at times. Here’s what I mean: Picture yourself racing furiously against the clock, try ing your hardest to Finish the section you are working on. Your nose is pushed up against the bubbles of your Scantron sheet w hile you vigorously try to determine the answer to the question, “What is the tenth root of 400x39846583908765.” The sweat is pouring down your face, your pulse is soaring and suddenly this SCREECH comes from above you proclaiming, “STOOOOOOOOP!!!! Damon Arhos Assistant Opinion Editor probably do this to see if your attention will stray while you are reading the passages, and then you'll either get all of the questions wrong or waste all of your time going back to the passage. I think I did the latter. YOUR TIME IS UP!!!!” It gave me heart failure every time. And, boy, were those reading passages interesting! I seriously think that the people who w rite standardized tests try to find the most BORING passages that exist in the world. T hey It is amusing that many questions about these passages ask about the authors general attitude toward the subject. They always give you choices, like: (A) benevolent and interested, (B) synergetic and holographic, (C) extreme and radicalistic, (D) bored and uncaring, (E) overenthusiastic anti malevolent. And invariably you won’t understand the words in the choices. The math sections always seem to be a little bit more reasonable. A little bit. They give you a /ew“gimmie” questions (not to mention that they givevoua chance to use all of that algebra arid geometry you have been anxiousl) saving since high school.) At leastthe give you a little more time before/k slam you. There is something to ben for being slammed starting with number two instead of number one. When it was all over, when theta “S LOP” had been screeched and thel Scantron collected; after I had rubba all of the lead off of the end ofniynm and gotten a hold of my vacationing brain; when it was FINALLY time to run out of l hat room, out the frontdo and down the street doing cartyvl / remembered. The GRE is on April 21. AAA&5UU&S UCVttH R3ST Adventures In Cartooning by Don Atkinson Jr. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Scot Walker, Editor Monique Threadgill, Managing Editor Ellen Hobbs, Opinion Page Editor Melissa Naumann, Gity Editor Cindy McMillian, Lisa Robertson, News Editors Richard Tijerina, Sports Editor Fredrick D. Joe, Art Director Mary-Lynne Rice, Lifestyles Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school vear and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion. 230 Reed Mc Donald, Texas A&M University, College Sta tion, 1'X 77843-11 11. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843- 4111. ] I Tl I