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A salute to the Corps
EDITOR:
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank some very
special people.
Quite some time ago, I learned that a young boy named
Michael in my neighborhood in Houston had cancer.
Michael began chemotherapy and was doing quite well
up until a month or so ago. I was told then the disease had
progressed and was causing tumors to develop on his
brain.
Although Michael is only 14, he knows that when he
graduates from high school, he wants to attend Texas
A&M and become a member of the Corps of Cadets.
Michael might not be able to come to A&M, but Satur
day, March 2, several members of the Corps went to him.
I've heard that when you have a disease such as cancer,
it is your spirit that helps you to keep up your fight. Those
guys gave Michael's spirit such a boost Saturday, he
should keep going for a long time.
I hope one day he will be able to wear his midnights
and boots and help another child keep fighting.
I just wanted to say thank you, and it's people like you
who make me proud to be an Aggie!
Samantha J. Leech '91
Just say 'no' to hate
EDITOR:
Yes Andy, let us educate the hate away from Saddam.
In fact, why didn't you just get on a plane to Iraq, seek
an interview with him and say: "Listen bud, we must be
willing to meet our humanitarian responsibilities of this
new era. We must work with (your frustration) and edu
cate (your hate) away..."
Yes, the solution could be just that easy. Or did you
have a different way of implementing your new form of "e-
ducation?" I couldn't find one in your column.
Oh, and don't forget to indoctrinate the people of Ku
wait in your "Just Say No To Hate" program. They are
probably a tinsy winsy bit angry with their buddy Saddam.
Yes, John F. Kennedy was right. Too bad he couldn't
hold to his convictions, as you've seemed to interpret
them, when he was continuing with the efforts of the Cold
War.
In fact, that is a very unfortunate thing indeed. For then
our military would not now have the technology to pre
vent tne loss ot so much international civilian life and
American military lives with accurately guided missile sys
tems. Ah, the hypocrisy of it all.
And since you will be so consistent with all of your con
victions stated in your article, when will you be calling up
the American moms and dads of the 27 American Marines
killed by a Scud missile the day before your article to tell
them: "They were made to or willingly participated in war
and were killed. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING objec
tively noble about that simple fact ... they may very well
have been noble men, but it is not because they were
(you fill in the blank Andy buddy)?"
After all, real nobility comes from writing articles about
how to educate hate away, not from being in hostile terri
tory and trying to help a defenseless little country.
— Please, call my adoptive father after you talk to those
parents. He is an ex-hate-infested marine. You know, the
blood-and-guts, good old American type. —
Yes, what a plan. Andy, how was it you were going to
carry out that re-education?
And Andy, I agree, "... pure form of hate (i.e., indiffer
ence) which justifies exploitation." We should have started
the education program when lovable, not hateable, Sad
dam first invaded Kuwait.
But I have one question Andy, is it possible that the
Iraqi government is fatalistic in its thinking also?
They could be saying, like so many of us, "Americans
are just an evil lot, and they will always be that way." Then
maybe WE would have been indifferent.
But no, that is just like something that organization, the
"United Nations of Macho Men," would say.
Obviously, they have been infected with the "... Amer
ican lust for accumulation ..." That Bush guy is something
else to be able to turn the thinking of that whole "Peace
Seeking Organization" (as they might arrogantly entitle
themselves).
If he would just quit spending money to fight nice guys
like Saddam, we could do so much good!
Andy, please do two things for all of us. Most impor
tant, send your column to your friends Saddam and Bush
to end all this hateful business.
Then write a column telling us where to send our
money to help with these emergency causes you listed.
If the mean old American government won't send our
tax dollars, I'll send my own money to help.
Andy, I intend no malice toward you. Some of your
ideals are great, but consider the whole of the situation.
Thom Ives
graduate student
Education needs help
Government money
can't solve problems
T
JL h
is
in
his column
response to a column by Dr. Larry
Hickman titled "Does America have
moral fiber to fight a war against
ignorance?" which was published in
Tuesday's Bryan-College Station Eagle.
Which country in the world spends
the most money on education? The
United States.
And which industrialized country
ends up at or near the bottom of every
poll identifying educational
achievement? You guessed it, the
United States.
There's an old adage which says "If it
ain't broke, don't fix it." The opposite
statement is just as relevant: "If it's
broke, fix it." Yet, the fact remains that
we continue to pour money into a
system that doesn't work.
In his article, Hickman articulately
states some of the key issues America is
facing. He emphasizes the education
problem, stressing its impact on
national productivity. His prescription
calls for more taxation, (particularly of
the nation's millionaires) and more
spending on education. To the general
population, he assigns the role of
holding "their leaders accountable for
their actions in the war against
ignorance."
Although I agree with Hickman
about the symptoms we face, I disagree
with the cause, the prescription and
who can be counted on to solve the
problem.
In the first place, Hickman's column
explicitly states that the cause of our
decline is the decrease in spending on
human resources, "including
education, but excluding Social
Security." For evidence, he points to
tf\e (act that spending for these
programs fell from 28 percent of federal
outlays in 1980 to 22 percent of federal
outlays in 1987. This use of statistics
obviously raises more questions than it
answers. In the first place, why does he
limit his information to 1980 and 1987?
Wouldn't it be more relevant to go back
to a reference point further in the past
to identify trends, say 1970 or 1960?
Furthermore, at least in theory, Reagan
shifted many human resource
programs back to the states. Wouldn't
it be more relevant to show spending
breakdowns for the entire public
sector? And finally, Hickman's
evidence does not indicate real levels of
spending, only percentages.
I obviously don't have the data I am
requesting of Hickman. Then again, I
am not making the same type of
assertions he is making.
So what has been the cause of the
recent losses posted by our educational
system? Hickman asserts that the
deterioration of the American
Community is a consequence of
ignorance and illiteracy. I disagree. I
think ignorance and illiteracy are
consequences of the American
Community. The ignorance belongs to
the upper classes. When the lower
classes move in, they refuse to be
communitarians. They think they can
move out and leave the government to
solve the problems. The lower classes
are left with neighborhoods which
have no element of "success" left. In
comes the welfare truck. The role the
community might have played in self
empowerment is dwarfed by the giant
of welfare. Reading promotes
Tim Truesdale
Columnist
independence. Welfare cannot reward
that.
Hickman's prescription calls for
more spending (apparently) at the
federal level. More bureaucracy, more
middlemen skimming off the top and
more dependence on faraway
Washington to help us here. If
anything will deteriorate American
communities, more dependence on the
outside will.
The only appropriate response is to
foster community self-help and self-
determination. When local people fight
local problems, it becomes more than a
job: It becomes a passion. When
Chicago recently decentralized its
school board mechanism, this was
overwhelmingly proven.
So, if self-empowerment is the
solution, who is responsible for solving
the problem? Forgive my cynicism, but
if you trust Congress to solve the
problems we have with ignorance and
illiteracy, then you must not think the
problems are as massive as you let on.
We all can appreciate the swiftness
with which the United States enjoyed
victory in the Gulf War. However,
there are no quick fixes for the
problems you so clearly portray. If
Congress attempts to engage the
problems you outline, it truly might
become another Vietnam, the war we
couldn't win.
Speaking of Vietnam, why did the
Communists win ft war in which they
were outpowered, outgunned and
outspent? They won because they were
able to mobilize people at the
"grassroots" level. When the South
Vietnamese detected enemy movement
in the jungle, they could call in
American "high-technology"
warplanes to deliver fireballs of death.
Unfortunately, such dependence on
Uncle Sam and his sophisticated,
expensive war machine was no match
for the "people's movement" which
had nothing to cling to but the passion
for self-determination.
Hickman, I agree with you that the
current set of priorities will lead our
country to weakness. But I believe the
true "ignorance" lies in believing that
as citizens, the best we can do is
pressure our leaders to do something
about it.
You are entirely correct when you
state that our downfall "will not be for
lack of expertise but for lack of will and
nerve." The question is, do we have
the will to rebuild a sense of
community in this country? Or, are we
blinded by the attitude that we can do
our own thing and let the government
take care of the problems?
The reality is that the problems we
face are much more complex than those
faced in the Gulf War. The question is
whether we can afford to fight another
war using the same tactics that couldn't
produce victory in Vietnam. Money
cannot win a war of this magnitude.
Only personal dedication and
engagement can.
Tim Truesdale is a graduate student in
urban planning.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
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Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
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