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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1991)
Opinion | Wednesday, September 11,1991 The Battalion Page 9 A&M should expand sex education classes i University needs to implement mandatory policy, link he saddled at Ba- ■vith his JPyhebej include more sections for interested students 135 not o: j but the re;H ha s rea]jz ; Can SC;: 'be fullk, • other tea- ie ball. 30 andJ ’wns Sate ■ s 27-7 vie;.', 'aso to ca ress 0% Mawa- w ,v w v ive side; -ee Johns: ^zorbaci a Player, for his 2 n an inter t gave th ue victor odist. ; t time a: ad won a irs. aig ment: play fu] nach Gra: hard tins back.' P had evej dm. It wa / a toug,, get tofe the tear | mendot for a 24i| | said hi]i, ;e runnej t fullbadlI o profeii anv grea.i /'He hail ?st in tii:| nee tki time. Hi ;es quicll iin. Aniil 3 gool; bout s a too: lass, osed t:| haven:/ friend,''® in't likl first bo:j, v. It's <E It's im|;i s Chris-;i ad four| agains: 'e all have heard the stats: 20 percent of college women will be sexually assaulted this year; more than one- half of white women and al most three-fourths of black women will be sexually active before they reach 18; 1 per cent of the entire enrollment of the University of Texas, more than 400 people, have tested positive for AIDS. We also have heard, and some believe, the myths sur rounding sexual relations in college: When a woman says "no," she means "yes"; women who act provoca tively want to have sex; a condom will always prevent pregnancy; you can't get a sexually transmitted disease from a friend; when a wom an regrets sex that occurred the night before, it is rape; only the female is responsible for contraception. • These and many other myths could be corrected if everyone took a sex education class. Unfortunately, only two classes are offered by A&M which could be termed "sex education" classes. One is Health 342, human sexuality, and the other is psychology 349, Psychol ogy of human sexual behavior. Con sistently, few sections are offered, and they fill up rather quickly. Some form of sex education | hH should be required by the University. k are a J Many students have been sexually ^ active before coming to A&M, but it is never too late to learn new things. Methods of contraception, contracep tive reliability, sexually transmitted diseases, anatomy and human sexual behavior all could be covered. Most religious doctrines say inter course is only for procreation, not for pleasure. No formal education was necessary because the dominant male didn't care how the female felt. And if something went wrong, like a preg nancy, it was completely the woman's fault. Women were not supposed to enjoy intercourse. With the advent of the women's movement though, people began to view sex differently. In most reli gions, sex prior to marriage still is frowned upon. Sex in marriage is not only for creation of families, but it is also an expression of love. Without experience, couples are expected instantly to know how to please their partner and how to pre vent conception and infections as David Nash B i Sry major. soon as they jump into the wedding bed. Some churches have recognized this incongruity and have begun to offer sex education. Unfortunately, not every church does this, even though the benefits are clear. Students who say they could never support a sex education class also should attend. They will add a much- needed element of abstinence and restraint to class discussions. Students are required to learn about computers, hu manities and social sciences. They also should be re quired to better their sexual knowledge. Not many people will re member what they learn in their anthropology class in five years (apologies to the anthropol ogy students and profs), but many people will engage in sexual rela tions, marital or otherwise, in the near future. The lack of informative, mandatory sex education is rather distressing. The elective sex educa tion classes are not offered often enough. EDUCATION "Many students have been sexually active before coming to A&M, but it is never too late to learn new things." ;v Sail: fl-timc ardagf return Ilerton ve the ical re Fortunately, students and organi zations have tried to fill the void. Tuesday night, the Health Education Center discussed contraceptive op tions in the A-l Lounge near Fowler. On Monday, Sept. 23, there will be a discussion about date rape in the A-l Lounge at 8:00 pm. Look around campus and read the flyers advertis ing similar discussions. Attend these lectures and learh what the Universi ty is reluctant to teach. You might learn something really useful. ees MCA: II Div re age d or re jnrnen: I ineii ntly it n" p» ind omnit recoit ; take by at cot- scratd o pro orkitj denie vvouk 1 Jacc- e in plan askei- aacoh) xenn -dtlii said =3 the i ti rff. x-ene 5. set 1 sp at ' jxifet Jtht '■' rc^ •*r v — Cruel Tricks ALL the fre.sh/abm^ SHAVR LETTERS OH THElR HEAOS SO THEV OAN OUT 3 AY ^ A&M falls short on diversity of curriculum Course listing needs updating T exas A&M, no doubt, offers a cornucopia of courses. These range from reasonably menial to extremely challenging — from, say, flower arranging to quantum mechanics. With such-a-selection, it would seem sure even the most radically difficult-to-please palate could be satiat ed at A&M. This proves not to be the case as a new sur vey taken by Rolling Stone indicates. Sadly, we Aggies are missing out on quite a few, well, in teresting classes. A national newspaper excerpted a few sam ples of the classes currently offered at some of our fine institutions of higher learning around the country. These include: • Supervised Reading (Cornell) • Circus (New York University) ♦ Choosing a life (Northwestern) • Psychology and Photography (that clas sic alliterative combination) (Tulane) Matt McBurnett in partic ular, seems quite under-represented. There fore, T have compiled a personal list of left out but useful courses. Though Arkansas is not really a Southwest Conference school, any list of this sort should begin with them because, basically, they are the easiest to pick on. Arkansas sorely lacks a planned parenthood course. Not to be confused with the worthwhile social organi zation, their course should deal with the trauma of hav- "The scope of this class (defensive driving) is much too focused. It fails to include tips on avoiding A&M pedestrians, the majority of whom believe they could step in front of an ambulance carrying President Mob ley to Humana and retain the right of way " ing to accept that one's father, grandfather and brother are actually the same person. OK, I hit a little below the belt on that one, so let's move on to Rice, the self-proclaimed Harvard of the South. Rice has long needed to offer sexual education in its curriculum. Students at most colleges usually have a difficult time Handling the sexual freedom associated with being away from the tight reins held by parents. At Rice, an even more vexing problem has arisen. Hie male students cannot educate themselves sexually be cause the women there have generally not developed secondary sex characteristics. Maybe they have, but who's looking? Moving across town to the University of Houston, it remains to be seen if they have even developed a cur riculum. Baylor also offers a course on the history of rock mu sic but, as of now, the class meets once a month. The students can only take so much Stryper and Amy Grant. McBurnett is a senior electrical engineering major. Tfexas Tech should offer classes dealing with the fine art of living in the middle of nowhere. Some A&M fac ulty have already started registering to be visiting pro fessors. Texas Christian is said to be planning a class on dealing with student life outside the Greek community. They must wait a few years because, presently, only one Student has the required prerequisites. Southern Methodist University will soon follow suit. Though the University of Texas currently has a fairly broad curriculum, much more is needed. For instance, a course on how to live through fraternity initiations should be of fered. No list of this sort would be complete with out mentioning our own fine institution. Though A&M offers courses in orienteer ing, the syllabus fails to include the challeng ing aspects of our campus. Running through tlie woods with a compass hardly compares to finding a way to get from Kleberg to anywhere else on campus in 10 minutes. It is said A&M once offered a course on how to beat the NCAA. Kermit Davis Suppos edly was the star pupil. Unfortunately, Jackie Sherrill taught the class. The psychology department is in the process of de signing a course on the science of deal ing with rampant stupidity. The lab associat ed with this class mainly will be de voted to solving the mystery of why A&M went from is suing ticket books for football tickets to including the tickets on our already over loaded student ID cards which, by the way, are the same ones many of us use to purchase meals. For those of us who tend to drive a little too fast, the MSC offers a defensive driving course. Sadly, the scope of this class is much too focused. It fails to include tips on avoiding A&M pedestrians, the majority of whom believe they could step in front of an ambulance carry ing President Mobley to Humana and retain the right of way. And, finally, serious consideration should be given to the creation of a class devoted to the position in which we students are placed when attempting to park vehicles on campus. Some of us may remember a similar course which was offered late at night on the second floor of the Aca demic building. It was discontinued a couple of years ago when students complained that it was too hard. At any rate, a list such as this could continue forever. But, by now, a number of you are probably suggest ing that I not write another line before registering for a few of our currently offered journalism courses. Family shows gratitude for support of friends Editor's Note: The following letter is from the parents of Mar cus ]an Tyler, a junior engineering student at A&M, killed in a one car accident June 26. He was one of 10 honored during Tuesday's Silver Taps ceremony. T he family of Marc Tyler expresses its grati tude to the administration, faculty and stu dents of Texas A&M for the outpouring of assis tance and support bestowed upon us following the news of Marc's tragic death. Shortly after receiving the news, we were blessed with telephone calls, food, flowers, notes, cards and visits from many of his student friends, faculty and his employer and employees at Rita's. We were most pleased with the large number of Marc's classmates that drove long distances to be in attendance for his funeral service and burial. The funeral procession from the church to the grave site was over two miles in length. The funeral service was dedicated in celebration of Marc's short, but very quality life. We shall continue our lives remembering the good times with Marc and the very in spirational final trib ute to his life. Many thanks to Dr. Mobley for the ex pression of his sym pathy, for the flowers from the faculty, staff and student staff of the Department of Engineering Technology, the student council, the Office for Student Services, Silver Taps, the broth ers of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Also, special thanks for the call from the profes sor from the School of Engineering which helped us through this very difficult ordeal. (All of the Tyler family planned on attending the Silver Taps service Tuesday in honor of Marc.) As a further tribute to his strong inspiration, a Marc Tyler football scholarship fund has been es tablished at W. T. White High School in Dallas in honor of Marc. The coaches will select a player who is strong academically and who has been the most inspira tional player on the team —an award received by Marc during his senior year. — The Tylers Jan and Ginger Michael and Mitchell Martha and Mary Have an opinion? Express iti The Battalion is interested in hearing from its readers. All letters to the editor are welcome. Written letters must be signed and inc lude classification, address and daytime phone number for verification purposes. Anonymous letters will not be published. The Battalion reserves the right to edit all letters for length, style and accuracy. There is no guarantee letters will appear. Letters may be brought to 013 Reed McDonald, sent to Campus Mail Stop 1111 or can be faxed to 845-5408.