I . * A ■ s
.
Opinion
^Wednesday, September 18,1991
The Battalion
Page?
stiii
>iSt
l iss there-
Howarc
t runnint
' hurt hi s
wide re-
teami
‘nebacke:
ned side-
i wide re-
ore base
defensive
h injuries
actice this
I.
aurn as;
^11 team''
^ecialiv ii
ippi State
play, to
ieam thar
st Missis-
i will help
■Williams
EDITORIAL
| Editorials expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board and do not
I necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of
I Regents
\Leaders need to make education top priority
Last week, students at Anderson Elementary in Houston did the
I unbelievable they asked for more class time to prepare for state
I examinations.
For them, there wasn't enough time to learn it all. Their actions
I should be an inspiration to leaders nationwide.
As local, regional and national leaders fail to re-establish
I education as a major priority, the next generation is suddenly
I showing the way. Education is the future, but our leaders still lack
I the vision of our children.
The Dallas Independent School District drastically cut its faculty,
I and the Texas Legislature took funds from higher education - public
I education's only strength. Meanwhile, President Bush told the
I nation the responsibility for improving education lies with the
I parents, not the federal government.
Until we get our priorities straight, let's hope today's youth will
I forget our leaders' lack of foresight, and forge a greater future on
I their own.
The Battalion Editorial Board
mg
nning
-985.
ing dor
I Santa
it-minuti
lUS
biscrimination at A&M
Ihould not be shrouded
deserve more respect from University
I was MB
Id thahp
the kick
en I found out a reporter
from The Battalion was
H-pounci w * working on an investiga-
ved ari ^ e stor y a bout Texas A&M female
Missou-professors' salary inequality, I was ex-
■ted because it was a hard-hitting,
vow wc slibstantive story - the stuff
es andai jlurnalism is made of.
ice 19M, But when f read the story
ach Bo:jj) Tuesday's issue of The
7 was raft ft, I was angry It's ridicu-
. lous that the University has
e “ % «en keeping the settlement
new he
ise was
_ ?m(
■ithT9- female profes^dbS tm-
ance Ba!B er wra P s , and female profes-
havesin iyrs contacted about the story
e aroun; feit pressured not to talk
about the salary wrongs,
■1 edgeiii!|robably for fear of retaliation. To me,
■iese actions mean women at this
1 l ast ^ iniversity still are being put down
End are considered inferior to men.
BVhat are female students supposed
J to think when they hear that because
l>f their sex they might get a smaller
■aycheck than a male colleague?
I Most people have role models
wiey try to pattern their lives after.
Becka is a senior
journalism
major.
pageS
years of salary inequality , I think every
one, especially women, should be
concerned the University is sending
the message that women should just
be satisfied with what men in power
give them, and be quiet about it.
I think most women facul
ty realize the general feeling
that prevails on campus. The
University in the past has tak
en steps to show it is con
cerned with gender inequali
ty on campus, but it's no
credit to our institution that
at least one woman took her
salary gripes to the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity
Commission instead of
straight to her employer. She obvious
ly must have thought she'd get a
more sympathetic ear with the EEOC.
And that's the attitude I'm talking
about - in a place of learning and
growth, women should feel like their
University cares more about them
than a federal agency does.
The settlement with the 19 female
faculty could have been a wonderful
>ek Kevir
cord i9tt "The message - be it unintentional or not - being sent to
Stingtc students on this campus is that men are better thinkers and
tat Kyle better teachers at the higher education level."
gincfl^'hether it be a famous historical fig-
fgch and ure or a grandparent. Members of
f s minority groups, iike women, often
joking to find it more difficult to do this just be
ne in the dause there are fewer people like
r Octobei them they con look up to. Few wom-
the team en at Texas A&M are in positions of
nee, and authority; therefore, there are few fe-
; them3’ ma i e ro j e m odels for women on cam-
ie Aggie
• to keef
then the
om there
pus.
Consider this: almost half of our
Itudent body is composed of women,
but only 10 to 15 percent (roughly) of
our educators are women. There is
only one female dean, and no female
department heads. The message - be
it unintentional or not - being sent to
[students on this campus is that men
are better thinkers and better teachers
at the higher education level. After
reading the story about the settlement
offered to the 19 female professors for
opportunity for the University to
show it was making efforts to right
wrongs of the past. It could have been
an opportunity for University officials
(men) to come forward and say,
"We're proud we're trying to make up
for gender inequality, and we're go
ing to build on this from now on."
But instead, administrators tried to
sweep this under the rug, keep it a se
cret and pretend like men and women
on campus have always been equal -
or it doesn't matter if they aren't.
At least the University is giving
these 19 women the back pay it owes
them and increasing their pay so
there is "equity in the salary structure
of the University," as Dean of Facul
ties Bill Perry says.
Now administrators should try to
give women the dignity we have al
ways deserved.
Cruel Tricks for Freshmen No.7
by Binfio Barnes
lEVER SEE AN
AGEIETRAIUER?
Comforts of government
have made us apathetic
We are Americans of the 20th century. We have our
Bill of Rights that guarantees us our liberties. We have
our government to protect us and provide for us. We
have our credit cards that buy us new clothes, new CD
players, new car, new furniture. We have our industries
that offer us whatever we want, before we even realize
we want it. We have our huge television, our VCR, our
comfortable couch to sit on and watch sit-coms, football
games or dramas, with our friends and a beer
close by.
We have our responsibilities as well. But ev
erything else we have is far more important, so
we just postpone our responsibilities. We push
them in the background, we pocket our credit
card, and we drive to the mall to take advantage
of the 18th of September extra savings.
It is, for that matter, inconvenient to waste
valuable time in the process of voting. Think of
all that energy that has to be wasted to take care
of this responsibility! We would have to spend
time getting acquainted with the different can
didates and their agendas. We would have to
spend time thinking and discussing our opin
ions with friends and family. This could lead to
the revelation of other opinions (contrary to
ours) that perplex us and force us think and
discuss more. We don't need all this nonsense!
We have other worries and more important
things to do.
For these reasons, it is not at all surprising less than
50 percent of us voted in the last presidentialelection. It
just shows we are a nation of busy people. After all, why
should we make it our problem to have to vote? The
government will be there anyway.
All this crud about the environment is also such a
pain! For so many thousands of years the Earth was do
ing just great, and now all of a sudden we get all these
people who have nothing else to do, shouting and
screaming about the dolphins, the whales, the rivers and
the ozone layer. Even about grapes for Cod's sake! What
are we supposed to do? Die in the heat to conserve ener
gy? Stink like hogs to conserve water? Take the bus to
work to limit pollution? Use no hairspray to protect the
ozone layer? Eat no tuna to save the dolphins? Eat no
red grapes to save the immigrant workers? GIVE US A
BREAK! What kind of life do they want us to live? It's
not our fault anyway.
On top of all these, we have the homeless to worry
about. What should we do with the homeless? Why
don't they go get a job and learn how to be responsible?
All they do is lay around all day, beg and steal; they
have nothing to worry about. They are just lazy. We are
the ones who have the real problems, not them. They are
such a bother.
Not only are we expected to help and assist these
lazy bums in our country, but the rest of the world
wants us to help when there's trouble. We have to send
money to the U.S.S.R., Bangladesh, the Philippines,
Ethiopia and Israel, to name but a few. And in the mean
time, we have our own debts, which are growing larger.
Winy should we care about all these people? We have
problems of our own.
All these things drive us crazy. To calm down,
tonight we will pick up a couple of action movies and
watch them with our kids. Some will complain that we
don't talk much with our kids nowadays, that we don't,
have much interaction. That's wrong! We often watch
movies together, we watch TV together, we live
in the same house, we even buy them all they
want to show them our love. How can anyone
accuse us of little interaction!
Yesterday on the radio someone was also ac
cusing us of forgetting about the future genera
tions. What does anybody know about the fu
ture generations? There might not be any future
generations. Why should we sacrifice our plea
sures, our comforts, our happiness of today, for
something we have no idea about. Why should
we save our money if we don't know how it will
be used by the bank. For all we know, it could be
used to finance illegal transactions like drug
deals, so why should we not spend it ourselves
on something we know we want today. And
why should we not buy all we can on our pock
etful of credit cards? This way we can buy more,
faster, and we can pay later, or never. What's the
problem with this?
The sad truth is that we are acting iike spoiled chil
dren,. We want more from our government. Better
schools, better health care, more police protection, more
safety/better infrastructure. But we are not willing to
give anything in return. We sternly oppose any tax in
creases, even though taxation levels in the United States
are among the lowest of all Western countries. We are al
ways too busy to volunteer to help in state programs
even though our cities and states are already strained for
funds. We have turned into monsters with bottomless
stomachs and voracious appetites. We see the govern
ment as the hen that lays unlimited quantities of golden
eggs. We believe the government has an unlimited
amount of money to share, and we need not be both
ered, save or demand less.
And when we are at fault for something, we always
try to throw the blame on someone else. If we steal from
the company we work for, it is because we are not paid
enough. If we are on drugs, it is the pressure from soci
ety. If our rivers are dying and our air is foul, it is our
neighbor's hairspray and car. Better still, it is the other
countries, not us.
The reason we cannot repay our debts is the high in
terest rates. The reason so many teens graduate from
high school but cannot do simple arithmetic, read or
write is the messed up system. We sadly cannot see we
are the ones who make up this system, this society.
It is our avoidance of responsibility/ our lack of recog
nition of the importance of learning to be responsible
that leads to this mess. And unless we realize this, noth
ing will change for the better.
Christina
Maimarides
Maimarides is a
graduate student
in business
administration.
Mail Call
Pay attention
to traffic laws
Now that classes have settled
down there are a few things I would
like to point out to certain groups of
people.
To all pedestrians: You may have
noticed Texas A&M has generously
put in bike lanes on campus.
They are for bicycles;
please try to walk on the
sidewalks.
When you do step out
into the bike lane, watch
for bicycles. Many do not
have good brakes and
some hesitate to use them.
You might also consid
er the fact that shuttle bus
es cannot stop on-a dime
before you walk out in
front of one.
To all bicyclists: You
may have noticed the bike
lanes around campus; use
them.
And please remember you legally
are supposed to be obeying traffic
laws. That means riding on the right
side of the road, stopping for stop
signs and going when the light turns
green, not when the walk light
comes on.
Watch out for shuttle buses too;
remember you are the one who is go
ing to get splattered on the pave
ment.
To all motorists: Doubtless, you
Hava an opinion?
Express it!
The Battalion is interested in hearing from its readers.
All letters to the editor are welcome. Written letters
must be signed and include 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.
have noticed the bike lanes around
campus too.
They are bike lanes, not parking
spaces. Please do not park in them
even for "just a minute."
That "just a minute" it takes you
to drop off someone blocks traffic on
narrow campus roads.
Simply pull off into one of the nu
merous faculty parking lots and take
a chance; it's "just for a minute."
But if you must park in the bike
lanes, please watch for bi
cycles when you open your
door. The consequences
are not pretty.
And as you drive down
the road, remember bicy
cles are vehicular traffic
and are not supposed to be
riding on the sidewalk. Be
sure and look for cyclists
when you make a right
turn; sometimes they are
not turning right and never
see you until they run into
your front fender.
Shawn Snaples
graduate student