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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1991)
ember 25, ?rk Opinion Wednesday, September 25,1991 The Battalion Page ii assian Prime Mt ? v, in his capacn : the new igement Comm tter last week: ng that somet iring the coup s reports said. ; didn't spec: ilayev objected r he objected ussian control facilities on itsti: the Cabinetdra^j nt saying I contradicted kers' decision 1 of facilitiesonit Icpendent Interfi d. overnment must ontinue funding 'ublic schools should not be privatized Wi ho would believe the United States ranks below 45 other countries, all hembers of the UN, as far as literacy concerned? We don't often think about le education system being lid lis badly deteriorated. In fact owledged thatrt 2 percent of us think schools 1 of decrees mis re doing a good job of edu- at ' n 8 our children. This fig- Monday. re s hows that even though |ccasionally we complain, |bout our schooling system, asically we are not that pre- ccupied with this problem Recently President Bush ecame very anxious with the late of our education system. ,id nothing i,® t iihid frustration and woriy, ; decreases The! eand La mar Alexander, the jyuriistcr of odTicstion, C3m0 » made to close L ^ps the Corps the pit aople think ing in the Sovii es into a Its* aid. a keep an eyeoi 5 and not their is nbliss said. ip with a remedy for the se- ere ailment of education, heir revolutionary formula is called The Choice Plan." They concluded that the problem lies in the lack of healthy, free market Christina Maimarides Maimarides is a graduate student in business administration. tiates -fire om Page 1 ompetition for our public schools. As ar as getting government support, , n| mblic schools are now a self- satisfied, 11 our swords ir protective monopoly. For a de- otod capitalist, this form of organiza- ion is blasphemy. Bush and Lamar vant to implement a different kind of ^ g chool, both public and private. They vant schools to compete for govern- nent funds, students and excellence, vif.h parents and children of all walks if life free to choose. The fact that Bush and Alexander \ave addressed the problem of educa- ion is encouraging. It shows that fi- lally they recognize a severe problem ixists. However, the method they lave chosen to resolve the problem is nounced Tuesdaf isturbing. It shows they don't realize put down the he value or function of education in !y and restore liu Society. ib'> Jan. 1 under Ru; Many questions i supervision, th mvebeen sparked by is said. he Choice Plan. Can (he government really imunique signs , r0 vide the money viet army and k Lcessary to open bet- troops wou dre ter schools? Can the on as peacetef | 0 vemment provide ormist Soviet* he financial assistance ['ey, in the talks, jreed to "ensuri im of all depone: lomes" and gu ity; to release two weeks andti ys and highways lique was s\$ifc irbayev, Azerbaij raz Mu tali bo van: md short- sighted view held by the knnnnrtprn r»f til 'participation" h akh official eement would e« ? conflict was# Shan* 0 ?, llst i d «" tsv r. ho J r tyill need it to attend he school of their choice? What about he average income or poor student? Do they not have a right to a good ed- ication? Is even the quality of a basic ducation going to become centered around the price you can pay for it? Chester Finn, a proponent of hoice, exemplifies the cynical, selfish [id short- sigh dent Levon Te: supporters or this plan when he asks. 'Under Choice, would the kids attend- ng inner city high schools be any Worse off than they are today?" Instead of striving to find a win- win strategy that would guarantee the Drosperity of our country in years to :ome. Choice proposes to follow a Darwinian example — make the trong stronger, and let the weak per ish. It fails to acknowledge education illy satisfy the4 umenian side as zerbaijani side, Id his parliame: it for fulfillmento! »would nothaw His comment as different from some commercial in- by the Interfai icsday also senli r to resolve a die mic Chengenane Dagestan, a soutk Georgia, news re search study tf I and completi ). NO BLOOC lustry, like airlines, which needs leregulation. Education is much more. It is an nvestment in the future of the coun try, not a profit-making machine. The lation is not made up of a few strong ndividuals — it is made up of all peo- ale. And the success and prosperity of the country does not depend on only a few strong, rich, well-educated citi zens but on the standard of living, ed ucation and opportunities of all its citi zens. Making education another free market experiment is a frightening notion. This development, if it takes place, would mean the right to a good education may be violated. Poor and weak schools will die because they will be unable to compete with richer, stronger schools. The students attending these schools usually are poor themselves, and thus they would not have the opportu nity to enter a better school because of financial con straints. Another alarming possibil ity could be substandard schools springing up to serve poorer students. In any of these scenarios, as always in a free market system, the strong will thrive and the weak will perish. Edu cation is too important to treat in such a-way. Alternatively, Bush and Alexander can start thinking along the lines of improving education for all. Three steps are necessary to achieve the total improvement of education: • regard educators as vital for the future of the country • improve facilities • allocate more money to educa tion The salaries of teachers today are meager. Their status in society is low as well compared with the status of teachers in other countries. In Europe for example, teachers enjoy the respect and appreciation of society. Their salaries are proportion ate to their status. Teachers are re- garded as the ones with the power to mold the future, since the future of each country depends on its people. Teachers are not regarded very highly in the United States. If the government would commit itself to praising the value of educators, if it would offer higher salaries to teachers, then more gifted and ambitious young people would embrace teaching as a career opportu nity. With the current situation, teachers have very limited possibilities for job enrichment or advancement. There must be programs through which teachers can train and extend their learning. Facilities also would have to be im proved, and new schools be built. These changes will require the govern ment to recognize education as a pri ority and allocate more money for the promotion of education. Moreover the government should help the poor er states with more money and exper tise in designing effective education systems. Certainly this strategy requires that Bush and Alexander recognize educa tion is not an industry that needs deregulation. In the case of education, the appli cation of free market principles would only accentuate the reflection of Amer ican society: divided by race, class and aspiration. Davis-Gary. The Qlde Years by Bingo Barnes l-M R.C>c3*rv\ \ F^STT T=UC>oF^ (bt-V-T- ~T*O i3A“rH F^O^aw. 1 Check bouncers aspire to clean up national budget T hough our politicians in Washington can never please all of the people all of the time, they al ways seem to find a way to keep our political cartoonists happy. Their shenanigans are often pulled off individually, as Teddy Kennedy can attest, or in other cases, a siz able group of politicians are involved. Do we all remember a few years back when a number of congressmen were exposed as having had sexual flings with their pages? This gave rise to such political humor as: Why can't our congressmen read books? They only know how to bend over the pages. At any rate, political humorists of all forms can take delight in the latest news that our repre sentatives cannot seem to balance their check books. The first floor of the Capitol houses a tiny bank that our House members created for their own use. In only the first six months of last year, they managed to bounce more than 4,300 checks. Unlike us, they do not have to pay a penalty. This bad book-keeping was revealed when Congress' General Accounting Office audited the bank's books and operating practices. They found that from July 1,1988, to June 30,1989 "a large number of checks was being cashed and then re turned to the House bank because of insufficient funds." Subsequently, House Sergeant-At-Arms Jack Russ set up new procedures to curb the rubber check onslaught. But, probably to no one's surprise, when the GAO ’ checked the records a year later, the number of bad checks had increased by more than 300 to 4,325. Taking into account the number of House members, that figure amounts to more than ten bad checks per per son! Because I am no stranger to Check Worthy, it would seem that I would refrain from ridiculing our representa tives. No chance. These are the same individuals who are supposed to balance our budget. We have placed a trillion dollars in the hands of people who cannot properly handle their own checkbooks! Putting it in perspective, this is akin to mak ing Charles Manson the Sheriff of Brazos county or Willie Nelson the Tax Assessor/Collector. For this year, the number of hot checks has de clined, according to Russ. Fortunately for them, the $28,500 congressional pay raise went into ef fect on January 1, giving the representatives a lit tle extra spending cash. I would have assumed they would have handled the bad check problem in the manner they do the budget deficit. Credit. Why not borrow the money to pay off the checks? Are these not the same fellows responsible for creating our budgetary woes? What's even more serious, the GAO reported that 134 people cashed 581 bad checks for amounts of $1000 or more. And, in some in stances, members let the overdrafts run for al most a month. That is pretty serious stuff. In all cases, the house bank essentially "float ed" the bad checks until the representative re sponsible for the checks could redeem tnem. It certainly would be great if life outside the Capitol were so forgiving. I cannot think of too many con stituents who would not be pleased if that were the case. ~ Imagine making a few mistakes which resulted in sortie! bad checks circulating around the Bryan/College Station metroplex. Not to worry, the bank will float you the necessary dough until you can come up with it. No problem there either, just give yourself a $28,000 pay raise and go on about your business. Matt McBurnett McBurnett is a senior electrical engineering major. Mail Call A&M needs more openness Editor's note: The Corp of Cadets made an official statement about the alleged as sault through the Office of Public Informa tion. Also, there is no public evidence that Uni versity officials were trying to "hush up" anybody related to the pay discrepancy of A&M female faculty. ❖ As a recent transfer student to Texas A&M, I'm quickly finding out the lengths to which this school will go in order to keep a spotless teputation. The alleged incident regarding the assault of a female cadet because she wanted to participate in one of the Corps' many ancient rituals is bad enough. Whatever a person's leelings are about women participating in the Corps, it should sicken any student here to think she may have been beaten just for wanting to become more in volved in it. Instead, she should be praised for not following the social cus toms that cause Corps women to be the butts of jokes. What's more is that Texas A&M and the Corps leaders have decided to refuse discussion of the subject, hoping students here will forget tne incident ever happened. Tim Piper, commander of the Par sons' Mounted Cavalry, the group the female cadet wanted to join, and Corps commander John Sherman took the cowardly approach. They didn't ex press one bit of concern for the cadet or for the fact other cadets could be involved. In stead they decided to duck and cover, to shut up and hope this thing blows over. Add to this the administra tion's hushing up of female staff members being under paid for the last several years, and the incidents become a trend. It's up to the students to make sure this incident doesn't end up buried like the other stuff I've heard goes on here. Brian Boney '92 Groups often act recklessly ❖ I can only defend the Corps in saying that those involved in the al leged indent connected with the Par sons' Mounted Cavalry were individu als who acted as a group and would have done otherwise as individuals. However, I wonder if the Corps it self does not indirectly promote this type of behavior. Fraternities have long been targeted for such actions. Group dynamics take the individual out of his/her normal element and the wrongdoers are more likely to "go with the flow" of the group. I'm sure anyone who has ever been awoke by a hundred screaming joggers at 6 a.m. agree that the Corps behave as a group. I wonder how many of the members would awake on their own to run screaming across campus before dawn. Probably few. My point is, the Corps might blame the reported incident on a few bad in dividuals. But I think the Corps as a whole may allow this kind of "mob- think" to occur, if not encourage it through the mindless actions of the many. So, fix the Corps, not a couple of sophomores. ERA would not benefit women Editor's note: There are well over 150 women on the A&M faculty payroll. The 19 women Holly Becka referred to were those who filed for pay discrimination. ❖ I am writing in response to Holly Becka's column on discrimination of women at Texas A&M. Becka states that the University sends the message of "men being better thinkers and bet ter teachers at the higher education" by currently enrolling only 19 females on faculty payroll. Becka overlooks the fact that more women are getting away from the teaching field. Today's liberal-minded women want to diversify to prove they can hold management and other pro fessional positions. Another such topic is women's equal rights. Many women push the Equal Rights Amendment upon us and strive to nave it passe. In what way are today's women discriminated against? Many will answer sexual harassment on the job. There are already laws gov erning this issue. No other law, such as the ERA, would prevent further sexual harassment on the job. And finally, I arrive at a touchy yet real topic. The white male is the most discriminated being today. If a white male, any female and any other race of male apply for the same job position and all displayed equal credentials, the white male will be the last hired. This statement is neither sexist or racist; rather, it is a truth we all throw behind a curtain and ig nore. If any sex has a legitimate reason to complain about dis crimination, it is without ques tion the male. If this article has offended you in any way, my apologies are sincere. However, if it has made you stop and think, then I have accomplished my pur pose. Michael Brent Peavy '94 Hans Hansen '92 Havg 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.