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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1991)
Opinion Friday, December 13, 1991 The Battalion Page 7 Put the "Christ' back in "X-mas ft Gift-giving becomes central theme of holiday thanks to commercialization is is iM ell the tree's been strung nd the melody's been sung hrishnastime has come ave we remembered to thank the Lord I can feel there's a difference on this day 'otjust because it's a holiday us the Son ITHTo all the world, Oh! He . WChristmas o all the world, Oh! He hristmas" Oh! He is Christmas by Take 6 What did you ask for for hristmas when you were six years old? How about this menshir year? Did you request an A in 19 of b F hilosophy, a B in English and ns, attk Another B in Journalism? > 'hr. (Professors are you listening?) ral argi Well, it seems that asking is all before c seern to be doing this time o acqu: y ear: ] wa nt this or I want rhursi STOP! Stop asking for neyerprtpHaterial things and start giving spiritual thought to the reason ; e ' v ’ 5 ; we celebrate this holiday l atV« nown as CHRISTmas. liceoffiraB ^ 0/ t ^ iese ca pital letters are itv eur' l lot tyP 05 ' they're the reason for the sca lar "ion: CHRIST. JESUS. EMANUEL. There “®re numerous names by which you can ■all Him, but He is the One and only reason we celebrate Christmas, and it's InTAfPigb time we start realizing and 1UW; acknowledging that fact. As children, we were first intro- aboutus duced to the idea of Christmas through nd show; gjf^ s brought by an overweight, jolly not even man w b 0 lives at the North Pole named i Santa Claus. This fictional character (for 1 '’ u "' those of you who still believe, I hate to urst your bubbles, but Santa Claus is fictional), who was originally patterned ter a man in Europe, has supposedly .elivered gifts for a number of years on 'hristmas Eve so children everywhere can have presents under their trees ttributec when they awake. "Wept Well, that's a cute little story to tell m and to; children when they are young, but we Williams is a sophomore journalism major. ie games ; must come to realize that without the ey plays birth of Jesus, we wouldn't have the drives gi-day we call Christmas as a holiday, nor jpWould "Santa" have the ability to pur- io madef; chase gifts. orida St) Over the years things have changed same. Ht Christmas day has lost its aim reat leads chardson Instead of celebrating His birth And praising His presence on the earth We've turned this day into a fairy tale Frosty men and red-nosed deer A holiday just for me A sale or a shopping spree The Real Meaning of Christmas by The Winans We've (I think I speak for a good many of us) turned this commemorative holiday into a gift giving frenzy that has hardly any mentioning of the name Christ Jesus (except maybe when we bless the food we eat). We look upon this time of season as a chance to get out of school for a few days, go shopping, and we're content watching Perry Como's Family Christmas Special. That's not enough. Another way that it is evi dent that we're forgetting about the Christ in Christmas is the fact that in observing a lot of decorations and adver tisements, "X" has. become the replacement for "Christ" in Christmas. In church Sunday, I remem ber a minister commenting on that observation. I remember him saying that the more we leave Christ out of Christmas (and our lives), the more crossed up we become, just like that "X." Again, without Christ, there is no reason for celebration. This year, I went to the crafts store and purchased things to make my gifts for my friends. I originally did it to save money, but now I realize those gifts are a chance for me and them to get back to the naturalness of Christmas and redis cover the real meaning. The gifts brought to baby Jesus, though some were gold, they were not purchased witfr a Master Card at Macy's. They were gifts made with the hand and with great care. Take time to make gifts for your friends and family. Bring the naturalness of the season back to them. Christmas always seems to be everyone's favorite holiday and is far too important to overlook, so don't overlook the reason behind the season. Have a super holiday everyone, and God bless you on your finals! Good luck to the motley crew of The Batt! I'll miss ya! Thanks to inspirational figures Graduates owe gratitude to supporters ‘"■k "Text Friday - graduation day - will culminate fV the five years I've spent at Texas A&M. Five JL years: that's at least 128 hours worth of classes, about 40 professors, countless papers and tests, and more than four years at The Battalion. As most seniors will probably agree, it's weird to be finally graduating. Although I'm a little sad, I'm mostly overjoyed - even if 1 can't find a job. But as I spend my last few days in anticipation of walking across that stage in G. Rollie White, I can't help remembering the times I thought Td never get out of here. There were always people, like friends, my sisters, my parents and a few professors, to encourage me, but one person stands out in my mind. My grandmother never went to college. She was extremely intelligent, and did well in high school, but her family couldn't afford to send her to college. She always dreamed of being a nurse, but instead took pride and joy in her family, her marriage and raising two children. The relationship my two sisters and I had with Grandma Schultz was extremely precious because we never knew our three other grandparents. One thing to always remember to do in life, grand mother said, is to laugh; she always had a list of jokes and amusing sayings in her purse. The "dirtiest" one was something like, "A white horse rolled in the mud," but her favorite one was, "If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving is not for you." Her letters to me always had something funny in them. I've found a sense of humor definitely helps at A &M. My grandmother also shared her love of words with me. She always kept a dictionary nearby so if she came across a word in a book or on TV she didn't know, she could look it up. No matter what age I was, she would always ask me definitions of new words she found and sit with me while we looked therh up. She thought edu cation was one of the most important things in the world. Grandma was thrilled when she learned I had my first article printed in the newspaper. A few semesters later, when I told her I was select ed as city editor, she cried. She said I was help ing record history and that I had selected an hon orable profession by becoming a journalist. Even though she had traditional morals and values, my grandmother was a feminist of sorts. She said women can do anything we want to, we just have to set our mind to it. Once when I told her I never wanted to get married or depend on a man to support me, she told me she knew I wouldn't have to because I took college and journalism so seriously. But men and women alike, those of us graduating next weekend have had people to look to for inspiration, encouragement and guidance. The goal is finally in sight, thanks to the support of loved ones. Hopefully, 30, 40 or 50 years down the line we graduates can be the inspira tional figures. We certainly have good examples to fol low. ' Thanks, Gramma. Holly Becko Associate Editor Becka is a senior journalism major. 5 me of si 'S aren't f i going tof getitdonf :k is a k ell some!' eir job or But he'sj d of a nati Editor recalls difficulties of semester, gives thanks to staff Y es, this is the traditional, "end- of-the-year, goodbye, thank- you" column, but hopefully with a little twist. Since I took this job in May, The Battalion and the summer and fall edi tors have seen a lot of trials and tribula tions. I At the end of summer and the beginning of the fall, we dealt with moving our entire operation from the second floor of the Reed McDonald building to the basement. I Along with that, we switched over to a new Macintosh computer system, abandoning our outdated mainframe system Soon after. The Battalion experi- ced some major financial cutbacks — our internal budget was cut so much that we had to cut all staff salaries by about 30 percent. I Luckily our financial situation has improved somewhat, and many thanks go to the Student Senate Finance Bommittee for giving us double our normal appropriations next year to compensate for some of our budget deficits. Then of course there was the whole Corps of Cadets issue, and The Battalion .receiving criticism on both sides — we were accused of either not digging hard enough to expose the Corps or of singling them out unfairly . Looking back, I still stand behind my staff's coverage of the issue, and feel to this day we had the fairest and absolutely best cover age of any media orga nization that tackled the issue. Things got trickier when two of our own people got involved and took sides on the issue. But looking back almost two months later, even that doesn't seem nearly as serious a problem as when it was hap- Timm Dooten EdUoHn-chiqf Doalen is a senior comput er science maid* pening. I guess I'll look back at the whole thing as a "learning experience," as my advisers kept telling me, but sometimes I have felt like I could do without that kind of education. As the semester rounded out, we had to deal with several more issues: many people, including some adminis trators, getting upset with Stacy Feducia's columns; threats of lawsuits, seemingly from every direction; attacks by prominent student leaders because The Battalion doesn't represent the majority view; and a handful of other problems. And most recently there’s been rumors of an attempt to put some greater control on The Battalion from outside Student Publications. Without getting into any details of the issue. I'm sad to see something like this attempted, but am glad that it will never reach fruition — courts have struck down attempts at censorship like this for years. In response to all of the criticism of The Battalion, my staff, my editors and me this semester: We have made mis takes and will make mistakes in the future — that's part of the business. And though we regret making mistakes and do our best to avoid it, it is inevitable. Also, many people do not like it when A&M or any of its organizations are portrayed in a negative light, and many people do not like some of the opinions expressed on the opinion page, no matter what side of the fence they are on. That's also part of the journalism business, and I will stand behind every story this fall and the right for anyone to express their opinion, no matter how unpopular it is. Now for the traditional thank yous: Thanks to the summer and fall editorial boards and staffs for their exceptional work. Special thanks go to Holly Becka and Todd Stone, my two associate edi tors, who have provided a critical eye when necessary and have stood by me every step of the way through a lot of difficulties. I don't know what I would have done without them and their advice. , I also thank all the roommates, friends, relatives and others who have helped me along the way. Most recent ly, Rebecca has been there when I need ed someone to lean on. A final end note: It seems this is my final semester at The Battalion. I am graduating in May and decided to take it a little easier this spring semester and let someone else be the top dog. But to keep my writing skills sharp and to help out the paper, I applied to be a reviewer, columnist or reporter for my last semester at A&M. I was not rehired for any position, after four years of service to The Battalion, in a variety of capacities. It brings to mind Winston Churchill being voted out of office shortly after World War II was over. But it's time to move on. Out with the old, in with the new. You heard it here last. Campus :tory ailable in room2^ ild BiiiW onday• tent I.D) University should re-evaluate priorities ❖ We are writing in response to Chris Vaughn's article that appeared in the paper on Monday, Dec. 9. After reading the article about Dr. Kohutek, we would like to provide a few facts that were missing from the article. First, twice the article referred to Kohutek as a "popular" professor, but it never referred to him as a very "effective" teacher. Students are upset because he is one of, if not the best, profes sor that many have had. He is more than just an "excellent" teacher. He possesses a talent or gift that motivates students; he brings out the desire to learn in strong as well as weak students. In our years as graduates, Kohutek has been the best professor we have had. Thus, it our pledge to let it be known that his teaching is superior. The article neglected to discuss the tenure procedure in the Policy and Procedure Manual. The tenure and promotion evaluation con sists of three parts. The first part states: Most fac ulty should be evaluated for tenure and promo tion on accomplishments in each of the three major categories of performance (teaching, research or another form of creative activity, professional service), but with primary emphasis on teaching and the creation and dissemination of new knowledge or other creative activities. The third part of the tenure and promotion evaluation states: Exceptions to the normal requirements for tenure and promotion may sometimes be warranted. Examples would include gifted and productive master teachers who are abreast of their field but who have not contributed extensively to the development of new knowledge ... It is this third section that applies to Kohutek. Although he is considered to be lacking in research, his astounding teaching ability, accord ing to the third section, should be sufficient justi fication for obtaining tenure. The article also stated that Kohutek had no publications. Although he is considered to be lacking in research, his astounding teaching abil ity, according to the third section, should be suf ficient justification obtaining tenure. The article also stated that Kohutek had no publications. Check the facts! He had no "refer eed publications." However, he had 11 other publications, and he is currently completing a paper for a "refereed" journal. It seems as though this University has been increasing the emphasis on research while decreasing the emphasis on teaching. Although it would be nice to have professors who possess amazing abilities in both research and teaching, these "superhuman" professors are very difficult to find. We have always believed that it is the primary purpose of any university to educate. Since industry has been complaining about the lack of quality education, administrators should renew the emphasis on education. It is evident that students feel strongly about Kohutek's teaching gift. Many are making sure the Board of Regents, President William Mobley and others know how exceptional his teaching ability is. When the regents determine this professor's fate, we will know whether education is still this University's primary concern or whether this school has sold its soul to research. Kristi Andrews graduate student Allen Crazier graduate student