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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1992)
bruary21, :aleni o back to Set his associate.; his first' ned an A vard by p •age or 3.0 or i inagementrr, ;ton lost a; gained inj; Athletes ci m the acadtj! Gonzalez re j ion that atliletl ralez said liefc reeded I Opinion day, February 21,1992 The Battalion Page? The Battalion Editorial Board DOUGLAS PILS, Editor-in-Chief The Battalion BRIDGET HARROW, Managing Editor BRIAN BONEY, Opinion Editor JASON MORRIS, Night News Editor MORGAN JUDAY, Night News Editor MACK HARRISON, City Editor KARL STOLLEIS, Photo Editor SCOTT WUDEL, Sports Editor ROB NEWBERRY, Lifestyles Editor The following opinions are a consensus of The Battalion opinion staff and senior editors. nk school lij[ ed to playtj; ;aid. "I realu good grades' d he rushed; Houston. Hesj that A&Misj rvays wanted Lit I got scared with Houston; and it wasn't t better and f ied out then') going to e with inexpe h and Gonzali get the exper paid theird® jther. It's Pick a winner Polls liken elections to horse races will swe might People Tuesday disregarded their better judgment in some cases as they tried to pick a winner in one of the most hotly contested races of the year. This occurence, however, is not one of a horse race, but of the New Hampshire primary. And it is a sce- ario that could come to pass in Texas. Because the media inundate the public with one poll after another, voters know more about who the frontrunners are than what their ideas are. And with 48 state pri maries and caucuses remaining, the country faces the poor prospect of knowing better who the front-runners are than what their ideas age 5 tters will com ^n progress^ ouple of gii) well, but tilt said. "Mi ilby and Brit ng to hit o« icy are not i: iat early sin; ood hitters,It lot quite read ied about tte me around.' nd series tfit gies will trave icsday to tali i State Unive are. But the incessant polling causes more problems than dizzying percent ages of how far in front the leader is and what his lead means. The contin ued repetition skewers the vote as many voters try to pick the winner instead of the one with the best ability. One is more likely to vote for a winner than for a candidate with long odds. The candidates have done a good job trying to get the specifics of their messages to the voters. The voters have shown they want to concentrate more on the issues. But the media, after vowing during the 1988 elections to focus more on substance, continue to report the same irrelevant polls. Yet, the horse race has not ended. The con testants have only rounded the first turn, and they are bearing down on the March 10 Texas primary. That means the state's voters can look forward to another endless stream of reports that tell which candidates win, place and show. It is up to the voters to make sure polls do not affect their choices. If vot ers allow the primary to turn into photo finish opportunity because they tried to pick the winner, they do a dis service to the candidates who do not have the big names. If voters pick an unqualified high- profile candidate, they will be the ones who will lose their shirts. AAfrmJUBS ©Wl THE UECC9V NEW 0EP4EY Held back Nation suffers from bias against women mint juleps ch an excit- lorough- me enam- I horse rac- winninga greatly like Grand mi the jobs iult. Citi- the enter- wer le. If the >ok. After ■flee in Oil iriber with &M? ibe. M? v did it it nt Walk. Cotton Last week a study sponsored by the American Association of University Women issued an ominous warning ! for the current state of the American school system. As if the fact that thou sands of our youngsters are unable to locate the United States on a map is not bad enough, over half of our youngsters are being ignored and even denied opportunities to achieve their full poten tial. The study revealed a startling gender gap in educational practices: girls receive less teacher attention than boys. Girls often suffer from sexual harassment and discrimination in the classroom. Standardized tests and even classroom text books display bias toward boys, and girls are frequently subject to negative stereotyping which discourages them from exploring areas such as math and science. Given that women make up more than 53 percent of the American popu lation, this study should prompt criti cal attention to our educational stan dards and practices. By allowing our young women to slip through the edu cational cracks, we negate the potential advances and contributions that thou sands of educated young women could provide. The current practices of our teachers and schools, as revealed by this study, do nothing to encour age self-esteem in our young women and put them at a deficit in the competitive job market facing all Americans today. As - America adapts to the changing mar ketplace, it cannot afford to abandon its women by subjecting them to textbooks and classrooms where Billy is encouraged to build model rockets and cultivate ant farms and Suzie is given Besty- Wetsy dolls. Someone is losing out in our class rooms today: it isn't just women — it's America. Something to believe in Those who stick up for their beliefs deserve our praise, respect I was walking out of my literature class in Zachry last week, trying to negotiate my way through a maze of recruiting tables. Most were for engineers and business people, but I noticed one table recruiting for a wide variety of people — the CIA. I had some time to kill, so I walked up to the representative and asked him about employment options and the agency in general. After a few min utes, I thanked him and headed for the exit. As I approached the door, an annoy ing, nasal voice came from behin me. ; "Want so'more informa tion on the CIA?' Sure, I responded. The person handed me a piece of paper. I glanced at it and shoved it into my books. As I walked into the sunshine, the words I had just read hit me like a maniacal bike rider. "Do you want to work for a terror ist organization?" the heading read. Of course I don't. Mommy and daddy always told me terrorists were bad people. I pulled the paper out of the jumble. Under the heading were the words, "The CIA is now hiring." I proceeded to read the "informa tion." It charged the CIA with every thing from the Fall of Man in the Garden up until modern day. I'll admit, I was skeptical but also intrigued. I scanned the paper to find out what group had put this stuff together, half expecting to see a tabloid name on it. The only thing I found was a notice at the bottom reading, "Prepared by concerned citi- Michael Quinn Sullivan zens and students." So I decided to go find out who these concerned people were. I entered Zachry and searched the area around the CIA booth. The leaflet-guy was lurking in a shadowed corner. Excuse me, I called to him, you gave me this and I was just wonder ing what group you're with. "No group, just concerned people." Concerned about what? "Them." He nodded at the CIA table. Where'd ya'll get this information? "It's in newspapers and magazines anyone can get." Can you tell me your name or the name of your leaders so I can find out the sources? He glanced furtively around, "No," he said as he darted into a nearby group of students going to class. I recall the incident not to say any thing bad about the anti-CIA people(not entirely anyway) but because it is so consistent with just about everyone here and around the country. Allow me to elaborate. Just about everyone is afraid to stand up for what they believe in, if they even know. Just look around good ol' Texas A&M. There are two basic groups here: the "conservatives" and the "non-conservatives." ^ The conservatives are those who believe what they do for two reasons. One, they just want to "fit in" with the reputation A&M has. Two, because they are regurgitating what they have heard daddy say around the dinner table for 20 years. These people are characterized by an aver sion to change or anything that poten tially challenges them. The others, the non-conservatives, are that group of about 20 people who can be found protesting anything. They are not so much against some- , thing as everything. For them, it is a matter of going against the crowd. As long as their picture is in the paper holding a sign, they're happy. TTiey can be characterized by an argumen tative nature and an aversion to any thing that potentially challenges them. Both groups are as bad as the other. Why? Because neither really knows what they believe in. The "conserva tives" would be as surprised to learn that they are really reactionaries as the "non-conservatives" that they are publicity-seekers. Everyone can tell what they don't like or believe in but are hard-pressed to explain what they do. It's time for both sides, to put up or shut up. Take some time tcHigure out exactly where you stand on an issue — not anyone else. "Why bother?" some may ask. Isn't it easier to just follow the crowd? Sure it is, but more often than not, the crowd runs off a bridge. On the flip side, though, if too much time is spent protesting every thing, the protesters wind up with nothing. And no one caring. The most important thing is to fig ure out what you believe, then stand up for it. I know I respect people like David Duke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ann Simonton and Rush Limbaugh. Not so much for what they believe, but because they stand by their beliefs — popular or not. Don't just say things to fit in or to be different. Say things because you believe them. Once you say them, be willing to support it in public. I mean, really, if you don't believe in something enough to put your name with it, maybe you don't believe in it as much as you thought. Sullivan is a senior English major Foreign studies broaden insights I am writing in response to Paul Deignan's let ter regarding the injustice of the $1 International Studies fee recently installed by the University. I see the point you've made that the benefits of the fee are enjoyed by only a fraction of those from whom the fee is taken. However, your ideas of how A&M students spend their time in the programs, unless pur posely sarcastic, are quite off the mark. I would dare to guess you've never had the fortune of studying abroad. I spent a semester in Italy my freshman year and neither skied the Alps, drank grog in Stadt, nor visited the Moulin Rouge. I will admit that I spent fewer hours studying in the traditional sense than I would've in College Station. There was a class set up so that half the time we were in the classroom and the other half in field trips visiting churches, museums and castles through out Italy. In my opinion, that is the beauty and benefit of studying abroad. Without the chance to experience the culture and history of Italy, I might as well have taken the classes here in College Station. The knowl edge and experience I gained was invaluable. When you are able to study history and read dassic literature one day and visit the place the next, it all becomes more real to you. Visiting the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Vatican Museum in Rome with a professor who can tell you so much you'd think he'd been alive in the Renaissance is worth much more than a picture book on Italy. Also, through getting to know people from other cultures and learning their perspectives on life, you gain both compassion and the ability to see problems from more than one angle. This is important as we watch the distances between countries shrink physically through new technol ogy, and politically through the collapse of com munism. So as we are becoming a much more interde pendent world, the more we come in contact with people and places outside of the United States, the better prepared we are for solving problems outside our own backyard. Regarding the fact that you may not personal ly gain from the fee, I understand, but cannot sympathize with you. I may never personally visit Glacier National Park, fire an MX missile, or claim warfare, but I forfeit a portion of every paycheck for those causes. I promise that those students who win the scholarships are forever in your debt for their experiences. David Dollinger Class of'93 Support plight of left-handed Thank you Jon DeShazo for bringing the issue of left-handed discrimination into the public eye. I have finally found someone who can empathize with my situation. It is time to take action against the right-handed world. I want compensation for the 20 years of mis ery it has caused me. I have battle scars to prove it: an unremovable stain on my left pinky finger from smearing every sentence I write on a page; a permanent gash in my left hand from countless hours spent in elementary school cutting with right-handed scissors; the humilation of having to ask my rommmate to open a simple can of soup because my right hand isn't stong enought to turn the right-handed can opener; and a chronic crick in my neck from the contortionist act I perform every day in class to take notes in a right-handed desk! It's no wonder left-handed people don't live as long "north paws"! Sign me up as a member of ACT LEFT, Jon. Our suffering has gone on long enough! Kelly Phelps Class of '93 Have an opinion? Express it! The Battalion is interested in hearing from its readers. All letters are welcome. Letters must be signed and must include classification, address and a daytime phone number for verifi cation purposes. They should be 250 words or less. Anonymous let ters will not be published. The Battalion reserves the right .to edit all letters for length, style and accuracy. There is no guaran tee the letters will appear. Letters may be brought to 013 Reed McDonald, sent to Campus Mail Stop 1111 or can be faxed to 845- 5408.