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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1993)
13,1993 Opinion Monday, September 13,1993 Pose WILL HAmK 'NTM ONAL , msnif> 1 touch- r ey War- :her field at half- ave been ire line- \dded to rst series eman in- and re- eleven klahoma ith Allen ;s to give and total >robably national >ies. us," se- ;in said, like that, me next start all ie best ; could vdsion, oup of nt was ne just their e they :M fin- ;ames, ;e this est for Editor The Battalion Page 7 The Battalion Editorial Board CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief |ULI PHILLIPS, managing editor DAVE THOMAS, night news editor BELINDA BLANCARTE, night news MACK HARRISON, opinion editor MARK EVANS, city editor 1 ANAS BEN-MUSA, Aggielife editor ditor MICHAEL PLUMER, sports editor WILLIAM HARRISON, sports editor KYLE BURNETT, photo editor Bonfire Aggieland! reason that yd low pots should support the Brady Bill _ -lyyi/ . EDITORIAL NAFTA now Treaty good for city, state, nation The North American Free Trade Agreement offers the ‘ States a chance to solid ly enter the world economy of tlie next century. Americans must look past short-term problems and acknowledge enormous long-term bene fits of the treaty. Texas and Bryan-College Station will undoubtedly enjoy w economic benefits from NAFTA. The agriculture in- y will see expanded mar- or grain crops, cattle, and chemicals like fertilizers and esticides. Import/export- iased businesses and manu facturers will incur fewer costs from tariffs. jor cities such as Hous- Jwaii ton, Dallas, and San Antonio become centers for com mercial travel in and out of the U.S. This movement will raise the demand for transportation and equipment. The basic premise of NAF TA eliminates tariffs, expands transportation and distribution services and establishes free trade among Canada, Mexico and the United States. If Congress ratifies NAFTA, the end or mutual trade restric tions will create a consumer marketplace of 380 million people. American businesses, long suffering from competi tion and deficit trading with Japan, will gain a substantial advantage trrroughout North America. Opposition to NAFTA, led by such activists as Ralph Nad er, Jesse Jackson, and Ross Per ot, dwells on Mexico's low en vironmental standards and cheap labor force. Politicos in Congress focus on this small range of prob lems and ignore' the broad scope of benefits offered by NAFTA. These activists fail to recog nize strides made by treaty ne gotiators to encourage up grades of Mexican environ mental regulations. Further more, the movement of jobs out of the U.S. is expected to be limited to unskilled labor that might as easily move to Asia or Central America. NAFTA offers Americans the opportunity to create an al liance that will balance the eco nomic power of the European Economic Community and the Pacific Rim countries. Americans must enter the global economy and make the small sacrifices required for the profits from NAFTA if they ex pect to compete with the rest of the world. The wrong kind of love can hurt you Women must recognize, get out of violent relationships TRACEY JONES Columnist T his summer I wrote a column on domestic vio lence. Since then I've come in contact with several young women here at Texas A&M who are currently in abusive relationships or who have been in this type of relation ship in the past. I understand there are many more young women that 1 didn't meet, who aren't get ting help, who aren't getting out of these types of relationships. Contrary to what many people might be lieve, mine is not a campaign to smear black men. I am fully aware that there are civil, re spectful black men in society. But there are also black men who were never taught how to treat a woman or for some other reason choose to ignore the boundaries of decency. Anna (not her real name) is a young black woman who was in an abusive relationship. Anna was with her boyfriend for roughly a year. During the course of the relationship, her boyfriend not only hit her but forced sex on her as well. She told me that one night after a party, he began pressuring her more than usual to have sex with him. At this point, they'd only known each other about three months. He continuously asked why she wouldn't have sex with him, taking it as a personal rejection rather than an act in which she just did not wish to participate. He ended up pushing Anna against a car with his forearm pressed against her throat, dictating that she was going to sleep with him. This was just before he hit her in the mouth with a balled fist. Another time she refused to have sex, he subsequently raped her. The episode was so brutal that it tore part of her vaginal tissue. As a result, Anna experienced extreme pain when urinating. Worst of all, she could not walk and for about two weeks, she missed her classes. After seeing a doctor, she was told not to engage in any sexual behavior for the next six weeks so the tissue could heal itself. Al though the doctor blatantly stated that she knew Anna had been sexually assaulted and could report it to the authorities, Anna re fused help. Why? Why wouldn't she report him? Why stay? Anna said she loved him because that was the only love she knew at the time. She had never been exposed to love that didn't "hurt." Anna was sure he loved her. Moreover, she was very much afraid she wouldn't find anyone else. He bought her gifts, was atten tive and funny — at first. Then he became "comfortable." Comfort able meant hitting her, ignoring her feelings, forcing sex upon her and being unfaithful. Isn't love the other way around? Women such as Anna aren't getting the help they need and deserve. This is due in part to government cutbacks, but also to cer tain crippling attitudes. For instance, a woman residing in a de prived, estranged neighborhood relies heavi ly on community networks for support and sustenance. Therefore, any problems she en counters are seen as belonging solely to that group and should be handled by group members only. This mind set is also true in cases of do mestic violence. Women in this environment may feel disloyal not only to their mate, but also to their community and their race should they seek outside assistance. Strangely enough, black women who are battered sometimes do not even separate this type of abuse from racial injustices inflicted upon all blacks — particularly upon black males. Because of the tremendous disempower- ment that some black men are made to feel, they in turn disempower their mates by beat ing them. The true nature of the violence for black women seems to be masked behind other forms of abuse and is not seen for what it re ally is. And it is abuse — plain and simple. It is nothing that is deserved or should be en dured out of some deluded sense of loyalty. Abuse is abuse no matter who it is from, and women should not feel as if they have no other choice but to "grin and bear it." It is not wrong or disloyal or selfish to re move oneself from an unhealthy situation. It is a right, not a privilege. It is wrong to stay in a relationship in which you are constantly being physically, emotionally or verbally abused. It is not what is good for you. He is not the whole world; he is not all you have. You have yourself — and that is more than enough. Tracey jones is a senior psychology major ( WHAT TH^— ANP” H&RAeiTf.- 'TixiE-rH&tz. P0Mo*IS*t«AT"»is/£, AGA’iMST WHAT |*S> That*? —>; SWeLCCrtt To TH& Mtr&MT, LhtJQ o? o?PcfKT0ti\T'1 foA KiW£>5 OP Aw k; Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns and letters express the opinions of the authors. The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and will print as many as space allows. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class, and phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters and guest columns for length, style, and accuracy. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. Address letters to; The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Mail stop itii University Station, TX 77B43 Fax; (409) 845-2647 i— Class time leaves students no chances to learn on their own ! 3-5pm 5 5-7pm 3-5p<n 3-5pm I t's time to revise the Core Cur riculum. Texas ; A&M University is ; just one of many ■ institutions of higher education inthe world; un fortunately, the students A&M turns out are not exceptional. Why is this? We it A&M suffer from s problem faced by tollege students everywhere — we spend so much time in class, we don't have time to learn. Let me explain myself. 1 spend about 22hours per week in class, including lec tures and labs. Outside class, I find my self doing homework about four hours a right, which translates to a total of 44 hours a week I spend on school-related 'wk. This is probably fairly close to the typical workload of an undergraduate student here at A&M. Most undergrads are also involved in some type of extracurricular activity. At A&M we call this the "other education." These activities take, let's say, three hours a week. Now then, many students find themselves required to have some kind of job to be able to pay the bills, tuition, etc. — another 5 hours a week. At this point I should say something about sleep. I, for one, often find myself going without it — but, for the purpose of this column, let's say the typical student sleeps 7 hours a night — add 35 hours per week. Most students manage to find time for eating, going to the bathroom and oth er life-sustaining activities. I shall assume that these take 2 hours a day, which will be 10 hours a week. Assuming that the weekends are spent sleeping, watching sports, sunbathing, or whatever, I will ig nore that they exist. Okay. There are 120 hours in a work week. Subtracting everything I have out lined above, that leaves 23 hours a week — or approximately four and a half hours a day unaccounted. In reality these precious moments of free time are consumed by do ing such important things as watching David Letterman or "Beavis & Butt-head." I'm also sure everyone follows "The Simp sons" as religiously as my friends and I. We also use this time to talk to friends, make plans for the weekend and nap. Don't mistake me, I think that these activ ities are as important as school. Without A&M is suffering from a very obvious problem. The University is trying to teach us too much. It has no re ward system for self-learn ing; it is in fact discouraged. them we would all go insane. My point is that our whole week is spent doing struc tured, school related activities. So when do we have time to teach our selves anything? Everything we learn comes either directly from our professor's mouth or from the overpriced textbook that is recited to us in lecture. Granted, I came to A&M to learn from the faculty, but I can't seem to find time ELIOT WILLIAMS Columnist to grow as a person. Students aren't given a chance to read anything outside of class nor is this type of activity encouraged. How many pro fessors have you heard say: "This home work is due Wednesday, but if you would rather read about chaos theory, I won't count off if you don't turn it in."? Of course professors don't encourage this kind of activity — why should they? Their job is to teach you what the course description says — nothing else. This problem isn't necessarily the pro fessors' fault The University is structured to get as many students through the cur riculum as possible — a curriculum that grows each year. There is no time to wor ry about how we as students develop our interests. The school has decided, some what unknowingly, that students should be thought of as androids. The Undergraduate Catalog reads: "The Core Curriculum emphasizes com petence in the process of learning...and it will continue our tradition of providing thorough preparation in the student's se lected discipline or profession." Sounds great, but do we really need a Core Curriculum to "emphasize the process of learning?" Does the University truly believe that students can be taught their "moral responsibilities" in a class room? The Core Curriculum is the Uni versity's way of making sure we have to pay more tuition, not to learn our "inter relations with the economies and cultures of the world." A&M is suffering from a very obvious problem. The University is trying to teach us too much. It has no reward system for self-learning; it is in fact discouraged. Reading things I find interesting means I must ignore my homework. Grades are how the school rewards us for learning — they are also how it discourages us from teaching ourselves. If A&M really wants to become a world-class university, it should praise its students for teaching themselves and not pat itself on the back for the Core Curricu lum's emphasis on "increased knowledge and appreciation of our cultural heritage." Eliot Williams is a sophomore electrical engi neering major Little League ban of China team childish We are a group of Chinese students studying in the United States. Besides working hard to receive a quality educa tion, we care deeply about our home land. It is the recent decision from the authorities of Little League Baseball in Williamsport, Pennsylvania of banning our Chinese-Taipei team from Taiwan, the Republic of China that prompts us to write this letter. In recent years, we have seen too many outside wrongdoings in the world of sports that have devastated the purity and integrity of the game.It is regrettable that now dirty politics has had a hand in little league baseball. U.S. Little League officials have al legedly found "rule violations" in sever al foreign jurisdictions based on point less technicalities, resulting in the ban ishment of several Asian and Latin American teams. Consequently, the U.S. Little League had effectively eliminated almost all competitive teams from all over the world. In addition, with clever strategy of some "puppet regimes," it has formed an "All-American Little League World Series" this year. Needless to say, after the dust settles, the United States will sit beautifully on top of the world — just the way it is meant to be. And should something evil happen and the good boys wearing red. white and blue fail to win again, there will always be rule violations to be discovered against the opponent, and the power is al ways there to strip a team of a title or ban ish them from ever coming again. If in fact the sole purpose of little league baseball was to make American boys champions, then the U.S. Little League people have overwhelmingly succeeded. But if the objective of the Lit tle League was to provide youths of the world an opportunity in healthy outdoor activities and in turn, make friends and bring the world a little closer together, as we assume it was, then U.S. Little League officials have taken a giant step backwards. We sincerely wish that we have seen the last of this hostile, "sour grapes" atti tude from the U.S. Little League authori ties, and we demand this constant, racially motivated marking against inter national teams stopped. There will come a day when 12-year- old American kids mature mentally and by that day, the U.S. Little Leaguers will win the World Series on their own. Per haps that day, the same mature kids will grow up to be mature adults who run Little League operations and understand that little league baseball is only a game. You do not sacrifice the joys of children to fulfill your own adult ego. Let the kids play! "If you can't beat them, ban them?" That is indeed a childish act. Eddie Chang '95 Chinese Student Association President Accompanied by 116 signatures