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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1994)
»er 17, cross into tough ‘ally tough 'exas A&M day at the sion, senior 'nrth place miles in ti’s second Rice Uni- meg Hinze nents. weet feel- “We were the meet. lve a good ty, we will t or make m out of us." re led by 'inish by :r and Ce- 2th-place y Aggies ind first- ty. Etch- ce earned nze. id the first his 108 to- ig a touch- 0 minutes, second-best 4ggie, ram- on 22 car time A&M > each gain Iroy picked mas added 3-0 thrash- 3ar. •aged close carry, and with a 29- He to start rssion, said dll not only games, but as a team. iM in the ve always s said. “To lave a bal- a champi- }roce, who ame of Ids jses for So • Baylor is he Aggies i. to games be rough t a finger- id, ‘C’nw n die us.’” D LS RDS ER Monday • October 17, 1994 BMWiiWwwIi - .1 The Battalion • Page 9 Black or white, everyone’s challenges will be equal F riday night’s episode of the TV show “Picket Fences” dramatized the desegregation of schools in a small town. Even though it’s my favorite program, I almost turned it off. After living through three days of con stant letters and phone calls to The Battalion about “race” at Texas A&M, the last thing I wanted to do was watch such things on television. But, I couldn’t find the remote, and never got up off the couch to charigg. thp channe 1. I’m glad for that laziness. "V - The show included .sey&ral semes tin the town’s newly integrated high sehoot,' whiefe :: hmhght,,h%ck interesting memories. As a high school kid I devel oped a great deal of resentment about affirmative action and minorities. No'“damned liberar -arg-m/, ment mattered. j.| f s -F . = ' .7 If I were Africari-Ametl^a or Hispanic, my SAT • scores, activities-list and grades would have earned me a free ride at almost any school that offers mi nority scholarships: At A&M ! actually'Would have received more money insehol arahips than it oosis to attend school. But despite a deep thn. 1 was indis putably white, and-my *lfl were Mack .,7 lament was entirely beside the poind*..;-.- i; ' ; ■; ■ But what if I werehlack^iHoWi-easy” would I re ally have it? Growing up in my hometown has been one my the greatest assets in life. The town is small, everyone knows me, my family is old, established and respected. Store owners and business lead ers recognize me and extend countless small fa vors because of who and what I am. JAY ROBBINS The whole com munity has al ways shown me high expectations and encourage ment. College and a career were nev er an issue; “Which school?” and “What field?” were all that mattered. If I had been bom black, the town would still be small, everyone would watch me sharply if I walked into a store or too close to their cars, and my family - though old - would only.gain.respgct for the cur rent day’s work and “not causin’ troublu.”! ?" • High school:graduation wouki havd-ibeeri7aH. ahy--: :- : one could expect,* und plans for coBogp. would: eatHse,; • as much, shock as good/wishes in most people. After all, my teachers would have always ferred to tM$ theoretical black.m<fc ae “s'uo-h a nice .black boy/*' and said dod^aO/yvell for a black....... child t wish they were all like that,” <I ! ve : - rv heard those exact -words' used in a conversation : in the Teacher’s Lounge A - .. 7 Family money and connections would have been less than a dream, My father, age hi, .would nrat 7 :; 7 : - h ave. gone :to high schbdi 7/niuChTess gi/adua^rifeap f • college liko-he- did. -because the soparhfebtit-'eqhai; Booker T. Washington school honored the great edu- s cator by finishing with junior high. He wcruld have : been able to offer his kids all the opportunity afford- . ed by a man with an 8th grade diploma* •• ■■ rI • My mother grew up in a bigger town, -and-would have attended high school during the time of forced- integration. But if she had been black, I doubt her father would have been an engineer who could afford to pay for her education at Trinity, or indulge her in a career like journalism. The black me would have enjoyed very few of the privileges and chances that have gotten me ahead. Could I ever have scored in the top percentile on the SAT Verbal if my parents had not spoken with uni versity-educated English? How about being the only black kid in my senior class to take calculus, physics and advanced biology like white me did? If my after-school job had paid for food instead of CDs and trips to the movies, could I ever have devot ed 20 or 30 hours a week to every extracurricular ac tivity my school offered? Say, for instance, that my teachers had always •tpld me “good enough” was regular attendance and / hot fighting instead of perfect attendance and 'straight.-AB-— wQuild I still have been 4th in my class? A whole book worth ofcommentary couldn’t cover the scope of subtle and obvidhS 'discrimihation I’ve .recahddijThe one thing that shines crystal clear is tjhd trutb’that if I had been African-American or His-- ; panic, I probably would not even have dreamed ahout A&M - just like almost all the minority kids I •g^ew up-with ■f/: Yes, the •“opportunities’’, .all-would havejbeen : tberb. •^u|fei;'th' , e : chances of me taking them;wdbld ; hot be equal. Thgfcead of reaching down andfaking my pack of tbe lot, I Would have had to sqihnt upward i .and light my way toward a few of them. Bow equal is that? Many people -of eveiry race have made more ivd;i|b|*a;ble,;and prestigious accomplishments than ittie, and 1 have terrific respect for anyone who works hard and reaps the profits. Nothing is wrong with me being white or having good oppor tunities in life. But everything is wrong with a minority having the same chances along with half the blessings and twice the hardships. Regardless of any advantages I had, I still ‘ n worked my butt off to get where I am and I’m proud of many things I’ve done. However, I hon- estly don’t think I could have reached many of my goals if I’d had the additional obstacles added by discrimination and .preju|lip.p. Or, for that matter, of.bhiug -female^ur' -being disabled, or be- ipg gay, dr being'-uxlrfeibe 17:poor\7,.. I read every latter submitted: for Mail Call, 7>7 whethfer-it Mbs or rj<j|, and:the. Arguments and ;rty~ " cdmpl^i^S. ibi:the,,dp2i|ns,pf^ettbbs..!I%b Battalion >; has received, tsenter-around the fear on every side U of the isstle -that bl ackk-oi'’ Hi spaiiics or whites or > 7 plaid Mart'iansjget:;ahe;ad,.ixi ; ::the/fvorl ; d on some- , thing besides merit- No one is getting a free ride from the govethmeritrthie liberal^ the establish- A 7 ment or anybody else. It all balances out. So-maybe some black girl got that scholarship: d iensded^wheia-i^as 18. I’m sure ••that when I -was 12 or SO I got something — just as valuable irfme long run — for which she, in turn, 77 would have given almost anything. Right now we can only work to help end the in- sanity of racial hate and injustice - and hope that by the time our children start college we will have bal anced the books on “race.” < *'■ If we succeed they’ll have to learn about discrimi nation and affirmative action in History 106. Jay Robbins is a senior, English and political science major. The Battalion Editorial Board Belinda Blancarte, Editor in chief Mark Evans, Managing editor Jay Robbins, Opinion editor jenny Magee, Assistant opinion editor 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, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. Bill on student worker registration criticized I would just like to take a moment and congratulate Ryan Shopp on the recent passage of his student worker registra tion bill. Thanks to the remarkable dedication and brilliance of Shopp, all the phone registration problems have been solved. We’ll never have to worry about the phone lines becoming too crowded again. Never again will all those poor seniors have to worry about all those dam fresh men and sophomore workers stealing all their senior-level classes. Never again -will all the poor little rich unemployed boys and girls have to worry about being forced to take an 8 o’clock class since those worthless student work ers won’t be in the way. Thanks to the glorious bill that Shopp worked so hard on for four months, (Poor Thing!) students workers like myself won’t be able to register for the classes that fit around our work schedules and because we have no choice except to work or starve we will just have to miss the classes we need. Way to go to Ryan Shopp — he’s on his way to a rewarding career in poli tics! If he just keeps on thinking up such pointless garbage for. the simple reason that he has nothing better to do then he’ll go far. My advice to him is clean up his act and get a job! Cecil A. Cheshier Class of‘96 Ticketmart offers good alternative to scalpers As a brother of Alpha Phi Omega, I participate in numerous projects bene- Ihe Battalion encour ages letters to the editor and will print as many as space allows, letters must be 300 words or less and include the au thor's name, class, and phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Address letters to: The Battalion - Mail CaH 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Fax; (409) 845-2647 E-mallr Batt@tamvm! .tamu.edu And we’ll have fun, fun, fun — not College offers few wild times along with hours of studying ELIZABETH PRESTON Columnist .-.-.Ox:;-.:..:-.- filing the community, our school and the chapter itself. One of the projects that we do is called Ticketmart. This is a service to the students, alumni and other people who just want to come and watch an Aggie foot ball game. We set up in the MSC flag room be fore every home game and sell tickets at face value for students who are un able to use their tickets or those of alumni or family members who have extras. We not only sell tickets for the student section but for the alumni side as well. This is not a ticket exchange, but an opportunity for people to get money for their otherwise useless tickets. This service gives people an alterna tive to the sometimes outrageous prices that scalpers charge. There have been those that charge in excess of one hundred dollars for two seats. On some weekends, the going rate is more than $30 per ticket. Not too bad, but still more than the price set by the University. While walking toward Kyle, I no ticed a sign that warned scalpers from doing business on “any land connected to the field.” I’m assuming that there are reasons for this; can’t the Univer sity just ban scalping totally? This would not only prevent a possi ble loss to the University for unsold tickets, but it would give the volun teers at Ticketmart more opportuni ties to meet people. Don’t allow people to inflate ticket prices that possibly prevent Aggie fans from seeing us beat the hell out of the next team. E very time my older sister entered a new phase of life she filled me with stories about all the exciting things that went on. In every stage of growing up I planned excit edly for the next, envision ing parties, gossip, cool friends and tons of worshiping admirers. In middle school and high school, my hopes were contin ually shattered. While I had friends, and we certainly gossiped, my life was nowhere near as exciting as my sister’s seemed. Still, I fought back doubt and gamely entered college, planning on living it up during the “most exciting four years of my life.” Two and a half years later, the doubts are giving way to certainty. Either my sister is 100 percent more exciting than I am - a distinct possibility - or college is not every thing it is cracked up to be. Let’s dispel the myths. First of all, it is much harder to make real friends in college than at other times. Though I did actually make one good friend at Fish Camp, she came down with mono and had to drop out of school. Then I only saw people in my classes two or three days a week, and the other standard high school meeting places — lockers or cafeterias - are either nonexistent or worthless. Sbisa never once provided me with a lasting friendship. Clubs seemed intimidating and filled with upperclass students. Homesickness was rampant the first few months of col lege. I don’t think I spoke to anyone but my roommate the first two weeks of school - unless you include my old high school flame who was trying to find his own path, separate from mine. When I finally did make good friends, it was practically time to go home for Christmas. In addition, in high school, if you had a fight or a petty disagreement, you saw each other every day and as a result were forced to deal with. In college, especially on a campus as big as Texas A&M, if you decide you are mad at someone, you may not see them for months. With a temper like mine, this was bad news. Arguments didn’t just fix themselves. Instead one per son had to actually call the other and - gasp - accept blame. Also, this “college is a breeze” myth is laughable. All I remember of my first three semesters is the fourth floor of Evans Library, the A-3 Study Lounge on Northside and an occasional midnight run to Bernie’s. I could not believe that those textbooks I always ignored or used as coloring books in high school were now actually required reading that would be on the test. I would lie awake in bed at night and wonder how people survived four years of studying four to six hours a night. Depression and worry were the order of the day for the be ginning of my much anticipated college experience. Then the aforementioned high school flame, Jeff, dragged me to a college party in a misguided attempt to broaden my horizons and show me the joy that college could bring me. He left to get beer - I don’t drink - and I stood alone surrounded by around a hundred people to whom I had nothing to say to. I felt goofy, out of place, in timidated and lonely. Without telling Jeff, I caught a ride back to the dorm and spent the evening wishing I was still in high school. Now that I am an “experienced junior,” I do have great friends, but everything else has remained static. College still takes more effort than I ever expected, though now I have learned to put time aside to join too many clubs. -*7 Parties, dancing j'7 and random mugging;*; still leave me completely cold, and it looks like the hun- 1 7 dreds of fawning admirers will always remain one of my faint dreams. Thus, I have decided that college is just not my cup of tea. It is too much of a transitional state. No one knows In exactly what they will be doing in four years. I don’t live at home anymore, but my mom still supports! 7 me. I don’t know which of the friends I am making will last, and I have no idea with whom I will spend the rest of;; my life. Today a friend in her early 30s with two beautiful chil- 1 j dren, a good job and a happy marriage was speaking about; the trauma of the college years. She said you couldn’t pay her to trade places with me. 7 That really is too bad, because I offered her my net worth... I > Elizabeth Preston is a junior English majoff. -} 5: This "college is a breeze" myth is laughable. All I remember of my first three semesters is the fourth floor of Evans Library, the Study Lounge and an occasional run to Bernie's. Jennifer Schmidt Class of ’95 v*>y