iber 22, 1994
ball
vn
year,” he said,
ive represent-
with class at
proud of what
led.”
ad to ask him-
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to continue as
?”
tended to ask
he end of the
those closely
program were
ating the pro-
>f the season,
meated by in
last week led
ion it was in
of my family
am to answer
will resign my
tball coach ef-
the season.”
mds to coach
a bowl game.
1) are likely
opper Bowl
shored the of-
imber of that
are Calvin
leader of the
lins played
ter for a unit
ied over the
nly 18 sacks
ams, was an
former who
aring need
the Aggies’
time it was
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hed the year
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also blocked
ring one for
ew offensive
Ensminger
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Corey Pul-
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ability and
cornerbacks
rs finished
n receptions
rst in yards
e yard per
ied for first
i four.
1994 season
are Aggie ca-
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3 to step up
■ Armstrong,
neks among
995, the pro-
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ut we don’t
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Tuesday • November 22, 1994
The Battalion • Page 9 „
;
The Battalion
Editorial Board
Belinda Blancarte, Editor in chief
Mark Evans, Managing editor
Jenny Magee, Opinion editor
Sterling Hayman, Asst, 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.
Prayer in School
Separation of Church and State should be upheld
Bush should focus on prisons
Inmates must be educated
before being released
ERIN
HILL
Columnist
Republicans will be in control of
Congress come January, and the issue
of prayer in school has come into the
spotlight again. The intention is to cre
ate a constitutional amendment which
will designate a specific time for stu
dents to pray during school. Some leg
islators are calling for a “quiet time for
reflection,” during which students
will be allowed to pray silently.
Others, such as soon-to-be
Speaker of the House,
Newt Gingrich, are push
ing an amendment that
would allow students to
pray aloud.
The diversity among
religions and the num
ber of students who rep
resent it may cause a
problem too great for pub
lic schools to handle. Some
religious practices are not a
quiet bow of the head and a silent
prayer, but rather a vocal and ceremo
nial practice. Should such an amend
ment be placed into effect, it would
have to accommodate all of these reli
gious practices for students.
Some students may not feel com
fortable in participating in such a
prayer time, regardless of their reli
gious beliefs. To those students, the
proposed quiet time could make them
uncomfortable. The product could be
come somewhat of a witch-hunt —
with those who choose to pray and
those who do not pointing fingers at
each other. This difference among re
ligions may generate ridicule from
those students who see other students’
religious practices as “abnormal.”
There is also an ideal in American
institutions that there is a separa
tion of the Church and the
State. As public institutions
are products of the State,
such an amendment
could encompass a viola
tion of this ideal.
A more realistic and
reasonable solution
would be for students
to pray before class,
whether it is on school
grounds or at home. They
^ could arrive early and orga
nize student prayers on their
own, outside of school time. Students
could then practice their beliefs in
privacy, without worry of alienation
or ridicule.
Furthermore, with our public
school systems in such disarray, it
seems more practical for legislators to
tackle the issue of school finance,
rather than spending a lot of hot air
debating prayer in school. These leg
islators should start better prioritiz
ing their interests.
G eorge W. Bush was
elected on a platform
that stressed reform
ing education and education
al funding, increasing the
power of the private sector
and reducing crime. He
seemed sincere; most of ‘em
do. He acted concerned, but
who knows? Is he serious _
about governing the state?
I’ve got my fingers crossed. I want to believe him. I’ve even
got a couple of suggestions, at least about the crime issue.
He wants to cut back on crime, along with every other citi
zen who cares about life, safety and the escalating costs of pris
ons and other corrective facilities. He wants to diminish the
numbers of juvenile criminals. He wants prisons to truly reha
bilitate those who are sent there.
Wow. He must have a lot of faith in the prison system. Reha
bilitate? Did I hear that correctly?
He said Texas needs a governor to get rid of frivolous law
suits that clog the courts and start filling the courts with crimi
nals.
“We want people to know they are
responsible for their own behavior.”
He said he will not allow sex offenders,
murderers or car thieves out of jail on a
probative sentence because it sends the
wrong message to Texas.
“I will show that the risks of crime
outweigh the rewards.”
It appears he believes that by send
ing criminals to prison and keeping them there longer than
the run of that silly “Lassie” remake, something can be
done. Prison as rehabilitation? Prison as punishment? Con
sequences for actions?
He may just be right. Let’s hope so!
One little teensy tiny hint — just a thought — sorry if I’m in
terrupting anything. Governor George, but you ought to make
them go to school. University level classes.
How can we pay for such classes, you ask? Well, they’re
already in place in lots of prisons. For example. Warden
Velasquez of the Ramsey Unit II of the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice says that multiple programs are offered
at his facility, ranging from high school equivalency exams
to post-secondary technical training. One can earn a college
degree or a certificate from a technical school, no problem.
The only hitch is getting the prisoners to take the darned
things. See, prisoners are required to work a specified number
of hours per day (like 5-6). That’s it. Maybe a little more when
highway litter gets out of control. Your average prisoner has a
lot of free time on his or her hands — time to mill around,
watch TV, talk and nap, like some of us.
Too much idle time conditions a person to a non-working
lifestyle. (Think of how you act now when your dad asks you
help clear the table.) It isn’t shocking that some prisoners don’t
want a job after being released or can’t hold a steady one. After
a heavy diet of “Charles in Charge” would you? Some of the
brain cells may be hibernating, rusty even.
Real life skills haven’t been practiced in awhile. Real life •.
thinking has been replaced by a prison mentality that could ' -
frighten even the most hard among us.
Recidivism (the rate that released prisoners return to prison) 1;
is alarming. But not unbelievable. After living in a walled off
community that runs very differently from the outside world, ’ •
kind of like a Biosphere Hell bubble, inmates don’t know al
ways know how to cut it when they leave.
Inmates who complete college courses, however, have a bet-
ter chance than the rest. A New Mexico study which came out -
this year showed a 15 percent recidivism rate for those prison-
ers who had completed one or more college courses, compared
with a 68 % rate for the general population. The Indiana Refor
matory reported that of the more than 200 prisoners who had ; •
earned a degree in a Ball Sate University extension program, - '
none had returned to the reformatory.
A Folsum prison study in the 1980’s showed zero recidivism .}
from college graduates compared with 55 percent rate for the - *
general prison f *
population within <■
three years of re- -
lease from Fol
som. Similar re
ports came from
Alabama and
Michigan.
Similar reports
could come from
Texas if George W. Bush will try what I’ve suggested.
Maybe the prisoners who took those classes were more moti
vated and all that jazz. But it would do the others good to be
exposed to the pursuit of intellectual ideas and rational think
ing, or even plumbing techniques.
Our prison systems operate like quicksand, sucking prison
ers in and trapping them. Too many return too often. And we
foot the bill. It’s time to treat prison as both punishment and
training for life outside of its walls. It’s time for mandatory
post-secondary education for all inmates.
George W. Bush — I hope you’re listening — just between
the two of us, I dare you to try it. I’ll check back in a couple of
years, okay? Until then I’ll keep hoping for the best and offer
ing suggestions.
W. Jason Moore contributed to the research of this column.
^ sv ' - v m liMlggt&gM /v--'" £g ggg]
Our prison systems operate like quicksand,
sucking prisoners in and trapping them. It's
time to treat prison as both punishment and
training for life outside of its walls.
VA 4 -
MmmmmmM
Erin Hill is a senior English major
Political system continues
to change for the worse
Politicians will not accomplish anythi ng of
importance, will only cause more problems
JOSEF A.
ELCHANAN
■1111
]V[AIL
i\r\Tv/\r\
A&M can do more to
promote recycling
I am writing this letter in response
to a front page article in the Wednes
day, November 16 edition of The Battal
ion entitled “Student groups work to
form campus recycling program.” As I
picked up my paper this morning, I no
ticed two things. First, there were no
ad inserts scattered on the ground sur
rounding the newspaper stand. Second,
a person, sitting on a bench reading The
Battalion, promptly stood up, folded his
paper and chunked it in the nearest
trash can. I wandered off, reading the
seemingly ironic front page article.
Now wouldn’t you think that mem
bers of RHA and the Environmental Is
sues Committee have considered every
possible way to recycle? This campus is
enormous and it wastes an indescrib
able amount each day.
I have a question. If “158 buildings
are participating in recycling and 116 of
these are on a regular weekly pick-up
schedule,” why aren’t there recycling
bins outside of these buildings, particu
larly by the newspaper stands? If recy
cling bins were placed outside of the
building on the pick-up schedule, reams
of newspaper would be saved each day.
Also, how much money does The Bat
talion make from those advertising sup
plements? If it is significant, the least
they can do is try to get them printed on
non-glossy, recyclable paper and pro
vide recycling bins. I cringe every time
I throw away my daily paper because
there is nowhere else to put it.
Waste is unacceptable, especially at
such a remarkable institution of higher
education as Texas A&M University.
Jennifer Koons
Class of ’98
Anti-gay letter reflects
hatred, ignorance
This letter is in response to Jason
McKemie’s letter on November 18th en
titled “Homosexuals ruin A&M’s moral
standards.” In a semester where Re
gents have been convicted of unethical
business practices, boosters are banned
from football games, and racist inci
dents have abounded, the LEAST of all
things that would degrade our moral
standing would be the publication of an
article about National Coming Out
Week. In fact, the major thing that con
tributes to our loss of moral standing is
people like yourself who try to suppress
opinions from being heard, simply be
cause you don’t agree with them.
I can’t stand hatred and ignorance
like yours, but that doesn’t mean I’m
going to complain about it being print
ed. If you don’t like the subject matter
of the article, don’t read it. It’s as sim
ple as that. If you feel so strongly about
your moral convictions, then join the
Battalion editorial staff and write about
it intelligently. Don’t just sit back and
spew forth fragmented sentences of
hate. Perhaps you are the one who
needs to travel the 97 miles to Austin; I
think the exposure to different people
would do you some good.
If you had even included a logical ar
gument against homosexuality in your
letter, you may actually deserve some
consideration, but as it stands now, I
think you are the one that doesn’t de
serve to be printed.
Ryan Hensley
Class of ’96
Accompanied by 12 signatures
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Batt@tamvm1 .tamu.edu
H ave you noticed
lately how weird
the political cli
mate has become? This
eerie smile comes over
various Republican faces
as they stand and tell
America how we are all
in for a big change. Gives
me the willies. Now
where’s my ticket to Australia?
Well, ok, things could be worse. At
least the president won’t back-off on
the issues. For instance Clinton said
that he supports school prayer. Hold
that, he’s changed his mind, he’s saying
it’s wrong to pray in school unless you
are the adopted child of a gay soldier in
the military. Hold that, he just said
that he does not support homosexuals
in the military, unless the cross-dress
as Joan of Arc on Veterans Day.
Anyway, lets look at our new gover
nor. Boy, he is a wonderful guy.
Within a week, he has already firmly
placed himself as a man of action, a
real go-getter.
For instance, this concealed hand
gun thing is great. I mean, what kind
of man would be a big enough wuss to
not carry a a big-damn gun, like one of
those ’pocket cannons’ produced by
good-old American gun companies.
You know the one — it’s the chromed,
laser sighted monstrosity that makes
Clint Eastwood cry like a baby. Or
maybe we could all buy some of those
Old West style 45’s and swagger down
Northgate, pushing those sandle-
wearing , pot smoking, long-haired
hippies out of the way.
Heck, we could even issue handguns
to those guys who need therapy for feel
ing like nobodies. You know the ones,
the same guys that go out into the
woods and cry to each other about how
daddy dressed as a girl and then mom
my spanked him. Now they could carry
a gun and feel like real men. If some
jerk tries to push them around, they
can just blow a big hole in his chest.
Boy, that Bush boy is a real stud.
Another thing that amazes me is
how smart those new Congressman
are. They figured out a way to lessen
the tax burden of the public while con
tinue to support present programs. It
will be like Ronald Reagan again.
Who gives a damn about this deficit
thing as long as I get Social Security
check when I’m old.
Well, I sure hope these political
types can accomplish all this, but I do
have my doubts.
My mom was part of this organiza
tion called Lead it or Leave, where
they would all get to
gether and ask politi
cians to sign a con
tract where they
would attempt to re
duce the deficit or not
seek re-election. I bet .
you know how success
ful that was.
My point is, these
guys are probably not going to do any
thing that important, except cause
some problems.
I have an old-fashioned American
solution to put politicians in there
place. No, not hanging, though it
would work. No, I think suing them
would be a good idea. For instance,
—Mr. Getmoney, you were a Con- '? '
gressman for two terms and then left
to work as a lobbyist for the Japanese
subsidiary Buyichi America. Is that -J
correct? .
—Yes, it is.
—And did you promise in your elec- -,
tion to lower crime, reduce the deficit,
help American business, help the poor,
reduce unemployment, and to help re
duce the trade deficit between the US
and Japanese.
—Well, kind-off. I mean, I just said
it because, well you know.
—No ,sir, I do not think we do. You ' ;
will pay S2,000,000 to the state for
failure to meet your civil obligations.”
Now, wouldn’t that be great?
But really, its all pipedreams, the
ravings of a mind not used to the
norms of the modern political climate.
Anyway, to be sure, the political cli
mate in the US has changed con- ;
siderably.
While the Republicans feel their way
to a new role in the Congress and Sen
ate, let us all hope for a few things.
First of all, that Bob Dole won’t do
anything, because he scares the living
hell out of me. Second, let’s hope that
Newt Gingrich can get a better hair
cut, or buy a new hairpiece, whatever
is needed. Third, for Pete’s sake you
dumbutt Democrats, find someone
with some stinking ba...I mean guts.
Sorry, this politically correct thing
gets hard sometimes. If you have to,
pay someone off to run for president.
There has got to be someone that can
act like they are in charge of the coun
try for a few years.
Maybe the only real solution goes
kind of like this — what do you call
1000 politicians at the bottom of the
Pacific? A good start.
Josef A. Elchanan is a senior business
management major
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