The Battalion MSMjjm wmm mfmmm !88MMai mmm .NIOM Page 9 Wednesday • February 26, 1997 or the love of money ’xas A&M, American Airlines forsake all for cash Out-dated traditions in need of evaluat i o n I here’s an old saying I’m particularly fond of, one of jlsj.-m those amorphous things ns jia|t can be applied to one’s ex- I eriences at any given moment h.} (lime: “[Fill in the blank) lakes the world go ’round." uch a simple, beautiful senti- ■ lent, saying so much and so lit- |iu r ie at the same time. Tone can fill in the blank with [tti e ny appropriate phrase. Music I aakes the world go ’round, for [alf. Bmple. Perhaps money, which lc s the version I’ve heard most of- jhaffl. From multi-billion dollar corporate ;o i : ppglomerates to public universities, iiany people are too caught up with the 11 of money. s cynical as it sounds, such an adage juldn’t have survived in our collective emory without a grain of truth at the cen- UfSerof the pearl. ■Tom there, it’s a logical progression to C next step: if money makes the world go mind, a lack of money may .. lake the world stop. The people free* m erican Airlines can testify ;othat. k^KBy now, the general outline of jh^ impending strike by the pi- ots of American is probably eMffely known. It’s about filthy money, of course. And without an 11 percent pay raise, pilots are , [hreatening to make American }vel grind to a halt. f^jAirline pilots are, for the most ...'.part, highly skilled professionals. ^fyybe they do deserve more , money. It seems the yearly going rate of $130,000 might be just ^ely enough to scrape by on. The pilots’ union at USAir re cently voted in favor of a pay cut for themselves because USAir ap- San fparently was in serious financial axdjeopardy. This selflessness goes ouitlto show people are willing to co in!!* operate and sacrifice, especially olHring hard times. gesBNevertheless, the hyper- jdgilcharged capitalist zeal that has efa. shaped America is also the cul- Bilaf pritof many of our country’s sirs problems. Leading citizens are woutHsorting to strikes, lawsuits and coi other drastic means in efforts to nMapaim a bigger piece of the pie. iscwfiftese actions shroud a basic tenet of any functioning society: I June r 1 (lie 1 _ . . ultimately, society’s success de- L-OlumniSt pends on the efforts of all people working toward a common end. Introducing the human ele ment into high-stakes finance doesn’t really seem like such a radical idea. But it’s one that both the union and management sides at American Airlines could stand to consider. Actually, it’s a princi ple students and A&M employees should consider. Money, rather than the Aggie spirit, has been the recurring issue at the core of University problems. Every semester students complain about the newly established tradition of fee in creases, while professors continue to scream for more cash. Recent allegations of an A&M professor’s misuse of funds sure don’t help. On top of it all, consider the loopholes such as PTTS selling nonexistent parking spaces and the MSC bookstore’s absurdly high prices on “exclusive goods.” Money is, indeed, one of many com modities that make the world go ’round. Travis Chow Computer science graduate student But there is also love, spirit and coopera tion. Without such insight, a crisis similar to the one at American Airlines could occur here on campus. Professors, like pilots, are highly- skilled professionals who have been ask ing for a pay increase for years. In addition, numerous positions in Student Government held by unpaid vol unteers are actually paid positions at oth er universities. Under relentless criticism from the student body, these individuals just may snap. The American Airlines conflict is still not resolved. During the “cooling off peri od,” maybe someone will have a moment of revelation. Is it worth disrupting all those lives for another $1,000 every month? If only one person felt it was not worth it, American might start flying again. On the other hand, if students and uni versity employees learn from the mis takes of American Airlines and the coop erative spirit of USAir, we just might become a better University. A6G |E *MI& S Id., Cr mm, ..M I any me back to oldVirginny, (where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. Oh won’t you please take me howome.” Wait, wrong song. The state song ofVir- ginia, “Carry Me back to OldVirginny” has likely heard its last refrain. Ear lier this month, the Vir ginia House of Delegates unanimously voted to re tire the song, which suf fered from accusations of racism and from a lack of airplay on MTV. Written in 1875 by James Blank, a black minstrel, the song glorified slavery and used words like “dark ey,” “massa” and “missis.” There have been attempts to get rid of this song for years, but they always failed because it was seen as a valuable tradition. Too often, ideas and practices exist not because they are useful or worthwhile, but simply be cause they are traditions. Existing tomorrow only be cause they existed yesterday. But the Virginia state song is just one recent example of common sense finally prevailing over tradi tion. Take the Citadel, for instance. This South Carolina military col lege fought hard to keep women out, perhaps believing they were “icky” and had “cooties.” But they changed its policy in June of 1996 after the Supreme Court ruled it un constitutional for the Virginia Mili tary Institute to have a male-only admissions policy. Shannon Faulkner became the first female to attend, but she last ed less than a week. Last fall, four females entered the Citadel. Two of them quit a month ago amid ac cusations of physical and mental abuse, including their clothes be ing set on fire. Sad, but hardly surprising. It’s difficult to change a long-standing tradition overnight, especially within an institution such as a mil itary college, where there is a tradi tion for everything from social functions to bodily functions. But the Citadel will integrate. West Point did it, as did Texas A&M. Unfortunately, there are many useless traditions that either haven’t Columnist Mason Jackson Senior marketing major been challenged, or have been challenged unsuccessfully. When an establishment is ap proached about chang ing a tradition, it is of ten unable to offer a legitimate defense. Instead, it relies on the circular logic that “a tradition should stay a tradition be cause it’s a tradition and to change it would be untradi- tional.” It makes sense if you don’t think about it. No conversation on traditions would be complete without con sidering Texas A&M. Some of our traditions are based on respect (no headgear in the MSC, Silver Taps), others are based on health con cerns (not eating at Sbisa), and a good many of our traditions ap pear to be based on stupidity. Regarding that last group, I wish to address only one in partic ular. At A&M there are some (my self and possibly others) who think that maybe it’s time to put an end to the “Yell Leader Experiment.” Our football program always re cruits plenty of talented players, yet the team is a perennial under achiever that can’t win the big game. If we pretend coaching isn’t the problem, then there is only one thing the contending teams have that we don’t. Cheerleaders. Perky, bouncy, skirt-wearing, female cheerlead ers. Imagine, the big game is on the line and the football players need one last boost of testosterone to push them over the top. They look to the sideline. They see guys in overalls. Game over. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Traditions can be changed, as demonstrated by the Common wealth ofVirginia and the Citadel, even thought those examples dealt with the powerful issues of racism and sexism. But changing traditions re quires people to constantly re evaluate why things are done a certain way. If the only reason for continuing something is be cause “that’s the way it’s always been done,” then maybe it’s time for a change. Incompetent professors rob students of time, money Ed 3! t a world renowned uni versity such as has A&M, accredited rofessors should be a jven. Webster’s Dic- mary defines a pro- [ssor as “a teacher; Jecifically a college teacher.” While most irofessors at A&M ive extensive knowl- Ige of their fields, lany lack the ability to teach. Maybe Webster Columnist David Boldt Senior marketing and management major 1 te; Ivasn’t defining university profes- its %irs, but only college professors. Iniversity professors must only be ha bere to research, considering the Tt of teaching as a necessary evil. 1 The first time (and unfortu- inst ^ b95 ff ' af \)ec$ fecti 1 iref 0 ilaf 1 han 1 the it nately not the last) I ran into this problem was in a business analysis class. My class was taught by a professor who I as sume had sufficient knowledge of the cur riculum. She had been teaching this class, as well as another BANA class, for years. But, after three weeks of watching students correct her own curriculum, I began to get aggravated. I would leave the class every day feeling clueless and cheated out of time and money. After talking to other students who had taken this professor’s class, I realized this same mode of scatter-brained teaching tech niques had gone on for years. There were even rumors of a peti tion in past semesters to have the professor removed. I wondered why this professor was still teach ing at A&M. One might think I’m just a dis gruntled student who is complain ing because I received a bad grade. On the contrary, in just a few hours a funny man named Arf explained the class curriculum in simple enough terms for me to earn a B in the class. Maybe he should hold tutoring sessions during class and save time for everyone. This semester it’s back to square one. This time I managed to get an economics professor who was capable of making even the simple concept of supply and de mand seem complicated. When asked why she insisted on math ematically proving every formula, which thoroughly confused every one, she stated my point perfectly. “I’m an economist—that’s the way I think,” she said. Back to tutoring I go. In the last three years at this school, in casual conversations all over campus I have heard varia tions of this scenario over and over again. It has to stop. Responsible students shouldn’t have to pay ex tra money to have a tutor do the professors’ jobs. One problem lies in the quali fications evaluated during hiring of professors. Dr. William Perry, Dean of Fac ulties, said three main criteria are examined. “We usually look for a doctorate degree as well as evi dence of an ability to research and teach,” he said. I guess one out of three ain’t bad. When asked whether the ability to research is weighed over the abil ity to teach, he said, “That decision is left to the department level.” There should be no such de cision. The possibility of weigh ing research ability over teach ing ability shouldn’t be an option. Another problem lies in teacher certification. It doesn’t exist. Department heads have nothing to go on, no proof these people can actually communi cate effectively what they know. High school teachers must be certified by the state to teach what they know, but anyone with a master’s degree (and sometimes less than that) can teach at A&M. Student-professor evaluations of fer no help either. Perry said the evaluations are considered in pro motions and tenure, but not neces sarily reviewed by the department heads each semester. They don’t seem to care much what we think about the average professor. Obviously, many professors are competent teachers. Most of the professors I have had are pretty good at effectively conveying the material. But one professor with below aver age teaching skills is one too many. Students’ futures are at stake, and they must be allowed to leam the material from the people they pay to teach it. Too many incompetent profes sors are slipping through the cracks. PLEASE lAKfe A SKSV* With pleasure- ATLB6T tjjEVfe LEAVIN1