A
The Battalion
Page 9
Friday • March 21, 1997
Big Event needs repairs
lervice project has good intentions, lacks organization
Columnist
r he Big
Event is a
highlight
the spring
pester. An
rgie tradi-
bn, this com-
bnity-wide
Wice project
[away to say
tank you” to
fyan/College
ption.
|Participa-
m in The Big Event has
en exceptional the
st few years.This pro-
:t is a great way for stu
nts to have fun while
ing something for oth-
s. However, a common
isconception about
ic Big Event is the idea
is primarily to help the
>s fortunate.
Brooke Hybarger, a se-
or accounting major
id director of The Big
r ent, said, “We want
:ople to know Big Event
not just for the needy,
is a way to say “thank
|)u” to everyone in the
Bi\an/College Station
fcmmunity." In fact, Big
Ivent is not really de
igned to help those who
|:e truly in need, but
more to be a day of
small-scale service. This
loints to a need for a
lew operation of Big
I vent proportions, to
I elp the truly needy.
I For an operation its
I ize, The Big Event runs
Imoothly. Hybarger said
1 of 450 to 500 jobs, there
|tre onty about 20 prob-
ms, and those are mi-
o/. ’TAeproblems that
iccnr during The Big
ivent are usually due to
lor preparation on the
of participating or-
Courtney Phillips
Junior
psychology major
I
ganizations and
the people who
request services.
Those who re
quest services fill
out a detailed de
scription of the
services needed.
They are made
fully aware that
the job needs to
be manageable in
five to six hours.
They also
are encouraged
to provide supplies.
Those who cannot afford
this are given supplies,
but these are not always
adequate. Therefore, sit
uations arise where peo
ple request their houses
be painted, but do not
arrange for it to be
scraped, do not have the
money to buy supplies,
and do not own a lad
der. Thus, the students
are instructed to paint a
peeling house in six hours
with no ladder and little
paint. An incomplete
job from which no
one really benefits is
the ensuing result.
Student organi
zations also need to
take more responsi
bility when they par
ticipate in The Big
Event. Organizations
are asked to send
representatives to
one of two Big Event
meetings, where
they find out the
phone number
of the person
they are helping
and are asked to
contact them to
find out the de
tails of the job.
They also are
asked to con
tact the Big Event staff if
any needs or problems
arise. If students are sure to
do this, situations like the
one previously described
are less likely to occur.
The Big Event does little
to help the people whose
homes need major repairs
but who can not provide
adequate supplies.
The Big Event serves its
function well in providing
small services to people
who have a need for a few
hours of student manpower.
However, there is a
need for an organization
to step up and concen
trate on helping the peo
ple that Big Event, by its
nature, is not equipped to
help. Most of these peo
ple have big needs which
cannot be remedied with
the one day and limited
y- ;
k
To HELP
w
m.
K,
V
js:
resources The Big Event
has to offer.
Perhaps these people
sign up for aid out of igno
rance of The Big Event’s
true function or just des
peration, but there must be
a better way to help them.
An event like this would
have to start out as less
than big, but it could grow.
By slowly taking on jobs
it had the resources to han
dle, this new
event could be a
three-day or
week long event
that really would
allow students to
get their hands
• dirty by helping
others who need
it desperately.
The Big Event
doesn’t put on a
pretense of being
primarily to help
the needy, and it
doesn’t function
best in that ca
pacity. Students,
however, often
have misconcep
tions of it as a
quick and painless
way to help less for
tunate individuals.
Students should real
ize The Big Event’s true
function and continue to
pour their efforts and ener
gies into the tradition. How
ever, there also is a need
out there for service to
those in more dire
need. Perhaps one
of the amateur
politicians so
abundant on
our campus
these days will
take this up as his
ffj or her cause and
see it to fruition.
Senate application
bill lacks focus, reason
C ollege is a tremen
dous responsibility.
From maintaining
study habits to finding
time to buy groceries,
students are constantly
on the go, with hardly a
spare moment to call
their own. There are pres
sures from so many di
rections that students are
pushed to outstanding
limits. It’s amazing how
many burdens students
can bear and still be able
to stand upright.
Of course, once college stratum
is established, students are con
fronted with the prospect of gradu
ation and graduate school. A desire
to earn some money after investing
tons in college motivates students
to push harder into the depths of
debt and near-death. Numerous ul
cers and close brushes with ner
vous breakdowns soon become
everyday events.
The tasks I have mentioned
seem cut out for superheroes like
Superman or Batman, but in reality,
the average college student over
comes several obstacles much like
those designed for such characters.
It’s absurd the Senate is now ready
to bestow the gift of higher educa
tion in a carefree manner to anyone
willing to accept.
Our forever-responsible Texas
Senate has taken action to increase
access to higher education, or so
they think. The Senate has passed a
college admissions bill for unifomi
applications and one-stop filing at
Texas university systems.
Their intent is pure of motive, but
the focus is slightly off-balance. By
introducing the goodwill gesture, the
Senate is opening more doors to ap
plicants who are most likely not
ready to cross that threshold.
The Senate fails to recognize col
lege may be too much for some ap
plicants. Granted, college is an out
standing and exciting eye-opening
experience, but not everyone is
meant to go. It’s hard enough for stu
dents who actually want to be in col
lege and aren’t able, but it’s even
Columnist
Kate Shropshire
Freshman biomedical
science major
more difficult for those
forced to compete with
students who don’t care
about education.
The bill may lead to a
tendency to accept ap
plicants who don’t know
how to handle the sud
den call for self-restraint
and self-discipline.
Therefore, disadvanta
geous results are induced
for both the student and
the system.
Gary Engelgau, exec
utive director of admissions and
records at Texas A&M, said the bill
may not be as much assistance to
applicants as they think.
“When you look at the Texas pop
ulation as a whole, it may help (the
applicants), but when looking at ap
plicants at A&M, it may not help be
cause chances are very high that the
applicant will have to present addi
tional information.”
Engelgau also emphasized the
tougher and more pressing issue of
immature students entering the Uni
versity system and its repercussions.
“The largest problem is students
who are not prepared for the colle
giate level and cost both the state
and the individual a lot of money,” he
said. “The level of preparation of the
student is the first concern.”
Although cost is the main con
cern in Engelgau’s eyes, it remains a
neglected topic with the Texas Sen
ate. With benevolence goggles
strapped tight, the Senate omits a
bigger and brighter option to boost
the availability of a college educa
tion: lower college costs. The prob
lem with admittance to Texas univer
sities lies not so much in the actual
admissions process, but in paying for
college. Many students who want to
be in school can’t because of cost.
They suffer more than those stu
dents who just can’t get in because of
a minor difficulty factor.
In essence, the Texas Senate is not
making it any easier to receive a col
lege education. They are making it
more difficult by attacking the prob
lem from the wrong angle and utiliz
ing the wrong weapons.
A&M students take education, opportunities for granted
Columnist
nyone with open ears
on this campus can
have them filled with
stories of how life isn’t fair,
tad although many students
tnay know what the word
gratitude” means, its prac
tice is now a foreign concept.
One of the foundations of
iny education at Texas A&M
ja* hould be a broader per-
sd pective of life, one empha-
rid izing thankfulness.
W The first privilege stu-
ients enjoy blindly is stu-
oii lenthood. Although the worth of a col-
$ age education fluctuates, the college
j, taduate still makes a better living than
he person who ended their education
thigh school.
According to the Office of Educa-
onal Research and Improvement, the
Innual income for people with college
ducations rises more rapidly than
Joshua Hill
Sophomore
English major
those of others. In the 80’s for
example, the income of the av
erage college educated male
rose 78 percent, compared to
37 percent for those who only
finished high school.
. In the 1989-90 year, 72 per
cent of employed college grad
uates had jobs in professional,
managerial and technical ar
eas. Deserved or not, an Aggie
ring brings respect in the
world and opens doors locked
to the majority of Americans.
Considering the opportuni
ty for education offered them, students
should be grateful for and take advan
tage of their classes.
As anyone who has traveled knows,
United States citizenship is a gift to be
treasured. Toilets, clean water, and at
least two meals a day are taken for
granted in American society.
The campus got a small taste of life
in many foreign countries a few weeks
ago when the electricity in the resi
dence halls failed several times.
Matt Listi, sophomore genetics ma
jor and Hart Hall resident, said he
would not have been happy if he need
ed to study on that occasion.
“We [residents] just come to expect
certain things all the time, [and] once
you get something you never want to
give it up”he said.
Students shouldn’t ignore the desti
tute lives of their counterparts all
around the world.
The rivers in India are the equiva
lent of an American stopped-up com
mode, the kind Americans would not
want to clean.
Those long programs on television
asking for money for starving children
are not studio productions. They are
the most brutal faces of death.
It is estimated that 20,000 people an
nually in Guatemala die of hunger alone.
Also, even with its sometimes corrupt
government and inept bureaucracy, the
United States is a free country, and its
people have a fair amount of control.
The human rights maintained here
put U.S. citizens in the penthouse of
the world.
Many countries are just now surviving
their first elections, the fruits of decades
of bloodshed and American intervention.
Between 1985 and 1988, when de
mocratic government was first estab
lished in Guatemala, the percentage
of the population in extreme poverty
grew from 45 percent to 76 percent
according to the U.N. Economic
Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean.
Guatemala is not alone. Studies from
the Nutritional Institute of Central Amer
ica and Panama show that half of Central
Americans live in extreme poverty.
United States citizens are richer,
more free, and, from this elevated status,
more ungrateful than any other people.
Ironically, it seems people have to
contract a fatal disease to be thankful for
life. Some of the most cheerful and
thankful people I have been around are
those who don’t have long to live.
Really, though, all people should be
grateful for the borrowed time on which
they live.
Everyone has problems: Not enough
sleep, not enough money, too much home
work, homicidal boss, uncertain future.
But I remember a teenage kid sitting
in a wheelchair in the aisle of a hardware
store, slight of build and deformed. His
eyes were dull, and his movements were
jerky and slow. The one thing he had is
his four-year-old brother, who stood by
the wheelchair and chattered and
showed him he loved him.
Compared to his life, mine is charmed.
A&M may turn out great students, but
if they have no gratitude, they will be
worthless human beings.
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Mail
Misprint offends,
surprises readers
You guys need to get a new editor.
In the article “Yahoo! - Stanford
benefits from gift” in the sixth para
graph, you guys chose to leave in a
word most professional publica
tions would not print. I don’t see
how this could get by anyone actu
ally doing their job.
I am very offended by this lan
guage and it now confirms my view
that The Battalion is not worth the
paper it is printed on.
Scott Chitwood
Class of’95
I am sad to see you allowing such
language to filter onto your pages.
Michael Hamelin
Obscenity adds
color to article
I would like to commend the ed
itors of The Battalion for choosing
to include the word “f—kers” in an
otherwise bland AP news brief on
page 2 of Thursday’s edition.
This ingenious strategy will no
doubt cause students to take time
and notice articles of The Battalion
(other than those found on the
Op/Ed page) while quickly scan
ning for the comics.
This sets a new precedent in col
lege news media. By challenging
the power of “obscene” words
formed by otherwise ordinary let
ters, the editors of the Batt could
start a new grass-roots movement
to diminish the power of this and
other “four-letter- words”, and
lessen the conservative grip on this
otherwise enjoyable university.
I see the future of the Batt. It’s
chock full of articles written from
the heart, without regard for lan
guage choice. It reads like a Rolling
Stone magazine. Everybody loves it.
Tyler Robison
Class of‘98
EDITOR’S NOTE: In an article
appearing on the Debriefing page of
Thursday’s Battalion, an error was
made that in seven letters jeopar
dized a reputation the paper has
been trying to buildfor several years.
The obscenity, which was ill-ad
visedly inserted by a staff member,
was unintentionally allowed to
make it through to final printing.
The inciden t has not be regard
ed lightly, and serious reprimands
are being taken.
We at The Battalion take our
jobs very seriously and it is because
of irresponsibility on one staff
member’s part that we have unin
tentionally offended many of our
readers. We apologize.
As student journalists, we can
learn from this experience so that
we can make sure the same mistake
is not repeated.