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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1997)
Wednesday -June 25, 1997 O The Battalion 'PINION - the pregnant stomach of America onspicuous circumstances surround deaths of babies bom to irresponsible parents leniorprom. For most higli — . . yond these, there are condoms, g, nTIll leniorprom. For most high tschool students, this apex /marks a footstep toward the e, the last big blowout be- ethe end of an era. Normally, leworst case scenario would dve going stag or showing up Ithesame dress as someone !,But, as Bob Dylan said, Hie times, they are a’changin’.” I Garden Manor catering hall ([Freehold, New Jersey is ere the story took place. Seniors and lirdates enjoyed the ambiance and igledwith friends in the dimly lit im. Melissa Drexler, 18, danced with date and inconspicuously disap- photjeared into the women’s restroom. Min- eslateron the dance floor, Drexler was fain in the arms of her companion, iighing with fellow promgoers. t Meanwhile, a shocking discovery was iingmade by a custodial worker just mm the hall. In the pristine bathroom of (banquet hall, a 6-pound, 6-ounce new- om boy was found dead in a trash bin. The minutes Drexler spent alone in lerestroom have aroused a great deal [speculation. Police are currently in- fstigating the scene to determine how (baby, who was alive during the irthing process, mysteriously died. Unspeakable questions loom. This in- fstigation is a haunting reminder of mother New Jersey young people ^ (hose story shocked a nation. Amy issberg and her boyfriend, Brian Pe- Samlrson, were indicted for the death of "pled heir newborn earlier this year. Both of these accounts should be un- linkable today. After all, there are viable iptionsto having an unwanted child, and)’feenage parenthood, not necessarily «elcomed with open arms, is not un- leard of today. But maybe being a teen parent is not the right answer. Couples icrossthe nation await the birth of ba bies to adopt, and thanks to Roe v. Wade, Even abortion is a legitimate possibility at Americans today. M,let's back up for a second. In this sgeofAIDS, birth control is available rerpv/iere. It is not as if unplanned iregna/icies have to be a reality — pre cautions can be taken. Dozens of contra- tptivescurrently exist on the market, in- siding birth control pills and permicides. These devices are readily , fairly reliable and cheap. Be- Mandy Cater Senior psychology major ve the eagtie picl by a yond these, there are condoms, which all sexually-active teens should ideally be using anyway. And they’re easy enough to find. Simply walk into a local phar macy; condoms are as varied as bubble gum brands. If all of these products are ac cessible to the public, including teenagers, babies should not be discovered in trash bins. Drexler’s case, now officially con sidered a homicide, simply acts as an illustration for a more far-reaching problem. American teenagers face a con servative backlash to sexual revolutions and rebellions of their parents’ youth. Baby Boomers are rousing their min ions to return to “family values.” Sex is again a hushed word, and education on the subject is staunchly opposed. Par ents keep their lips sealed at home, and when schools try to fill the void, parents protest. These are not exactly America’s apple-pie days anymore. While family values carry some legitimate messages, these values are the ones which sparked the rebellions of yesteryear. Yes, it would be nice to know that preaching to kids about abstinence would work. Unfortunately, this tech nique does not do the job. Just as kids fall asleep during church sermons and biology class, the same applies here. Wake up, America. Teenagers know about sex. They are inundated with in nuendoes and imagery from all direc tions. American teenagers are having sex, will probably continue to have sex, and anyone who ignores this reality is simply blind. This is not Donna Reed’s America; this is the America of “Melrose Place,” “Roseanne” and “Baywatch.” What teenagers need is real educa tion about sex. They need to know the realities of pregnancy and reproductive choices. If they are sexually active, they need to know what a condom is and how to use it. They need to know how to protect themselves from AIDS and oth er sexually-transmitted diseases. Most of all, they need to know that sex in the real world is not as glamorous and easy to deal with as it is on television. The conservative rhetoric prominent in our country is doing nothing but widening a generation gap already a chasm wide. Preaching about the moral ity of sex only makes teens feel ashamed Vr' cSCX responsibility sef responsibility i m & s>eH seK m &CX- sex sm ^ sex se>$eH $e ;vtrx <?<&& £ OTONSIBIUTYJ .4 , 3SS«Eac«af ***** sex 0 n$ibilii ^ resHMUIMMiy ■j, — it does not stop them from having sex. Being embarrassed only encourages teenagers to keep quiet and try to deal with problems on their own. When any person feels backed into a corner with nowhere to turn, desperation often is the result. When we alienate teenagers, we force them to take desperate measures. Don’t take these written words wrong, because this column is in no way advocating the actions taken in the Grossberg-Peterson case (and possibly the Drexler case). Flowever, an individ ual cannot go without asking why these teens felt so trapped. People must won der where their parents were and why they were oblivious to the swelling stomachs of these young women. ass«B»a«c The fact that these cases are tragic is undeniable but not just for the obvious reasons. These babies did not have to die, and that is certain. These young people did not have to destroy their lives, either. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that these teenagers felt their unthink able actions were the only solution. If these cases tell us anything, it is that teenagers are getting skewed perspectives on sex and how to handle its aftereffects. No, it is not comfortable to talk about sex, birth control or especially the sexuality of teenagers. Parents and educators being tight-lipped about the subject only brings about ignorance and misinformation — in the aforementioned cases, tragedy. Teens must be educated about pro- N4. ■■ Graphic: Brad Graeber tection and conception. It is a life and death issue. Parents teach their kids about the dangers of drugs and hanging ' out with “the wrong crowd,” but pretend that sex is a non-issue. If these parents do not want the respon sibility themselves, they should not protest when the educational system steps in to take over. Let teenagers know that con doms are out there; provide them in the school health offices. Anything and every thing must be done to ensure that tragedies such as these do not occur again. This is the bottom line: It is better to send teenagers to college for four years with a pack of Trojans than it is to pro vide them a police escort to jail with a life sentence. done ii the lain, sveffi 0, a! kveii' picl goe I'lls less lain It hi Educational standards must improve to raise student potential S tudents in the United States are do ing horribly compared to students in other industrialized nations when the need to be competitive is most wgent. According to reports by the De partment of Commerce, one-third of our gross domestic product is related to foreign trade, and our trade deficits are higher than they have been in the histo- ryof this nation. With the reality of in ternational trade in this economic envi ronment, students need to be on par with their future economic competitors. A study published in U.S. News and World Report shows that students in Japan, Germany and France spend 100 percent more hours studying math, sci ence, geography and history, and a full 50 percent of their students take advanced exams, compared with 6.6 percent in the U.S. Not only is there a higher num ber of students taking these exams, but their passing rate is eight times higher than that of U.S. students. Out of a random sample of 1,000 students, there would be 165 advanced graduates in the aforemen tioned countries, and only three in the U.S. This comes out to a 5,700 percent higher success rate. This is phenomenal. It is astounding how the American edu cational system, once the envy of the world, has let itself slip into this sad state of affairs. The public school system as we know it was set up in the midst of the In dustrial Revolution in order to give stu dents knowledge necessary to work in a factory — basic reading, writing, and arith metic skills. Steel mills and textile factories were sufficient in the past, but in today’s manufacturing world of computers and jet aircraft, a more advanced education is required. Not to be critical, the three R’s still are very im portant, but simply not enough. The problem lies in the fact that, although the world students face upon graduation has changed drastically in the past century, the public school sys tem has not. Most high school graduates have diffi culty balancing their checkbooks, and the good-pay ing manual labor jobs of our parent’s generation do not exist today. “Joe Graduate” is left high and dry. The reason all this has been allowed to occur is hard to pinpoint, but a few ideas come to mind. Some assert that what is needed is an infusion of more money into the system. Hogwash. Statistics from the Department of Education show that, combining primary and secondary spending, per-student spend ing in the US is 45 to 67 percent higher than the in ternational competitors who surpass us in perfor mance. Perhaps the distribution of money is a bit skewed, but that is another matter—the money is out there. If the parents knew how badly their children compare to peers in other countries — and how the resources are available to change this — some thing would get done. It is puzzling that most stu dents in the U.S. do not receive the sort of tests which would let a parent know where his or her child stands with the children of the world. This is yet another example of a self-serving bureaucracy trying to save its own hide. Many are proposing officials wire schools into “the Net," that incredible invention which millions of pubescent students use for “self-exploration” of their sexuality. The money spent on computers and Internet service for each desk would be better spent on improved classrooms (i.e., no leaky roofs) and advances in the salaries of teachers, who are among the lowest paid in the industrialized world. Sure, the Internet is a wonderful medium for the free flow of thought and ideas, but high school stu dents need to learn geometry and physics. These things can be taught best by a human being who can interact with students and understand what they are going through. A computer cannot under stand the fear and confusion of not knowing what is going through a teacher’s head, nor can they un derstand the thrill and exhilaration of that moment of enlightenment, that moment of perfection when an idea becomes clear and real to a student. A revolution in education is needed for the United States to catch up with the rest of the world. The answer, however, cannot be found in computers or standardized tests. Educating America only will be achieved through dedication to teaching our children to excel and achieve SO, CAN W p. m perp ? Mail Call ‘Sexual perversions’ provoke evaluation In response to James Francis’ June 23 column: I think you might have a differ ent opinion if you had been forced to write a column outlin ing the positive and negative as pects of your argument. The fact that sexual acts are considered a perversion in this country is a testament to the fact that we are ignorant, not directed toward our ineptitude at dealing with society’s ills. You point out that the place ment of Adult Video is possibly inappropriate, but I must ask you where it would be appropri ate. No children have any cause to be in that area, unless they have started staying at the La Quinta or renting U-Hauls. Are you implying that the store be moved to a seedier part of town or would you rather it be located in the traditional highway setting where newcomers to this area would be greeted by a truckstop environment of pornography? And as for the advertise ments, I have to ask you this: If the American society did not want those advertisements on the air, don’t you think they would change them? The facts show that market forces drive market decisions. If the demand was removed, so would the supply. As a business person, you provide what people want. As for trying to change the view of sexuality being labeled taboo on television and print media, I ask you to get some ref erence materials about sexuality in European countries. It is a proven fact that fewer deviant, sexual acts occur when sex is not considered perverse. I will conclude this letter by offering a simple statement: If having sensual or sexual innuen do become mainstream helps to prevent another one of my friends from being raped (staffs-’ tics show that one in four col lege students are raped), then I L will do everything I can to make ; sure that the American public : gets “exposed.” Thank you for your column . and I hope insight might be raised by a fruitful discussion and examination of both sides o£- this argument. Rachel Preston Graduate Student The Battalion encourages letters to the ed itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in clude the author’s name, class, and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: till Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu For more details on letter policy, please call 845-3313 and direct your question to the opinion editor.