ptember 16,
fuesday • September 16, 1997
O The Battalion
PINION
'J 1 ' : ]Thc Howdy factor
Declining participation in an outdated tradition illustrates need for change
the continuity of A
>ods.
just outside the wal
y. Ras al-Amudoffei ■r owdy, Ags! Oh, those
view of the gold-topi I—-I familiar words ring
e Rock Mosque, oneoi out like sweet music,
t shrines. Well, maybe to those die
lers leased thebuildi iar( j Aggies we all know and
Moskowitz, a Miamil ove
ire who owns 31/2at -pQ ( | ie rest Q f p 0 p U i a
nud and hopes event : j on on campus (and the
Jewish neighborho# 3 i ane t) ( “Howdy” is more like
nts there. ishoutoutat some hillbilly
lers say that Mosb, iquare dance night.
all the homes t! 4 The first time I heard
a from their Arabo, ;omewne howdy>
1 days ago. h™”* j j
How
is say that one of
talking around campus my
still being rentedbt
stairs,
fficials will meetva
fflcials in New York
Mandy
Cater
assistant
opinion editor
'reshman year, desperately
y of eight, all ofw*^ 118 to concentrate on finding Heldenfels
Jisitine friends ati ^ on t ^ le ma P in m Y schedule book. Some
takeover Sundaynii iuge Cor P s senior walked up and barked,
dear what happenet R° wc iy’ ma am -
’s belongings Since 1 had taken the liberty to skip out on the
whole Fish Camp thing, I was not familiar with
he procedure.
-- Assuming he had mistaken me for someone
‘t’O I k( ; * se ' 1 c l' let 'k et i niy watch to see how long 1 had to
LCLLlVulvander to my class. Rather miffed at my un
nowing brush-off, the guy suddenly trans-
i mination to pushf ornie d himself into a boot camp drill sergeant,
u e of a peace elevij m{ j y e n e d ( “Howdy!”
Confused and a little worried that I had taken
he Fort Davis rather than College Station exit, I
aid, “Yeah, hi.”
For some bizarre reason, the word howdy is
mough to send red-ass Aggies into neurotic fren-
... mutual intera
ual willingness toe# . ^
she said unre Q ulte d response to this oh-so-intellec
ual of welcomes is taken as a personal tromp
ws,
ssible trip to LebanL , _ _
decision was made -cross the MSC grass.
ondav on the easts A PP ar ently the howdy tradition has expen-
rus after a flightfrc ince( ^ a P er i°d of decline in recent years. But fret
^ lot, my Aggie friends, a new organization has
icopter to the fortifi mer 8 ecl to rescue the dying howdy,
the Beirut suburt The Howdy Council, an off-shoot of the ever-
ily guardedmotorc -ecessary Traditions Council has assumed this
labda, anothersubu H-important undertaking.
with President E The group has taken the first step in develop-
lariri and ForeignM rig its platform (a requirement of any serious or-
urged renewingpes anization). The message, strong and simple, can
‘Hi —
c. is absolutely essei
iast peace settlemei
1 on all tracks.”
talks "should beat
isuring Syria thatWa
ion into a separated!
s — only to have Da
3rn Irelaii
isterTony Blair and
lister Bertie Ahern
offered Trimble van
lint statement emf
the disarmament of
ro-British parani
"an indispensablep
ions, and any prop
must win majorityf
il within Northern
critical to the U
who were instruffi
ig the predomins
state in 1920.
the negotiating
loliticiansfromfoinf
Adams about thel
s formal renunciatio
dams made
to
the plf
y—a requirement^
> — but the IRAspef
Id n’t agree to the ten
reputed to be afon
inder, insisted Sinnl
anic” connectionto
ther politicians in
skeptical,
ocess would haveb
mgthened if Sinnl
lit that it did repret
id so could delivet
J John Alderdice,let
:, the only party t®
>rt from Protestants*
be seen on the group’s T-shirts (a requirement of
any serious campus organization). The shirt’s
front reads “Howdy,” and the back reads “Save
the Word.”
This powerful statement hints at the impend
ing doom that is inherent with the loss of howdy.
Forget the whales, the seals and Amnesty In
ternational — howdy must be saved.
The Howdy Council promises to develop ac
tivities that will “encourage students to partic
ipate in the howdy tradition.”
For all you red-ass Ags out there, here’s a tip: if
people want to say howdy, they will. If they are
not interested, it is not your problem. Call them
two-percenters if you will, but their decision not
to say howdy is just as important as your choice
to engage in the practice.
Wearing snappy T-shirts and plastering the
campus with placards is probably not going to
change anything.
Try giving out guaranteed parking spaces or
extra Q-drops, and then maybe those evil two-
percenters will be converted to howdy-chanting
yahoos.
If that doesn’t work, then break out the bayonettes.
Can we all take a moment to contact that
planet that often conflicts with Aggieland — we
two-percenters call it reality.
Howdy is a word, not a university require
ment. Perhaps the decline of participation in the
howdy tradition is an indicator that some tradi
tions are in need of change.
I realize that speaking out against tradition at
A&M is like blasphemy, but evolution has proven
a remarkably successful mechanism in the past.
Some traditions are old, some are tired and some
are just stupid.
Rather than rallying cheerful militias for a
“Howdy, Dammit” assault, perhaps we should re
alize that howdy is dying for a reason.
Believe it or not, some people came here to in
crease their intelligence, so pardon them if they
don’t participate in a return to those backwoods,
tooth-picking, banjo strumming roots.
Mandy Cater is a senior psychology major.
BRAD GRAEBER/The Battalion
Carpool lot addition would solve to campus parking woes
T A Tednesday,
\/\/ 9:49 a m -
V V —I’mrid
ing shotgun in my
roommate’s ram-
tough Dodge, as we
search in despera
tion for a parking
space. A student re
turns to her car as
other vehicles
swarm upon her like
buzzards on some
helpless creature.
The parking situation at A&M is
absurd, but this is no revelation.
What’s new is my plea: give us carpool
parking lots, oh divine Parking, Traffic
and Transportation.
The carpool phenomenon is noth
ing new. Dallas, Houston and other
cities around the country have devoted
millions of dollars to enact complex
programs that work. A&M could imple
ment its own carpool program for free,
yet the subject seems to stay on the
back-burner.
PTTS could designate portions of the
most popular parking lots as carpool
areas. This would allow vehicles carry
ing more than one student to park easi
ly. However, this would benefit all stu-
cients, not just those of us who carpool.
If only 40 percent of students car-
pooled, the overall availability of
spaces would increase by at least 20
percent. More people per car results in
fewer cars with which to compete.
This fall, 13,000 commuter student
permits were sold, even though only
8,000 spaces actually exist. (In private
enterprise this is called fraud). This
lovely pplicy was founded on a study of
Zachry lot, which showed that each
parking space has a turnover of three
cars per day, in theory. This reminds
me of the “trickle-down” theory of the
1980s, which sounded nice at the time,
but now we call it the “piss on the
poor” theory.
Tom Williams, director of PTTS,
raised the following points about car-
pool lots:
1) Carpooling is difficult to enforce.
2) Student Government has raised
the carpool lot issue before, yet noth
ing happened.
3) Some students carpool already —
to split the cost of the visitor garage.
4) Zachry lot is scheduled to expand
in the future.
These concerns remind me of
George Bush, who in 1989 said ”We
have a complicated three-way conun
drum at this point.”
I offer the following counterpoints:
1) Carpooling is not difficult to en
force. Simply place a PTTS agent at car-
pool area entrances to count the num
ber of people in each car. Currently,
several PTTS agents guard the card-ac
cess gate at the Lubbock and Coke
Street intersection. We are paying them
to operate an automatic gate system.
This is like having a bank teller operate
an ATM for you. Relocating these peo
ple to carpool areas would give them
something to do.
2) Student Government has raised
several issues before, but what are the
results? You may recall the yell leader
run-off quasi-election last year. We
wanted a change and voted for it, yet
Student Government decided to over
rule the results. Thus, it is our responsi
bility to tell the administration that we
have concerns upon which Student
Government does not necessarily act.
3) When students pay for a parking
tag, they should not have to pay again
in the form of garage fees in order to
find a parking space. There is obviously
a problem when students have to park
in the visitor garage.
4) By the time the Zachry lot is ex
panded, we will be alumni with
grandchildren, and will refuse to give
money to A&M, because as students
we faced ridiculous hurdles in finding
a parking space.
PTTS needs to designate a portion
of each parking lot as a carpool area.
This could be done by placing orange
cones (PTTS is the cone conglomerate)
around certain sections. Then have an
agent at the carpool area entrance to
count how many people are in each
car. That’s it. No million-dollar con
struction, and no years of waiting. This
immediate relief of parking madness is
staring us directly in the face.
Implementing new programs to
meet student needs, however, does not
bring in big bucks like ticketing and
towing. By making more spaces avail
able, revenue (tickets) might decrease,
which would leave the PTTS beast hun
gry. Until PTTS decides to serve the stu
dents, it will continue to bear the label
of Parking Ticket and Towing Service.
I encourage you to make yourself
known. Next time you are waiting for a
parking space, write PTTS a note. Stroll
by the Koldus building to let them
know how you feel, or simply give them
a call. It is time for the PTTS elite to feel
the rumble of the Aggie bourgeois.
John Burton is a junior
bioenvironmental science major.
When grades are focus, students fail
r
As agriculture •
SECRETARY | NEV E|?
ACCEPTED Sim fm
EBUSINESS, AND
ffA ON m WAY TO ,
to miz ml J i
David
Johnston
columnist
make history-
McDonald.
T he chorus has begun. As a pro
fessor begins to write on the
board, his faithful students im
mediately ask the pertinent question:
“Will we be tested on this?” If some
thing should possess the instructor
to say “no,” he will be answered by
the sound of a dozen pens dropping
to the table.
Aggies have lost sight of the rea
son why they are here. Too many
students are more concerned with
their grades than the actual acquisi
tion of knowledge.
It is ironic that the same students who burn effigies
when a fee increase passes rejoice when their professor an
nounces a walk. Considering how much they are paying for
each class day, they should be outraged that class will not
be held.
Many Aggies have lost their focus. Students view each
class as a mere stepping stone toward their degree instead
of an integral part of the education required to earn that
degree. Unfortunately, after four (or six or seven) years of
“stepping stones” students have a degree with little sub
stance behind it. Instead of learning the course material
they have studied the “tricks of the test” from Mr. Bill and
managed to squeak past the minimum requirements.
This situation is similar to many Texas public schools
which teach students how to pass the TAAS test instead of
teaching them actual curriculum. While a large percentage
of students may pass the TAAS and graduate, they are un
able to respond to questions without a No. 2 pencil and a
Scan-tron.
This attitude misses the purpose of education. Instead
of training students for the real world, they are trained for a
two-hour, multiple-choice exam. Here at A&M, many stu
dents are trained for a degree audit.
Students who take classes merely to pass would likely
find themselves doing much better academically if they
were striving to actually learn the material. Every Aggie has
noticed that they do much better in those classes which
they are excited about and in which they have an interest.
Each great American has had the primary hand in his
or her own education. The most successful Aggies will be
those who are not content to merely attend class once
every other week and buy the textbook the day before
the exam.
Students should not be working to please the instructor,
the registrar or even their parents or employer. Aggies
should attempt to meet their own set of standards.
The whole notion of grading on a curve is rather dis
turbing, as well. For some reason, a majority of students
are pleased to know they have done as well as half the stu
dents in the class — even though they have only mastered
40 percent of the course material.
Students should not continue to justify themselves by
pointing out that they are better than someone else. This
is the whole logic behind a curve. Because a student can
outperform almost everyone else in the class, they some
how have earned a high grade. It would be ludicrous to
buy products which are valuable only in contrast to some
of its competitors.
Too many Aggies have set low standards, and they are
living down to those standards. Students should not limit
themselves by only striving for an A,’ but should learn the
course material to the best of their ability.
Aggies should stop settling for mediocrity. Sufficient is not
acceptable. They should instead demand to be the “best.”
Besides bringing themselves to a higher personal stan
dard, Aggies will find themselves putting more effort into
their work, often with better outcomes.
While all students have a responsibility to the taxpayers
who are subsidizing their education, in many cases they
should stop settling for mere As.
David Johnston is a senior mathematics major.