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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1997)
The Battalion ^er 22,15 '•> 8- ds up 1-Oi ;ton scored 1 take con; i l-for-13i o the mi , and Gut final season thi number to antral is ;ames. londay • September 22, 1997 ie bases it! | naged to agwell andij BI singles i liomercut; at Brad Alt! n in the sen tbled inatio Affirmative action scrutiny iggravates American society pinch hit ie fifth ini eouts sinct 34-1 a Si Heath John Lemons columnist twas one of the uglier media circuses in recent memory. Charges of racism, calls to oi baseh y CO tt class and even a protest er, is 2-loi Jby the Rev. Jesse Jackson rrounded the comments ade by University of Texas i w School Professor Lino TflfK k ia a b° ut minority groups. In the aftermath of last Jek’s dramatic events, affir- ptive action is once again on e minds of the public. As Falcons (0; ;se recent events show, it is a virtually p N ect ihat cannot be breached without causing nsiderable trauma. Wliile affirmative action offers a ance to increase the fortunes of under-represented ttj norities, it offers little peace of mind for Americans. Graglia made his comments at the announcement anew student organization, Students for Equal osal, compl? Is, wideouts; wd had a ons for 85w had a 24-i San Francitf P or tunity, for which he is the faculty advisor, junts on ssessionsial “Blacks and Mexican-Americans are not academ- illy competitive with whites in selective institu- ns,” Graglia said. “They have a culture that seems t to encourage achievement. Failure is not looked on with disgrace.” In a statement released last week. Graglia said that comments were taken out of context and miscon- 1 passes foilued. He also said that he regrets the incident, down. IGraglia said, "I realize now, especially after being Orleans tolled by some cordial Mexican-American and was a paalackparents, that it [the comments] were careless- Bates tooilput, and I regret it.” md-10 frowIndeed, while the comments were ugly and ignorant, d across tdfctfv were taken out of context. Graglia made the com- jre Hastiliients in response a reporter’s question of whether the utting the ip in performance between white and minority stu nt! quarter. its on standardized tests was “cultural or genetic.” Nonetheless, to attribute the difference in per- mance on standardized tests between whites and norities to cultural differences is a gross oversim- fication of the problem. It is a problem that owes ite F • 695-1321 Vvallable Internshi Your Engagement i Headqum )t more to socioeconomic status and history than loes to culture. The problem with attributing a cause for this gap Derformance is that it is a dangerous question to .As Professor Graglia learned, it is a question only safely answered by awkward silence. The long accepted solution to bridging the gap in experiences between whites and minorities has been affirmative action. For the past three decades, affirmative action has been the dominant means of leveling the playing-field for all ethnic groups. Un fortunately, it also has been a bitter pill for many Americans to swallow. Many non-minorities consider affirmative action to be reverse discrimination. Some minorities feel that it is demeaning to recipients because it lowers their performance expectations. There is a lot of anger surrounding affirmative ac tion today. Graglia’s comments offer insight to this anger. Consider where the comments were made — at the announcement of a club formed solely for the purpose of opposing affirmative action. But, why does UT need an organization that opposes affirma tive action? After all, it was the UT law school that was ordered to stop affirmative action programs by the Hopwood decision. Affirmative action at UT is dead. Creating a student group to oppose it is overkill. Furthermore, the United States is in a catch-22 situ ation — as the existence of affirmative action angers some people, its removal only upsets others. Ten months ago, Californians approved Proposition 209 to end state-supported affirmative action. The controver sial law touched off a fire storm of criticism and debate culminating in a protest led by Jesse Jackson (sound fa miliar?) at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Affirmative action is on shaky ground these days. After being completely repealed in California and par tially in Texas, surely it will suffer loses in other states. Over the next years, as it is debated, affirmative action will ignite more episodes such as the Graglia debacle. While three decades of affirmative action programs have done much to move the United States toward racial equality, they have done little to relieve racial tensions. Affirmative action is not the overall cure to equality, but a jury-rig solution to the United States’ racial problems. As the Graglia episode shows, people who are willing to speak their minds on the subject should expect to get burned. That is a trend that affords Americans little peace of mind. John Lemons is an electrical engineering graduate student. Encouraging boycotts misses point of a higher education David Johnston columnist L ast week Jesse Jackson and about 5,000 t-sips protested a University of Texas law professor. The in structor, Lino Graglia, made re marks about the academic abilities of minority students. While Graglia’s defenders and opponents argue over his statements (and cannot even agree on exactly what he said), no one has criticized the pro testers for the way they are voicing their complaints. Everyone has opinions, and most people have a few views that do not make much sense. As people grow and develop, they should be allowed to hear oth er opinions, defend their own and, as the need arises, change an opinion or two. Most people grow up har boring a few biases, but as they mature, they should shed them. By applying rational thought and gaining a better understanding of the world, false stereotypes should be eliminated from at least the well-educated. The university environment is a wonderful place for students to come into contact with conflicting views and gain confidence in their own beliefs. When students are exposed to foreign viewpoints, they broaden their minds and begin to understand their own beliefs better. Students should be trained that an unpopular opinion is not necessarily wrong. When Galileo announced his theory that the earth revolved around the sun, it was hardly politi cally correct. His opponents insisted that he recant, and they refused to examine his scientific evidence. If a law professor insists that minority students are academically inferior, his opponents should de mand an analysis of the facts. His statements should be held to scientific scrutiny, and they will either fall or stand on their own. Instead, protesters complain because Graglia’s remarks are socially unacceptable. Many notions are socially unacceptable, but an idea is not wrong just because it is outside of the so cial norm. Hopefully many of the students currently winding through college will one day present chal lenging ideas that are unconventional. When these students watch displays such as Jesse Jackson’s in Austin, they will be too intimidat ed to espouse their out-of-the-mainstream notions. Tomorrow’s Galileo will be afraid of Jesse Jackson and thousands of chanting students. Students should witness as scholars evaluate a state ment’s value on its merit — not on its acceptability. In the case of Graglia’s remarks, instead of merely la beling them politically incorrect, he should be present ed with scientific studies that soundly refute his claims. Protesting an unpopular opinion is a poor prece dent, and it sets a bad example for our future leaders. After Jackson condemned Graglia, he urged stu dents to boycott the instructor’s classes. This pre sents even more problems. Students should never be encouraged to boycott Graglia’s class. These are mature students who are not likely to be warped by the opinions of a profes sor. Instead, class members should be warned to be alert and be encouraged to evaluate Graglia’s views on their merit or their basis in fact. Boycotting a lecturer has several drawbacks. Once the monitors have left, there is no telling what he might be gin to say. The few students who stay behind might hear awful fallacies, but no one else would ever hear about it. A class boycott also sends a message to students that they do not have to listen to objectionable views. While many rights are guaranteed in our constitution, freedom from offense is not one of them. Everyone will work with disagreeable people from time to time. Bosses, coworkers and family members will eventual ly do something irritating. Maybe they cannot get along with other people, maybe they harbor stereo types or maybe they cannot match their socks. Life is full of offenses — from racism to being cut off in traf fic. Each situation should be handled appropriately. The university setting is a place where students should learn how to think. They should be taught how to develop their own views and how to evaluate the views of others. Jackson is teaching students to judge people’s opinions by how well they tickle their ears, not by whether the facts are correct. College campuses have traditionally been a place for new ideas and critical, rational thought. Jackson is try ing to turn it into a place full of closed-minded critics. David Johnston is a senior mathematics major. ublic education system fails students with racial barriers red" Company ships" - one of Ip programs sales compenstf In fact, 2W . earned over • ‘97 graduate* 327-3868 10) 490-3133 109) 846-0668 tis no secret the education gods at Texas A&M are ving trouble cop- with a post-affir- y T. r ' f “" ! s '^ ve action Texas, is year, African- terican enroll- nt dropped 23 rcent and His- nic enrollment 15 percent. While Texas A&M sident Ray Donny Ferguson columnist ociety. ASC wen attempts to blame the Hopwood cision, affirmative action backers fail realize the problem with racially dis- rportionate enrollment is caused, not the government’s failure to engineer ocially diverse university, but by a led public education system. While Bowen is correct in noting, “A di- se student body is critical to ... high ality education,” true racial equality d educational excellence will never be lized until America privatizes the edu- ion system and parents are given true iool choice. The reason that A&M has few minority students is because poor, mostly minority, students are being cheat ed out of opportunities by an oppressive, incompetent public education monopoly. One out of every four Texas children live in poverty. These inner-city school- children (who are mainly Hispanic and African-American) are held hostage by radical so-called “teachers’” unions more obsessed with big salaries and bigger gov ernment than they are with nurturing young minds to greatness. Education ex pert Mario Fantini notes, “For many black and Puerto Rican parents, the teachers’ unions now represent the enemy.” Teach ers’ unions and public education are such colossal failures. Of the 55 percent of Americans who support school vouchers for poor children to attend private schools, most are poor, black and female. Simply put, the public schools most minority children are forced into are light years behind the private schools more af fluent white children attend. Inner-city public schools suck up ridiculous amounts of taxpayer money, only to churn out illiterate, unprepared students. Despite what certain University of Texas law professors claim, African-American and Hispanic students are more than competitive with white students, unfor tunately their schools are not. The public education system fails to prepare minori ty students for a college education. It is no secret that private schools do more with less than do public schools. While Texas spends an average of $6,000 per student on public education, the av erage tuition for a private school is un der $3,000, a number that will drop when public schools are abolished and competition increases. The privatization of education will amount to a $316 billion tax cut. The yacht club crowd may not notice, but a South Dallas family making just above the poverty line could use the money to send its children to a reputable private school. Under the public education system, poor children are forced to attend the local public school; rich children can go to pri vate schools. Public education is inher ently elitist and racist. If education were privatized, an esti mated 16 million children would need some financial assistance (most private schools offer scholarships to poor chil dren worth close to $1,500, or 50 percent of tuition). If only eight percent of the $316 billion tax cut from education priva tization were donated to private school scholarship funds, all poor, inner-city mi nority children could attend the same private schools as rich white children. Chances are that more than that amount will be dedicated to education. In 1993, $126.2 billion was donated to chari ty. From 1994 to 1995, another $12.4 bil lion was donated directly to colleges and universities. In 1994, the private sector do nated $24.9 million in private scholar ships, fellowships and partnerships be tween schools and businesses where firms donated equipment. Money and services more than tripled from 1983 to 1998. The immense fundraising success of al- ready-existent school choice programs is more than evident. When a Milwaukee judge shut down the city’s wildly popular inner-city school choice program, over $1.6 million was raised in only 10 days to keep Milwaukee’s disadvantaged children in pri vate school. The privatization of education is not a question of whether minority chil dren can attend better schools, it is a ques tion of just how overachieving will they be. The best and only way to ensure a racially diverse university is to give all students a quality education. Public schools fail miserably at that task. The bloated, wasteful, oppressive public school system cheats Texas’ poor, mostly minority children, out of a quality edu cation. When public schools are abol ished, the iron grip of teachers’ unions over pay and curriculum is shattered and all children are sent to better-performing private schools, true racial equality can be achieved. As Professor Ben Chavis, a Native American instructor at San Fran cisco State University states, “Choice (in education) empowers, and empower ment eliminates discrimination.” In the 18th century, America pio neered the idea of libertarian statecraft. In the 19th century, America dedicated herself to westward expansion and in creasing global influence. The 20th cen tury saw America emerge as an economic giant. America should dedicate the 21st century to educational excellence and racial harmony. The first step in that di rection is the abolition of our racially op pressive, failed public education system. Donny Ferguson is a junior political science major. Mexican-American students are not as competitive in selective schools as white students. The proof to support his statements is evident in the number of minority students attending Ivy League schools, or even the numbers at our own university after the Hop- wood decision. Graglia did not state that mi norities are less intelligent than whites, but that many mi nority families do not strongly encourage superior academic achievement. If Michael Jordan were to say that Asians generally are not encouraged as children to de velop the skills needed to com pete in the National Basketball Association, and thus are sel dom seen playing professional basketball, he would not be racist, but simply be stating the truth. So why should Graglia be persecuted for doing the same? Michael Sawilowsky Class of ’01 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: 1111 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.