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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1997)
The Battalion 2, 1997 Thursday • October 2, 1997 School zone College students ignore rules of respect and value of education in classes TATmeAg- V V gies, tances re- mony of 56 : Anna Foster columnist eek, Gittins r aiounring y v gies> t as flirasC ;\ggi es are we As Ide to each other “'^lAggiescanbe.- , f l "j Itishoped that iortheevi-i . . ^ time a stu- anation of . . ;nt reaches col- ge, he or she will ive learned a s also saidj to g ortwoabout rt included 1!endin 8 classes - of evidence like what to )f the com-^ en f° r i n class, what notes to take, ises.” ihat kinds of questions to ask and how , on Capi- fen to go are things most students fig- 3 and Sen. reout fairly quickly. Supposedly by the s agreedtoJne students reach college, they are e Army’s^odels of classroom efficiency, imand in Pictures of college classrooms full of ex scandal ndents doing things such as these are a training ten presented to high school students deenProv- iinspire them to attend college. Im- ges of students writing furiously in otebooks while simultaneously looking trigued and intelligent lead unknow- Igteenagers to believe in the apparent lophistication and maturity of those id. 3rs ,S. to market' nent. ith Korea! ales of fori that 1 pet cet. ustry hal Korea am) of the adj Super 311 rich it tat' d to harl ill barrier] rets, a, Canadr an Unioi illegedunl college students. The reality is quite different. College students barely pay attention in class, much less look intrigued or intelligent. Especially in large lecture classes, there is a tendency among college stu dents to project an attitude of utter in difference to their surroundings, includ ing the learning environment. Students sleep, eat entire meals, read the paper and even have conversations while their professors are talking. Along with making participating in class difficult for other students, the greatest injustice is to the professor. These behaviors are not only distracting for a lecturer, they are just plain rude. Students often forget to consider that their professors are people, and do not think twice about exhibiting behavior while their professor is talking that they would never do while listening to someone else. It is acknowledged that for some students, class is the only time during the day that they are sitting down long enough to eat anything, and many professors do not mind students eat ing in class. Discreetly eating a pop- tart is unlikely to disturb the professor or surrounding students. Getting up during the middle of a lec ture, crawling over all the people in the row, and leaving the room only to return three minutes later, soft drink and bag of chips in hand, is a different matter entirely. Not only is the disturbance of the au dience rearranging itself distracting, the opening and closing of doors disrupts the concentration of every person in the room. The subsequent noises of opening bottles and tearing into bags, as well as the noise from putting the trash away are only added distractions to an already disrupted class. There are other ways students are rude to their professors. Although read ing the Battalion is highly recommend ed, reading it during the middle of class in full view of the prof is a little extreme. Only a few professors will actually ask students to put away their newspapers; most tolerate the insults in silence. Students should at least pretend to pay attention to the lecture, otherwise, attending class is a waste of students’ time and money. Anna Foster is a junior journalism major. Population increases demand education, proactive programs E John Burton columnist urf ompletei be valuei d $6.5™ l be aboii| American] inesday. stin’s set employeij any isvalj illion Dell want! whatevel "said Fetf vyer. hael Df| pay moq le of 3ther tiij -aised Of 5 fair mat' Idsellfotj ention ii was coni' The Dell! ct says 81 appraisal r, granite imestonl )edroonis| jarters lalfbaths] nmercial' ise room] idoor lap! lore thanp xt largest 1 is easilyl r built in tatesman Dells sa)| placed /alue" onj iss of fait] ,er forttio) at theap' irate. Ap' lowed on| iwspapet asonatfe lertyant d,” Cot)’ lell’s con it at tb appraist nit beini :hey wen let coun operty 1 e-famfe valued aj ;e annuq 3. very time your heart beats, three more ba bies are added to the world’s popula tion. This means that by tomorrow, about 242,000 more people will share the earth’s resources with us. The population of the United States has grown from about four million in 1800 to over 263 million today. In 1995, our population in crease was more than double the rate of other industrial ized nations (no, Pat Bucha nan, this does not include immigration). According to Bureau of Census projections, the Unit ed States population will in crease from 263 million in 1995 to 345 million in 2030, with no stabilization in the near future. Other institutions (the gov ernment is not always right, as you know) predict a popu lation of 507 million by 2050 -almost double the current population. Imagine the challenge of finding a parking space at A&M in 50 years. On a global scope, the United Nations projects worldwide population will double from the current five billion to 10 billion in 2050. This exponential growth will result in 694 billion peo ple on our planet by the year 2150, which makes me won der why the family values po lice do not address this issue which will affect our grand children. Currently, students at A&M are educating themselves for this future dilemma. Most de partments, from agronomy to zoology, realize the need for proactive population pro grams. Courses in bioenvironmen- tal science, geography, renew able resources and agricultur al economics empower students to face the problems that loom ahead. Of course, even students in other majors realize that peo ple need food to survive. Daniel Huckaby, a senior meteorology major, said, “In nature, growth is a temporary thing. Sustainable growth sounds neat, but we don’t have the resources to grow forever.” Dr. Jane Magill, professor of genetics and biochemistry, said educating the world’s cit izens is important. “Improving literacy almost always leads to decreased birthrates." She said that new tech niques in satellite television allow low-cost education to people in developing nations. Some people — bless their hearts — say that a popula tion problem is “alarmist.” They claim that more peo ple result in more specialists for solving the problems we face. This trickle-down theory just won’t work. Currently, one out of five people on the planet do not have basic survival necessi ties, and a doubling of the population will not help. For those who cry “we can have as many kids as we want to,” I offer you this: limiting individuals from doing what ever they want — in order to protect the freedom of others — is the basis of most laws in modern societies. The most obvious solution to over-population is family planning programs. Contraceptive techniques that are safer, less expensive and easier to use in poor health conditions should be developed. Ideologies that discourage better family planning indirectly result in suffering and death of many women and children. An in teresting irony is that ideo logues who claim family planning programs are im moral often see no moral conflict in building more fighter bombers. The population explosion is no longer a distant threat. In our lifetime, we shall see dra matic changes in population policies and personal lifestyles. As future leaders, we must acknowledge the long-term effect of everything we do. Concern for creation as a whole, rather than the arro gant human-centered outlook should be of great importance in secular — as well as reli gious — ideals. Those who refuse to accept this challenge in the name of ideology should check into the Home for the Terminally Literal-Minded. John Burton is a sophomore bioenvironmental science major. tOcfeilicIl utm Mail Call Public schools deserve support In response to Donny Ferguson’s "Public education ...’’Sept. 22 column: I guess anything goes on the opinion page of The Battalion these days. Having read Fergu son’s recent attack on public school education, it is evident that there is no need to worry about getting the facts straight. There were so many unwar ranted conclusions in the column that I won’t try to list them all. I don’t know what his credentials are, but I graduated from Texas public schools, and all four of my children have attended them. (One has just graduated as a Na tional Merit Scholar). I have served on the school board for over eight years. Ours is a diverse district in terms of ethnic and so cioeconomic make-up. My experience has been that the vast majority of Texas public school teachers and administra tors work extremely hard for rela tively low pay with admirable ded ication to the students. His cost figures of comparing public and private schools ignore bilingual education, special educa tion programs, free bus transporta tion, free and reduced lunch pro grams and many other programs which add greatly to the per-pupil average cost in the public sector. Our district and many others focus extra dollars on prekinder garten programs, mentoring pro grams (in which many Aggie stu dents volunteer their time), and additional technology for schools with a high number of at risk stu dents. Many children who would not even be admitted to a private school are finding success. The more I learn about public schools (and I am still learning), the more I am convinced that they deserve our support. They are not perfect; some have serious prob lems; but they remain our best hope for the future. I don’t know where Mr. Fergu son went to school before college. I can only hope that he soon learns somewhere that his freedom to ex press himself, especially in news paper columns, carries with it a re sponsibility to be accurate and fair. C. David Stasny Class of’74 President, Bryan School Board Column unfairly blasts Democrats In response to Donny Ferguson’s "Democratic bumblings ...’’Sept. 24 column: As if this country, or this cam pus for that matter, needed more coverups or secrets, Ferguson’s column is typical of the majority of Aggies on this campus. Ferguson’s column depicted several examples of inept, im moral and illegal politicians, all of which just happened to be De mocrats. Convenient, isn’t it? The truth is, these kinds of politicians can be found in either party. For example, let’s look at the king of illegality, former pres ident Richard M. Nixon, or even Speaker of the House Newt Gin grich. Both of these people lied and covered up their indiscrepancies. Gingrich also tops the list of im morality as he delivered divorce papers on his soon-to-be ex- wife’s death bed. Or, need I remind you of the Texas politician out of Carthage who was found with a prostitute? Perhaps Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole can tell us all a little about campaign finance reform. After all, he has received the two largest fines for viola tions in political history. But, we always have a way of forgetting about stuff like that, don’t we? As citizens, we are critical of all our leaders. We have the right to be; but what if they were to be critical of us? I mean, we are the ones who elect these people. And, we are the ones who are too busy to vote or too lazy to get in volved in the grass roots and do something about the real prob lems facing this country. We are our own worst ene mies, and as long as we tolerate ineptness, immorality and ille gality from ourselves and our leaders (of either political party), we deserve what we get. On another issue, to read Fer guson’s column, one would think that the Democratic party is in to tal disarray, which is far from the truth. The Democrats, while suf fering losses in the 1994 midterm elections, came together in 1996 to re-elect President Clinton and gain some seats back in Congress. The Republicans are the party of ethically inadequate candi dates who suffered splintering following the 1992 convention in Houston and the 1996 freefall to ward the presidency by Dole. Fer guson’s column simply typifies the rhetoric and media attacks of a party lacking conviction, courage and common sense. Misty A. Hataway Class of ’98 Speech misses student experience The remarks made by Mrs. Scardino, the British CEO, quoted in The Battalion apply just as much to any U.S. citizen as they do to the U.S. government. As the only self-proclaimed su per power left in the world, you have a responsibility towards the other members of the world community and have to exercise it with knowl edge and wisdom. May I suggest a way that can help TAMU’s leaders not be “inward looking” as Mrs. Scardino outlines. TAMU must have many gradu ates working overseas — I met one in the computer lab the other day who will shortly be leaving for an over seas posting. 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: H IT Rax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu i5 4 97 Why not invite one of those al ready established to write short ar ticles about their experiences? How they cope with foreign customs, manners and lifestyles - the diffi culties they encounter, they laughs they share. I am sure the Alumni Association would have contacts with overseas graduates. Thus, you would widen the horizons of current students. David Speary Post graduate student Football program generates revenue In response to Michelle Voss’ "Pass ing the pigskin” Sept. 26 column: The headline to Voss’ column suggests that “football scores big with ridiculous amounts of fund ing and fanatical support.” We thought that Voss and the rest of the student body might get a kick out of understanding why Texas Aggie football is so big. Al most all of the money used to support all of A&M’s athletic teams comes from football. Each sport raises meager amounts of its own money from ticket sales, concessions, etc. But the fact remains that the bulk of each athletic team’s budget comes from revenue donated to these teams from revenue in duced by the football program. The revenue induced during the 96-97 season, solely from the sale of football tickets, amounted to approximately $9.3 million. The football program was also able to raise an additional $11.5 million from other miscellaneous sources, such as radio and televi sion rights, the 12th Man, suites, promotions, concessions and media guides, just to name a few. That’s right, the athletic depart ment (mostly football) was able to raise approximately $20.2 mil lion during the 96-97 season. Voss should realize that al though she does not possess the cognitive ability or the desire for thoroughness to properly research her opinions, it is nonetheless true that the football program is almost solely responsible for the survival of athletics at Texas A&M. Voss should be aware that col lege football is big business in every aspect of its being, and that art and music programs simply are not. Until music and art programs can induce a comparable amount of support, revenue and exposure for A&M, they will always take a backseat, as they should. Jason R. Fort Class of ’98 Loren Leblanc Class of ’00 I re ver ted of ad- DUt 5lp 8.