ursday • October 23, 1997
The Battalion
roadcast news
AMU limited to FMcable due to dishonest motives, unethical practices
Texas
j A&M
i radio
I on,
of-
* diverse
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|OHN
Burton
columnist
ncy rather than the current
I cable” designation,
a fact, about seven years ago,
dU 's dream of an FM license
near fruition, but Brazos
aity radio station, KEOS, pre
ted that possibility,
he plan was simple enough:
rdipr to comply with Federal
nmunications Commission
dations, KAMU formed a
rdjof directors to oversee
stalion. The membership of
board was shuffled a few
esjand eventually evolved
t “Brazos County Education-
adio.”
“'his entity consisted of A&M
lents and staff with the
“purpose of creating an inde
pendent alternative voice for
the Bryan and College Station
community” (at least that is
what KEOS said).
Although they get bonus points
for saying “alternative” and “com
munity” in the same sentence,
their spin on the history of Brazos
Educational Radio is skewed.
Do not get me wrong — I am
not complaining about the con
tent of KEOS radio. As a long
haired Aggie, I enjoy the variety
of music they offer. Listening to
the program, “Blues on the
Move” (featuring the loopy Cajun
man), is the best radio entertain
ment in the world, next to laugh
ing at Rush Limbaugh.
The real history is that Bra
zos Educational Radio was in
tended to be a force to get
KAMU a license. After all, it was
originated by A&M students
and staff. Engineering surveys
were conducted and paperwork
was shuffled, but something got
lost in the process.
That something was KAMU.
It seems that too much au
thority was delegated to too few
individuals in Brazos Educa
tional Radio, and as singer Steve
Miller almost said, “They took
the license and ran.”
As Chris Hamilton, a KAMU
disk jockey, said, “Kommunist
Eccentric Operating System,
also known as KEOS, is our ene
ma. We had to bend over and
take it.”
KEOS, which proclaims com
munity involvement and a chal
lenge to overbearing media, ob
tained the license that was
intended for college radio. Peo
ple who might challenge this by
saying KEOS is more profession
al than KAMU are at George
Bushian levels of “not getting it.”
Was this whole saga illegal on
KEOS’ part? Probably not, or le
gal action would have occurred.
But let us get to the meat of the
coconut: for KEOS to portray it
self as a champion of progres
sive thought and music, yet ob
tain its license in such an
ethically questionable manner,
is wrong. The loopy Cajun man
would probably agree.
John Burton is a
junior bioenvironmental
science major.
ork ethic, desire to achieve virtually nonexistent today
Dan
Cone
columnist
"Ms seldom
H;yyhen I find
.myself without
i opinion on a
ibject. I have
ale it a goal in
J||o know as
ucli about as
any subjects as
Inti interesting.
This coda, as it
. has made the
)servation of
ry one subject rather prohibitive,
iie movement from idea to idea
tclusive! iuses problems when trying to come
ajconclusion on a topic. In short, I
rastinate. This is not a new ail-
eht . I have suffered from this sick-
jss since I began school.
Junior high was the first time that I
?e| had to take home books and do
orE that challenged me. This admis-
oii is not impressive, it points to a
aiing deficiency in the public school
'stfem. Texas’ public schools have
seh deficient in their instructing of
'and\
young children.
The recent focus has been on high
schools and their graduation rates
and achievement test scores. The
problem with that view of “catch 'em
on the way out” has made it prohibi
tive for bright young students to excel
throughout their education. Those
who are challenged from the begin
ning are more willing and able to ap
ply themselves to their schooling and
their careers.
The faster a child can learn to focus
and apply him or herself to a subject
for a long enough period to master
the subject depends on how knowl
edgeable they are of their ability to
study and prepare properly.
Students who have not faced chal
lenging work from a young age are at
a disadvantage to those children who
have previously faced homework.
Challenging work for younger chil
dren is difficult because it takes spe
cial attention for a child to reach their
full potential.
It starts with the home, and with
parents who instill work habits and
standards. This has been lost to the
Nintendo generation. The latch-key
kids have grown up and we are find
ing that we are being handed a world
that is not of our making and liking,
but will soon be entrusted to us.
Those who have gone before us
shaped their generation and the world,
and now it is becoming our turn. Un
fortunately many of us have not expe
rienced the stability of family which
has distracted and embittered many.
Besides the home, school is the
next most important factor that pro
vides development skills to achieve
success. Children raised with smart
children will tend to be better off.
Competition drives everyone, even
kids. Some schools have capitalized
on this by offering advanced classes
to their brighter students, but it is un
fair to label children at an early age.
Some develop less quickly and might
benefit from the exposure to a wide
variety of their peers.
The most important factor is to get
enough teachers in classrooms to allow
for more personal attention. The teach
ing profession has, in the past four
decades, declined in stature for those
exiting colleges and universities. With
the lack of pay and training, the profes
sion draws less and less qualified indi
viduals. The result is a depleted labor
base of lower skilled individuals.
Finally, kids have to have some
sense of incentives to want to go out
and work hard. In a society that has
become cynical and frigid about
much of our world, we give ourselves
no reasons to want to work. Today,
here is a large problem with freeriders
and hangers-on.
Our welfare state has produced citi
zens who pass the buck too often and
too quickly. It has become easy to
blame someone else and get away with
it. Part of the process of learning is fail
ing. It is necessary for those who want
to get ahead to know what it is like to
fail. If an individual does not learn how
to handle defeat with dignity, then he
or she is never going to succeed.
The problem with this factor is that
for many, it is not until they reach the
college and university level that they
are forced to work at their full poten
tial. Having to learn time manage
ment and proper study skills is not
something an 18-year-old college
freshman needs to be facing.
It is true that there are many won
derful and challenging public schools
in Texas. The caliber of students at
this university and other schools in
the state point to many bright and tal
ented young people who will soon
take the world by storm.
For others, however, failure and
disappointment will be the only thing
they will learn. Some will not survive
the academic year, others will barely
get by. For the first time ever, many
will have to rise above their procrasti
nation and find a way to succeed. If
they fail, they will learn what it is like
to dust themselves off after a loss.
Dan Cone is a junior
economics major.
IIail Call
mguage on pots
jould not offend
n response to Tim Dewees Oct.
\Jail Call and others who are
etat people who take ojfense to
language on the Bonfire pots.
guess it is my turn to get my
i cents in. First, I am going to
that I have never been to cut,
ive never unloaded and I have
,er stacked, r
| To those of you who might
read this and think I am full of
crap and do not know what I am
talking about, that is your opin
ion, now here is mine.
I could care less what people
write on their pots. It does not of
fend me nor anyone else who is
close to me.
This view would change in the
future when a younger person is
with me, whether it is my chil
dren, cousins or other family
members who are around five or
six years of age.
Is it going to be the people who
have “screw this bitch” or “Girls
with big tits do it better” on their
pots who explain what it means to
elementary schoolers? Kids are
eventually going to pick up that
language, but not at five or six.
To Timmy Dewees, who said he
wanted to check the mental ca
pacity of those who get so upset
at “a hat or other inanimate ob
jects.” I have seen people around
campus who are going to or com
ing back from building Bonfire.
You should see how upset they
get when they come across an
anti-Bonfire sign. I have seen
them throw mud and rocks at
windows and yell out why they
cannot understand why an Aggie
would write such a thing. Do they
get the electro-shock therapy, too?
Eric Nelsen
Class of ’98
Crude Bonfire pots
not found in history
I am writing this as an Aggie
with a long maroon and white
blood line. My father was a
member of the Class of ’45, and
my brother Class of ’76.
My love for Texas A&M was
unconditional, until now. Be
(Jtebxtb/ldi
It BKote m.
lwd speed record .
SOUMD BMiWER!
B&jy vt£
cause of the vulgar display of
profanity on the “pots” at Bon
fire, and the continued defense
of this action by saying it repre
sents “free expression” and “tra
dition,” I am now ashamed to
call myself an Aggie.
There is a long tradition of
putting words on the pots. The
blatant displays of obscenity
and profanity, however, have
caused the “Spirit of Aggieland”
to sink to new lows. This was a
pointless, immature display.
Your careless disregard for com
mon decency is ruining some
thing special.
What shocks me even more
is the continued defense of
these actions as part of the “Ag
gie tradition.” I can guarantee
that my father, brother and oth
er members of my family who
proudly call themselves Aggies
would not have condoned such
actions when they were at Texas
A&M College (now University),
and would certainly not con
done such actions now.
I have spoken to other
prominent old Ags in the com
munity and they have assured
me that they will not be taking
their grandchildren to Bonfire
because of this.
Individuals who have spoken
out in support of this practice
are trying to defend the inde
fensible. Just look at yourselves
in the mirror and ask, “Would
my parents be proud of the
‘pot’ I am wearing?” In the
years to come, will you be pre
pared to explain what those
words mean to your own young
Ags when they want to see what
A&M was like?
Many old Ags bring their
children to the Fightin’ Texas
Aggie Bonfire. Would you want
them to see this? No matter how
“red ass” an Aggie you are, this
behavior is unacceptable. Even
if you are in your grodiest
grodes, there is a thing called
class and those who defend dis
plays such as these pots obvi
ously have none.
A&M may be the greatest
university in the country, but it
does not exist in a vacuum.
Other people can and will see
this and develop their opinions
of this institution based on the
thoughtless actions of an im
mature few, and those who con
tinue to defend them.
Kay Wettemann
Class of ’86
Battalion abuses
newspaper position
I would like to pose a few
questions for people to think
about amidst all of the commo
tion over the “profane” Bonfire
pots. If The Battalion is such a
highly acclaimed college news
paper, why not report on mean
ingful state and national events
instead of matters such as this?
It seems as if the only reason
why the pot issue was brought
up was because The Battalion
could not come up with any
thing better to write about. This
is a pretty pathetic reason.
If The Battalion likes to take a
liberal stance on most issues,
why is it wasting paper (trees)
on this issue? For those who
have written these articles or at
least agree with them, how
many times have you been to or
participated in cut or stack?
My guess would be none, yet
you will still claim Bonfire as
something you took part in
when bragging about it to your
friends at UT, and when you
watch it burn.
Why should it be any of your
concern what people put on their
pots and their clothes? After all,
this is a free country, is it not?
It seems that the only people
who think what is on the pots is
sexual harassment or assault
(using these terms in an ex
tremely far-fetched manner),
never actually go out and help
build Bonfire.
This is the fourth Bonfire I
have taken part in, and not once
have I ever heard anybody say
that they find the pots offensive.
As usual, it seems The Bat
talion has blown things way
out of proportion and taken
things (quotes included) way
out of context.
In the Tuesday editorial, you
state that you are trying to pre
sent the “truth,” when in fact,
you are presenting the “selec
tive truth” — selective in a way
that you seem fit.
My last question is: why does
The Battalion write articles
such as these? Instead of at
tempting to upset as many peo
ple as possible and split up as
many people as possible over
some issue that should be the
least of society’s concern, why
not try to motivate people and
bring them together in order to
benefit society?
The key is to use your posi
tion, do not abuse it. I just
thought I would bring up a few
thought provoking questions.
Trip Franty
Class of ’98
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