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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1998)
The Battalion onday • June 1,1998 pmiori (he marriage diploma students should strive pd Texi ?shmar ; Carlos] Hy Cu ] 4-6 art NCAA 1 'hursdai Itadiort air S63SS 'd ini to get their senior ring instead of a diamond ring V \ /- April Towery opinion editor "hen my mother was my age, she was mar ried and had babies ... OK, but when my mother was my age, she rolled her hair on orange juice cans and wore lime green polyester pant suits. The feminine mystique may be over, but society still pressures women to find a mate in college. If a woman doesn't make it out of college with a ring on her fin ger, she is destined to become an old maid. For years, women have deter mined their self-worth to equate whether they have boyfriends. They can be beautiful and intelli gent, but it doesn't matter — they still feel useless if no one wants to marry them. Sure, plenty of people get married while they're in college because they're in love and mature enough to juggle school and married life. They take classes to gether and earn their degrees. More power to them. But then there are these dumb women who come to Texas A&M and major in the subject that comes most naturally to them (it doesn't matter if they're interest ed in their major, because they'll never use it), and seek the "MRS" degree. They stick around until the prospective husbands finish school, then they drop everything to get married and have babies. You know the type — they come to class in their cutesy little outfits wearing bright red lipstick and flirting with the boys like high school seniors seeking prom dates. My advice to these women is grow up. Maybe they would make better housewives than lawyers or ac countants. And I'm not saying being a housewife isn't a full-time career. It is, but it's also a career that does not pay. Let's face the facts. Stay-at-home moms work hard — some put more time and effort into their jobs than women in the corporate world do. But women have to stop putting all their eggs in one basket. What if their husbands die? What if their families go bankrupt? What if their children go off to school and they get bored of cleaning and cooking all day? We're in school to get an education, and we have to prepare for our future as though we're going to be supporting ourselves. The fact you scored a date with a football player your sophomore year doesn't mean jack when you are 35 years old and have only a high school education. And guys don't help matters much. They know about these dumb women, and they date them any way, and lead them on, all the while knowing mar riage isn't even a possibility. There is nothing wrong with getting married. There is nothing wrong with having babies. But there is something wrong with attending a major university for the sole purpose of finding a husband. Very few men go to college looking for a wife — they are condi tioned to believe that college is used for getting an ed ucation, preparing for the future and ensuring they will be able to support themselves. And maybe the dumb little cutesy girls haven't fig ured it out yet, but most guys want to marry an intelli gent woman who can think for herself. Sure, they may take the busty blonde to Midnight Yell, but they're not taking her home to meet Mom. Proving you can cook, clean and have babies is more likely to scare the prospects away. Times have changed, and even though many of our parents met while they were in college, it doesn't mean we have to do the same thing. Since when did everyone want to be like their parents, anyway? April Towery is a senior journalism major. EDITORIAL (Ci ritics target children shooters , nee again, a school cam- jpus has been rocked with gunfire, and, once again, : pundits lave jlBrched atop \[ jfleir high B>rses and |g, 'ffeve begun TMsigning trtlame. And, Irei- ike the vic- s of those | W lootings, 1,181 |e victims | six 1 lo Chris Huffines columnist the talk- g heads d analysts ie being viciously, callously de- oyed for no other reason than |ey are easy targets. What has first been forgotten I the shooters in almost every ■sehave been children. These liildren, like all children, did not ■iderstand the consequences of hat they were going to do. They oceeded forward so compe- ntly because they are not stu- d, but they did not commit urder—none of these children alized they were going to actu- fly kill anyone. After the shooting came the aw- [il realization that their classmates lad died, by their own hands. The insequences became real. |3 Mitchell Johnson, one of the is* Wsboro shooters, has been ask- f xgfor his mother and saying 'Verand over, "I'm sorry. I'm sor- y, I didn't mean to hurt nobody. I ^ver meant to hit anybody." Suddenly, this is no longer a Ante. These are children. These Shuman beings. These are not ’Vets that have been manipulat ory a callous, uncaring world into acting like monsters. Enter the talking heads. Pun dits, commentators, whatever you call them, they boil down to ego, a mouth and an audience willing to be lulled. But, if these children have not been evilly influenced, why have the pundits and critics lashed out so viciously at their at their own set of victims? Because people are more likely to believe an easy lie than a difficult truth. The truth is there is not a single causal factor. There is not a single root cause for these children's crimes. There was only an unnoticeable, silexit series of steps that eventually spiraled down to the madness the whole world has lapped up eagerly on CNN. And what lie is easiest to swallow than the one already shoved down our throats by countless action groups before. Don't believe it? Look at the criti cized issues. Violence in television and movies has been criticized. The increase in violence in movies and television has mirrored the in crease in violence in society. How ever, this does not prove a rela tionship between the two. One did not cause the other. After all, it can quite conclu sively be proven that the more fire trucks called to a fire, the more damage the fire causes. Is the an swer then to send only one fire truck to each fire, because the fire trucks obviously cause the in crease in damage? Or is the an swer to look at the truth and real ize the relationship between the damage and the number of trucks, as well as the relationship between violence on television and violence in America, are caused by some other factor, as yet unidentified? Another victim of the talking heads is gun control. The ratio nale is the availability of guns is leading to these shootings. Of course, while the commentators have answered the questioxi of, "What?" they have never an swered, "Why?" and "How?" be cause there are no answers. The pundits say the guns help create the violence, but never point out why or how the relationship ex ists or works. This is what those in the communications and gam bling industries call "bluffing." This is talking big with nothing to back it up. But, with the recent emphasis on gun control, it is easy to tack another crime onto the list. Now, before our own talking heads here in Aggieland get into things, the issue here is not vio lence in the media or gun control or any other issue that has been blamed for these shootings. The opinion being put forth is that the American public, the individuals who have lived half-truths and propaganda for years now, need to exhibit the maturity needed to discriminate rationally between fact and fantasy. Jump off the bandwagon and think for yourselves. There is no excuse, and there will be no ex cuse for our children, for letting others not only think for the pub lic, but using that power to make them believe their misinforma tion. The American public is being spoon-fed sugar-coated lies — eventually they will eat them from within. Chris Huffines is a sophomore speech communications major. The Battalion Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorials board members. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, re gents, administration, faculty of staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors. Editorials Board James Francis Editor in Chief Mandy Cater Managing Editor April Towery Opinion Editor Amber Benson City Editor Cruise Control College Station City Council should take into account the concerns of students as well as neighborhood residents In their second attempt to curtail traffic woes for res idents of Munson Avenue, the City of College Station decided Thursday to close the street indefinitely at Do- minik Drive. The decision comes after a flurry of complaints from residents of Munson Avenue concerned with the preservation of the neighborhood's "small-town character." However, this decision shows evidence of partial ity by the council. College Station is anything but a small town today. With a population of more than 58,000 full-time residents and upward of 42,000 Texas A&M students, the city has grown exponentially in recent decades and must evolve with its changing en vironment. The council's decision was based heavily on a peti tion signed by 41 families citing their desire for the per manent closure of Munson Avenue to thru traffic. The requests of 41 families pale in comparison to the more than 3,000 motorists who use the street each day. And the wants of a few must not overshadow the ne cessity of many. Munson Avenue is the center of a growing network of neighborhoods that includes not only permanent res- idents, but also homeowning students and rental prop erties. These citizens, who by contributing to College Station's economy through taxes and expenditures, de serve to have their needs evaluated with equal consid eration by the council. While the neighborhood residents' safety concerns are legitimate, the council has already has taken more than appropriate steps to reduce traffic volume and de crease traffic speeds. The massive speed bumps and nu merous stop sign additions have already have decreased average daily traffic counts from 8,000 to 3,250. With construction on Texas Avenue nearing com pletion, the council should take a conservative stance concerning action on Munson Avenue. It is likely that motorists using Munson Avenue as an alternative to Texas Avenue will return to the thoroughfare as con struction allows. As its final action, the council formed a committee to solicit the opinions of those living in the area to find a permanent solution to the problem. The council would be best suited to solicit the opinions of not only the vo cal neighborhood association, but also the tacit majori ty who voice their opinions not by signing petitions, but by using the street daily. HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION 48 ''/a Cl 'rm m
