he Battalion
O
PINION
Page 7 • Friday, February 5, 1999
—Depressed by the printing press
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ad). This rates:
get an addition
led to end too.
\Aodern books embarrassing, repetitive
T he conventional wis- 1
dom has it that read
ing is somehow bet-
r tlan television.
Reading is seen as a de-
^ anding but rewarding type
mental exercise while tele-
sion is regarded as nothing
ore than mind cancer.
T1 is viewpoint is a highly
eali/.ed view of literature 1
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Brendan
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)OMMATES at | s sa dly ou t of date in the modern world. The
' ctis modern American literature has become as
and and shallow as the worst television pro-
i snas’mo bm . r
.' , ^ : r To be fair, the decline and fall of American lit-
at|re can largely be blamed on television (and
.1 in :• >pilar culture as a whole).
The last 25 years have seen the publishing in-
Preterably
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isjtry come under heavy attack due to the prolif-
ation of television, movies, popular music and
r en computers.
Faced with a society that had entertainment op-
ms other than reading, the various publishing
_jmpanies desperately sought a new weapon to
-T&ra iri- st:ore ^eir fading profits.
Tlieir solution to this problem of disappearing
maud was Dilbertesque in its ingenuity: They
;ck|pd to raise the price of books.
With books now more expensive and so many
ore distractions being readily available, the
ily way to guarantee book sales was to appeal
the lowest common denominator. The pub-
...ded a.»»P • , . , . , \
obo . ;hing companies soon zeroed in on what peo-
e wanted and gave it to them — again and
;ain and again.
Tqm Clancy, Michael Crichton, John Grisham
id Stephen King would be called upon to write
,ommate'~^e same book every year. Self-help books,
i. w/d. $2i2.5<yr 'lebrity autobiographies and Imbecile’s Guides
Tying Shoelaces would cover the aisles of
l a * ap - 2 “™, ’ery bookstore.
all Enc ,;764'5'-- ;
Irm 2balh boose
as Call 764d’ii
lew motxla Ixxne.
es 8234)381.
Uri S21250/n»
n bedroom. E-mi
-ryr Today, it appears new paperback books are
r S^HwSe-it merally given a shelf life of about a month
695-0680 idieceive little advertising support. Even es-
sERVICES bllhed authors find themselves under im-
ense pressure to yield enormous profits or be
ished aside and forgotten.
Most publishing companies are content to fall
ibte for you toborc ick upon their reliable blockbuster authors whose
yn at The Party B 1 - S;
>b com/invifatiorsW
books are familiar to the American people and will
sell on name recognition, regardless of quality.
In other words, the publishing companies
are behaving just like the movie and television
industries.
American literature has clearly been dumbed
down. The same industry that once produced the
works of such giants as Samuel Clemens, J.D.
Salinger and John Steinbeck is now reduced to
trying to provide intellectual enlightenment
through Deepak Chopra and the collected poems
of Jewel. In and of itself there is nothing wrong
with this — the publishing companies can hard
ly be blamed for doing what is necessary to in
sure their own survival.
And while their mass-produced books are not
particularly enlightening or thought-provoking,
they are usually entertaining which is what the
public seems to want (even if this is the same men
tality that leads to movies like Armageddon and
television like “Friends” getting made).
At any rate, if people are actually willing to buy
these books, they deserve what they get. What
makes this situation so annoying is not that liter
ature has been taken over by mediocrity, but that
so many people continue to deny that this has hap
pened.
Instead, these people hold an artificial rever
ence for modern literature, giving authors like
Danielle Steel and Robert Ludlum the respect that
was earned by authors like William Shakespeare
and Leo Tolstoy.
Even today there are people who will actually
claim they would rather read the worst book ever
written than watch the best television show.
If those people watched more television maybe
they would realize that the “Simpsons” is more
creative, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” has a more
riveting plot and “Dawson’s Creek” will do more
to build your vocabulary than almost any book
currently in print.
Perhaps literature once deserved to be respect
ed above all other forms of art and entertainment,
but these days it is just another business.
Enjoy it for what it is but do not expect more
from it than from any other form of popular
culture.
Brendan Gdy is a senior political science and
history major.
GABRIEL RUENES/Thk Battalion
TRAVEL
IVER. ANGEL FIRE ®
. sleeps 16. S125-&V-:
ying addicts to get sterilized good way to reduce crack babies
ongratulations, it is a
three-pound, six-ounce
baby with underdevel-
jth Padre Island, TO' 9 '
is. Best Oceanlrort
r anleedl! (800)9854
?sed vital organs.” While no
rp about spring teat
udentadvantagecor ctor or nurse would announce
- r' nec )ab V’ s b i rtb i n this exact way,
rIGHT L0S1: s sat | scenario gets played out
Meiqht warned: aCrOSS this na hon
. Doctor recommendsoen a substance-exposed baby
rate! Call 279-9899 boiTl
According to the Department
Demond
REID
i HertJs N^Fadws'Health, there have been approximately 800,000
mgy level. •Decrease bstance-exposed infants born every year since
ntormaS U 69M786 9 5, and less than 20 percent of those babies go
^me with their mother. The other 80 percent have
> a l petitions filed against the mother and are
ced in foster care.
wen pay youtc f statistics like this have caused the debate over
a offer. Call now!! , . . , . , , , • ,
>w to stop the increasing number of drug-addicted
bies in this country to sprout faster than a mari-
fcna plant saturated with Miracle-Gro.
i Big Brother has tried to combat this problem of
ug-addicted babies by attacking the source, name-
the drug trade. This is a nice try. The U.S. Govern-
snt’s war on drugs has been a bigger flop than
<J /KIN/
SPRAY IN
Kevin Costner’s Waterworld. Acknowledging the
government’s inability to do anything about the
problem, Barbara Harris proposed a radical yet very
good idea. Harris started the organization Children
Requiring A Caring Kommunity (C.R.A.C.K), which
offers drug addicts money to get sterilized. Given
enough time, this organization will prove to be the
magical sword that slays the beast of drug-exposed
infants.
This concept of paying drug addicts $200 to get
sterilized is surprisingly good because it hinges on
the simple fact that drug addicts need money. The
state of California has been offering free tubal liga
tions to drug addicts for quite a while, but when an
addict is living crack pipe to crack pipe that offer
means very little. Two hundred dollars to non-ad
dicts means the equivalent of 40 grams of happiness
to a crack head.
The cost for taking care of abandoned drug ba
bies falls onto the American taxpayer. Abandoned
drug babies are coined “million dollar” babies be
cause the medical cost for one leap frogs across the
million dollar line.
According to C.R.A.C.K. the typical drug addict
has seven children. Now if the decision is between
$7 million (a million dollars per baby) absorbed by
the American taxpayer and a $200 nip and tuck,
somebody call Dr. Cut ‘em Up and tell him to sharp
en his scalpel. That choice is not exactly a Catch-22,
now is it? The situation is like deciding to spend $5
on Janet Jackson’s CD or $50 on Latoya’s.
Up to present,C.R.A.C.K. has had 37 paid steril
ization clients. If it is assumed that each one of
those clients was at risk to have just one baby, then
C.R.A.C.K. has saved the taxpayers $37 million .
Thirty-seven million. That is almost enough money
for a special prosecutor to hound a president out of
office for getting a little “congressional service” in
the Oval Office.
C.R.A.C.K. has taken the concept of the rights of
the unborn to the next logical step. They are advo
cating the rights of the unconceived. Every zygote
should be given the right not to be conceived inside
of a mother who will get them hooked on drugs in
the womb. Face it, on the Grand Old Birth Defect
Preference List being born addicted to crack ranks
right below being born with only three fingers and
right above being born with a foot growing out of
your neck.
As with any simple solution to a complex prob
lem, C.R.A.C.K.’s approach has been met with some
opposition. A main contention against the organiza
tion’s method is the finality of it.
The opponents of C.R.A.C.K believe the individ
ual may one day turn their life around and should
not be enticed to make long-term decisions while
they are under the influence of the drug, since get
ting mixed up in drugs was just a “bad decision”
they made.
No. Smoking crack is not a bad decision. Wearing
a paisley shirt with plaid pants is a bad decision. In
sulting Mike Tyson’s mother to his face is a bad deci
sion. Smoking crack is insane. If a person decides to
sell their reproductive rights for a $200 signing bonus,
they do not deserve any playing time for the parental
all-star team. In fact, they should not even be allowed
to watch the game.
C.R.A.C.K.’s solution is a better alternative to the
game Uncle Sam wants drug addicts to play. Grant
ed, drug addicts have rolled doubles for the third
time, but rather than sending them directly to jail,
C.R.A.C.K. allows them to pass Go, collect $200 and
find a crack house somewhere on Baltic Ave.
Demond Reid is a sophomore marketing major.
Y TRUCK-F
S American school systems need major changes
101 779-!
liege Station . , . .
ation as Housed^ weeping educational
preforms are long over-
'■✓due in America. Our
,lture and level of technol-
y have made the current
ucational system obsolete
d have led to many criti-
»ms of the system.
One of the major criti-
(;ms about the American
v ucational system is that
ALL
ANT
199!
Luke
SAUGIER
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/E YOUR
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does not adequately prepare students for
eal life.” This would be an easy problem to
:if “real life” were the same for all people;
ifortunately it is not. The “real life” future
liege students need to be prepared for is the
fficulty of college courses.
However, for the 70 percent of Americans
ho end their formal education at high
hool, real life includes the need to learn a
ide that will support them and enable them
retire comfortably.
At best, it is difficult for one school to ac-
I . , sL*-1 l_y w O L j 1 L 10 Ut x JL1.1 LA A L JL v_/ L LA 11 \Z O L^ x x LA LA 1 l LA Cl L^ —
KING SEN mplish the task of preparing both groups for
^BOOK e wor ^. and the deteriorating social and
lysjical environment of many high schools
b* akes it truly impossible.
E CENTER According to The Center For Education Re-
sID ACADEf' 011 ’ American students rank in the bottom
qiTTiMpc 'e of 21 industrial nations in mathematics
bl 11 Nib- 1C | L c j ence . 25 percent of all 12th graders
ored below what is considered basic ade-
lacy in the reading portion of the National
O-12'OO ANf» sessmem Educational Progress test.
ftiFn TJ 16 brst ste P towards reforming America’s
iaj-o 183 hclols is to establish a national educational
riON.
standard for material to be learned by the end
of the eighth-grade year. This way, all students
would be taught the same material and could
be ranked fairly. A test would be given to de
termine whether students have mastered the
material.
Upon passing the national test, students
would be finished with their required school
ing. Any student who fails the test would be
required to attend special education classes
until he or she could pass the test or was
found to be incapable of passing.
Students who pass the test would have
three options. First, they could end their edu
cation and immediately enter the work force,
which would be discouraged by the same kind
of “Stay In School” campaigns in use today.
Another option would be to attend a voca
tional school, which would cover the basic
subjects now covered in high schools. The vo
cational schools would also help students
choose the trade they would like to work in af
ter graduation and teach them the skills neces
sary for that trade.
A third option would be to take another
test that would be significantly harder than
the eighth-grade graduation test. Upon passing
this test, students would be allowed to enroll
in a college preparatory school.
Currently, according to The Center For Edu
cational Reform, one-quarter of all mathemat
ics courses at public universities are remedial
courses. The prep schools would cover more
advanced material than is offered in most
modern high schools in order to prepare stu
dents for a college education and allow them
to enter college without the need for the
amount of remedial courses that is common
today.
Other areas of the school system would be
affected as well. Attendance would be option
al at the vocational and prep schools to make
it clear to students that they are in class of
their own freewill for the sole purpose of
learning.
All schools would be on a full-year system,
under which students would have four, three-
week breaks throughout the year. This would
eliminate the “startup” and “shutdown” time
that now exists before and after summer
break.
Some things would be the same; all high
schools, junior high schools and elementary
schools would be free and people of any age
could attend any school.
However, under this new system, education
would be seen as a privilege, not a right. Dis
cipline would be rigid and violent or illegal be
havior would result in permanent expulsion.
Through this system, America would con
tinue to produce world-class leaders, scientists
and artists. Perhaps equally importantly, it
would continue to allow young people to ex
plore their interests.
Yes, this new system would not be fair to
everyone. It would, however, be unfair to few
er people than the system in use today since it
would not try to fit every student into the
same educational mold.
Luke Saugier is a sophomore petroleum
engineering major.
MAIL CALL
Students respond
to abortion debate
In response to Christina Barrow’s
Feb. 1 opinion column.
Knitting needles, Q-tips, Drano
douches, drinking plant poison,
coat hangers..all methods of ille
gal abortions. The fate of the
woman who uses these methods
is much worse when the proce
dure and much too often is death.
Due to the Hyde amendment
(which denies women federal
Medicaid funding for abortions),
parental consent laws, mandato
ry waiting periods and lack of
clinics performing abortions (84
percent of all counties offer no
abortion services) illegal abor
tions will occur.
Is your friend, your girlfriend,
your sister going to end up dead
or physically scarred because she
could not afford the time or money
involved in a legal abortion? She’s
less likely to because of organiza
tions like Planned Parenthood.
Jennifer Woodson
Class of ‘01
In response to Manisha Parekh’s
Feb. 1 opinion column.
It is horrible that a few “pro
life” supporters made the wrong
decision and resorted to killing,
but it is important to point out that
all pro-choice people support
killing.
If abortion had been illegal, I
am sure that one-third of our gen
eration would not have been
wiped out.
It is not appropriate to place
the responsibility of another
woman’s pregnancy on the shoul
ders of those who care about the
children.
The majority of pro-life sup
porters are marked by compas
sion and seek to preserve life. I
know many mature pro-lifers who
would provide a good home for
an unwanted baby of any race,
rather than having them burnt or
mangled.
Sara Gauthier
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:
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E-mail: batt@tamvml.tamu.edu