Po
he Battalion
o
PINION
Page 13 • Wednesday, February 17, 1999
noring the fruits of education
Students need to look beyond
grades, embrace joy of learning
Christian
ROBBINS
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grades
have taken im
portance over
learning and stu
dents are sacrific
ing their quest
for knowledge in
pursuit of higher
GPAs.
Is it possible to enjoy learning and
still make good grades? The answer
lies within the problem, which is the
administration, teachers and stu
dents.
Higher education is a huge finan
cial investment. Students invest in
themselves in order to become mar
ketable within the work force and
also to become informed citizens.
Doug Clayton, human resource
manager for GE Capital said, “A col
lege degree gets your foot in the door
,because we know that you have the
will to complete objectives that you
start, but after that its how you per
form that keeps you here. ”
Once students enter the work force
and society in general, they cannot
perform efficiently if they have learned
nothing but how to memorize enough
material to make an “A” on a test
without actually learning the material
or why it is useful in life.
In many curricula, there is one of
two flaws. First, some departments
make the student’s degree plan so
rigorous and structured that the stu
dent cannot take anything outside of
his or her major.
How can anyone become a well-
rounded student when they have to
spend 4, 5, 6 or 7 years in classes that
only pertain to one subject? It is ex
tremely difficult to take a class when
the punishment is prolonged gradua
tion or paying out-of-state tuition.
Von Goethe said, “They teach in
academies far too many things, and
far too much that is useless.”
Departments should keep this in
mind, when developing curricula.
They must realize that in order to
make students marketable, students
must be diverse and well-rounded.
A student may make straight “A”s
in industrial distribution, but when
he or she is in a relaxed business set
ting and someone makes a reference
to famous literature, a college gradu
ate should not draw a blank because
only basic literature was allowed in
their college curriculum.
Teachers are the catalysts of the
classroom. Some teachers have no
choice but to teach toward a test, but
in other cases, there is no excuse.
Many professors have had the same
test for years and instead of altering
the test to fit what their students
have learned; they alter what they
teach to fit the outdated test. The
professors’ lack of enthusiasm is
seen by their monotonous tones as
they babble directly from notes and
in extreme cases directly from a text
book.
Students recognize and rave about
teachers who are excited about a
subject. These are the classes that
stay full when attendance is not tak
en. When a professor is excited
about a subject, most students are
excited, too and class material re
mains the focus, not grades.
Teachers need to give students
credit for making it to college. It is
improbable that any professor would
like to pay thousands of dollars to
hear someone read directly from a
book or piece of paper. Reading a
nice poem, passage or even from the
syllabus for clarification is fine, but
reading from American Government:
Past and Present, 5th edition is unac
ceptable. All college students can
read. Professors have the power to
peak interest in a subject or halt it all
together. In some subjects, open dis
cussion is not possible or productive,
but guest speakers, like a mathemati
cian or an accountant, can help stu
dents learn how the subject pertains
to real life situations.
Students are the most affected and
damaged by putting grades before
learning. Students have the tendency
to forget why they decided to come
to college. Yes, students come here in
hopes of finding jobs after gradua
tion, but why (besides money) did
they want that job? What did stu
dents love about their majors? What
did that love about learning?
There should be no joy in a 4.0 if
there are no thoughts, experiences,
and new knowledge to back it up.
Students can also be part of the
solution by paying attention in class
and not facilitating collective stupidi
ty by asking repetitive questions. But
students must also begin to respect
questions and comments of others
and not become disgruntled when
the class discussion progresses to
something that may be relevant and
helpful in learning, but not included
on the test.
Tests will never be abolished in a
public school and they should not
be, but the material tested over
should reflect real life experience. Is
it possible to enjoy learning a still
make good grades? Yes, good grades
and sincere learning go hand in
hand. The reward for all of the hard
work, money and dedication stu
dents put into a higher education
should not be manifested in a high
GPA, but vast knowledge, experience
and introduction to society as a well
rounded citizen.
Christian Robbins is a junior
speech communications major.
Danel appointed!
?d States Tennis ;
fexas Section.
Science without humanity may spell end for artistic
s well as scientific community around nation, world
MAIL CALL
ay
here is a
growing
danger that
;ience and the
umanities are
rowing farther
nd farther apart.
For example,
ist fall, compos-
r Michael Gor-
Cai.fr
MCDANIEL
senfed fc on Sand librettist
if lattliew Maguire debuted an opera about
flBll ^ aos theor y en tided, appropriately,
Chaos.”
I From the reeling reception the opera re-
eived from music critics, it appears the ti-
j , e says it all. The cacophonous musical
5 /regressions and discordant harmonies
/f-lywere indeed chaotic, if not anarchic, and
tr he subconscious repetition of the libretto
rilled home the central premise of chaos
1 heory — “The movement of a butterfly’s
iring in Beijing can magnify till it sets a
[ansas cyclone spinning.”
At that point in the score, the opera
ayperson might say, “Give me a break.”
4odern mathematics and music do not
ShOW T ^ in ^ S su P erstrin S Theory just
S
rev
{
s Deli
vere not meant to be string arrangements,
tl-conceived operas like Gordon’s and
4aguire’s seem to prove the idea that sci-
nce and art should go their merry ways
nd never the two should meet. Physicists
an stick to quarks and painters can stick
â–  collages. Madama Butterfly should not
>-nlj tomionn ■ m. , . , „ , J
, \ nrioi l W' t0 klck U P Kansas cyclones.
On the other hand, “Chaos” illustrates the
difficult dilemma that art and science find
themselves in at the end of the 20th century.
In a civilization where the arts have always
communicated the central values of being
human, what happens when science begins
to encroach upon those values?
This question is played out on much
smaller levels even at places like Texas
A&M University — what is a science-based
research institution to do about those
pesky humanities?
As abstract or seemingly melodramatic
as such questions must be, citizens of a sci
entific age must face them. As the new mil
lennium approaches, we must be careful to
avoid one of Gandhi’s most timely social
sins — science without humanity.
On its most basic level, Gandhi’s warn
ing reminds us that science cannot be con
ducted without humanity if only because
alone humans delve into science.
In reality, that reminder is what the
opera “Chaos” tried to convey. In the Feb.
14 issue of The New York Times, composer
Gordon revealed the deeper point behind
his score.
“If you don’t know anything about sci
ence,” Gordon says, “you might think it’s
this very cut-and-dried thing.”
The opera instead tried to capture the
“very human, very raw way” scientists
work. “The scientific process is as human
as the artistic process,” he said. “It’s an
emotionally driven, passionately driven en
deavor. ”
In other words, even physics can be po
etry because both are produced by human
beings. But to deify physics and throw out
poetry would throw out the passion of the
scientific enterprise, the youthful exuber
ance of a Bill Nye, the Science Guy. For the
aim of science is not to undermine arts, but
to understand Michael Faraday’s wide-eyed
revelation, “Nothing is too wonderful to be
true. ”
It should be obvious that science with
out humanity would not only be boring —
it would be self-defeating. As science be
comes increasingly theoretical, we must
not allow it to become sterile and static,
because “Science” is not its own self-sus
taining personality suspended somewhere
in the ether — it is something humans do.
And scientists cannot take off their human
ity, their deepest sense of what is beautiful
or right, just to put on their lab coats.
The danger of such a divorce between
science and scientists, however, raises a
second specter that our civilization is just
beginning to fathom. Science without hu
manity would also mean science uncon
strained by ethics and morality.
This danger grows more real by the
decade, and hopefully its worst realities
have already been lived out by the Nazi
scientists who conducted torturous experi
ments on human babies. Our moral dilem
mas with science may not be as salient as
the inhumanity of the Nazis, but just be
cause they are more subtle does not mean
they are less important. An age of genetic
engineering and environmental issues rais
es human questions that cannot be
punched into a calculator.
When confronted with these human is
sues, science cannot scoff at Pascal’s sug
gestion that knowledge of science will not
be as helpful as knowledge of God in times
of moral distress.
Science’s attempts to find ethics in evo
lution or morality in the theory of relativity
have ranged from the ridiculous to the in
sidious, and it is high time that human val
ues be reassigned in the scientific sphere.
To hear some scientists talk, one would
think that a human’s only obligation is to
his or her genes. Scientific reductionism
has begun to reduce morality to math.
To rant about such dangers now may be
a bit premature. But the spooky images of
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World may not
be so imaginary. If science leaves humanity
behind, the future world will not be a nice
place for humans to live because it will not
be human at all.
On a practical level, perhaps the most
we can do right now is refuse to let our
academic communities teach science with
out the humanities. Small steps taken now
to protect human values and norms from
abridgement by science can reap great re
wards in the future.
Even though modern science may be
more remote from the average human un
derstanding, science is still, above all, a hu
man project.
And science without humanity is chaos
indeed.
Caleb McDaniel is a sophomore
history major.
Clinton removal
trial not “circus”
In response to Manisba Parekh’s
Feb. 16 opinion column.
The Independent Council did
not “fail” and the GOP is far from
“trained monkeys.” For all the per
sonal attacks against Ken Starr,
no one disputes his findings.
Even some of Clinton’s most loy
al defenders acknowledge that he
committed perjury and quite possi
bly obstruction of Justice. These
are felonies, and it saddens me
that a robust economy and an apa
thetic public can save Clinton.
He was not prosecuted for pri
vate sexual behavior, but for violat
ing an oath more than once, and
enlisting others in the fight to ob
struct justice. I am thankful for
those who stood against the pre
vailing political winds and decided
to do what is right.
Jonathan Jones
Class of ’02
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