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O PINION
Page 5 • Thursday, July 29, 1999
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Let’s go back
Anniversary of first moon landing causes reflection
In global benefits of making another lunar voyage
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Mark
PASSWATERS
1
845-264?
the Fall:
if the Apollo 11 mission which put
men on the moon, and Eileen Collins,
wlm is the first female commander of a
■ssion, commanding the space shut
tle Coftzmbra.
■inadvertently, this coverage has il-
taaled NASA’s glory days and just
jv far it has fallen from that level.
■The landing of Neil Armstrong and
I Bwin “Buzz” Aldrin on the moon was
■ greatest achievement in human his-
|«y.
■Colonel Collins is the first woman to
y ■nmand a mission, and with the ex-
—ception of the fuel leak during liftoff,
Pis is the only portion of the entire op-
—nation that is receiving^ny publicity.
■ NASA’s projects in general have be-
-ft 116 bland and repetitious and cannot
iidld the imagination of the American
|ople.
IA good way to regain that attention
fid do some good for the world in the
■cess is to once again take a trip
C interested from the Earth to the moon.
Ir fop ■ There are complaints that NASA’s
oudget, which is already less than a
fjuarter of what it was in 1981 (adjust-
■ for inflation), is too high and that
what they are doing has minimal bene-
fitfe for society. People who are of this
■lief may have good intentions but do
not realize what benefits society could
repp from further space exploration.
I With the economy in as good a con-
p nnep dp<;iMW' on as ^ currently is, now is the time
^ ‘ To bite the bullet and reinvest in what
could be our future.
H Floating around on a space station
■ Earth’s orbit is not exactly news any
more. When the name Mir is floated in
Desk
ist
Desk
ier
conversation, the comments are no
longer statements of awe or interest,
but of laughter. An international space
station is a cop out to appease those
who are not thinking for the long term.
The most enticing reasons to go
back to the moon are scientific. While
American astronauts have already
made the journey, the amount of data
that they were able to obtain was limit
ed. Now, with our advances in technol
ogy, it would actually be cheaper and
easier to maintain a lunar program
which could truly benefit people on
this planet.
Scientists have long speculated that
the moon was once actually part of the
Earth that was blown off during a cos
mic collision.
“The landing of Neil
Armstrong and Edwin
'Buzz'Aldrin on the
moon was the greatest
achievement in human
history."
If this is indeed the case, learning
about the moon could help us learn
about the geology of this planet. NASA
has already experimented with super
conductors in zero gravity to see if
their efficiency in space would be
greater than it is on Earth.
What might happen if such experi
ments were tried at one sixth of the
Earth’s gravity? Perhaps materials that
still exist on the moon but not on this
planet would actually be faster at trans
ferring electrical impulses than those
that we are currently using. The only
way to know is to go back and run ex
periments.
There are also possible direct bene
fits for human beings as well. It has al
ready been documented that one
Barry bruises
Sanders' retirement shows disregard
for former teammate Reggie Brown
n ur
K
WEBB
pound of a material found on the moon
(an off-shoot of plutonium) could hy
pothetically produce enough electricity
to light up New York City for over a
year.
This material, which is not found on
Earth, could have great benefits for the
environment. Those members of Con
gress who are pushing environmental
programs ahead of the space program
might reconsider their stance if they
knew this information.
The use of gasoline, water and nu
clear energy as sources of power would
be greatly reduced if this lunar material
were used, preventing degradation of
our environment.
Doctors have also long speculated
that it may be possible for medicines or
vaccines to be created faster outside of
the Earth’s atmosphere.
While this has already been under
taken on a small scale on shuttle mis
sions and will continue on the interna
tional space station, what possible
bounties for medicine await us on that
dead rock out there? Frankly, we have
very little idea. A return to the moon
would answer these questions.
In 1961, John F. Kennedy an
nounced his vision for putting an
American on the moon by the end of
the decade and returning him safely to
Earth. At that point in time, this was as
courageous a step as Columbus sailing
over the horizon. Now, it is possible
not only to return to the moon but to
capitalize on our knowledge and its re
sources.
Thirty years ago, when Armstrong
and Aldrin stepped on the moon, it
was a symbol of victory for the United
States in an important race — the
space race — with the Soviet Union.
Now, a return to the moon would be
a victory for another race: the human
race. Let us undertake that burden
once more and see how this satellite
can be used to better life here on Earth.
Mark Passwaters is an electrical
engineering graduate student.
unning back Barry
Sanders selfishly an-
lounced his retire
ment from the Detroit Li
ons yesterday after 10
seasons and 15,269 yards
in the NFL. And now for
mer Texas A&M line-
backer Reggie Brown Jeff
must be wondering why.
“I guess the frustration
finally got the best of him,” Brown said yester
day. “There have been a bunch of bad deci
sions, I think, that have happened with the Li
ons.”
Some of those bad decisions include the
loss of Lions’ offensive linemen Zefross Moss
and Lomas Brown to free agency, two key
players who made Sanders’ job of running the
ball much easier. Sanders is quitting a team
that appears weak enough to lose 10 games
this season, the fans who loved him and the
teammates who were counting on him —
specifically, one former teammate residing in
College Station.
Brown finds it a bit more difficult to keep
up with the Lions after an injury that nearly
took his life.
On Dec. 21, 1997, Sanders became only the
third back in NFL history to break the 2,000-
yard season mark, but players and fans re
member it as being only the second most im
portant event on the field that day.
In the fourth quarter of a game against the
New York Jets, resulting in a 13-10 Lions vic
tory and a playoff berth, the Pontiac Silver-
dome fell silent when then-Detroit linebacker
Brown bumped his head into the back of a
Jets lineman in the fourth quarter after mak
ing a tackle.
Brown immediately lost consciousness and
stopped breathing before emergency measures
were administered to him on the Silverdome
turf.
The collision bruised two bones in his cer
vical region of the spinal column which doc
tors patched up with a small hipbone and two
titanium screws.
The result was an ended football career for
Brown and months of therapy to regain the
sensation he had lost due to the accident.
He didn’t learn of Sanders’ yardage record
until he regained consciousness after the
game, and Brown said the biggest disappoint
ment was knowing he would not be able to
play in the Lions playoff game the next week.
Brown’s attitude should jolt Sanders back
to the correct perspective after the former Ok
lahoma State Heisman TYophy winner seems
to be quitting when he still has a debt to his
team. The player, who passed up a few trash
time carries in the last game of his rookie sea
son when he needed only 10 yards for the
league rushing title, needs to show a little
more humility before he retires.
Brown received his Agricultural Economics
degree in the spring and occasionally plays
basketball at the Student Recreation Center in
his free time. But early retirement doesn’t
seem to be as fulfilling to the 24-year-old.
“I’d rather be there (Lions’ training camp)
than here,” Brown said, “but I don’t miss all
the hard work in the heat. ”
But certainly he would trade off one more
grueling training camp at the chance to play in
just one NFL game.
Fate deprived Brown of the chance to play
another down of NFL football.
Unfortunately, at a spry 31 years old,
Sanders is ending his football career prema
turely because he said he doesn’t think it is
worth playing anymore.
Perhaps the usually humble Sanders should
be lucky enough to have had a damaged spine
like Brown instead of no spine at all — which
is what his current actions in the face of per
haps another losing season show about his
character.
Jeff Webb is a senior journalism major.
MAIL CALL
Column unfairly
depicts French
In response to Mark Passwa
ters’ July 28 column.
As an American and cy
clist who has personally had
his legs cracked by Lance
Armstrong and half his team
before deciding to study po
litical science, I am offended
by Passwaters’ latest com
mentary on Armstrong’s
amazing victory in the Tour
de France.
Passwaters slandered all
French people due to certain
French media allegations
and innuendos about Arm
strong taking performance
enhancing drugs.
It is just a guess, but I do
not think Passwaters would
like Americans to be judged
by the actions of the Ameri
can media.
Reporting by some French
media should not be seen
as a reflection of all French
people’s reaction to an
American winning their hal
lowed event.
Passwaters believes the
French media is intent on
“burying” Armstrong due to
the fact that he is an Ameri
can.
But the official press re
leases from the Societe du
Tour de France applauded
Armstrong’s riding on a daily
basis, calling him “inspira
tional” and a “saint for
those looking for hope in
their fight against cancer.”
As a fan of cycling, I am in
awe of anyone who wins the
Tour.
As an American cyclist, I
am happy to see an Ameri
can on an American team
win the Tour.
And as a human, I am in
spired by Armstrong’s deter
mination.
Armstrong’s victory,
though, does not give me or
any other American an ex
cuse to beat our chests and
say we are the best.
Passwaters should feel
ashamed to have used such
an inspirational victory by a
humble human to slander a
whole nation.
Nick Theobald
Graduate Student
uit accusing AP program of bias shows public schools need help
(include
he Amer ; 1
lean Civil
Liberties
Jnion (ACLU)
S valuable if
>nly because it
■eally good
itEtirring a
lornet’s nest,
■in a news
inference
Caleb
MCDANIEL
leld yesterday in Los Angeles, the
ftCLU announced it is filing a law
ful attention ■ t a g ainst the State of California'
for discrimination against schools
■low-income and minority areas.
■ The state’s crime, according to
jmblicatiome ACLU, is allowing its public
toinles) diversities to use performance on
^ I ■vanced Placement (AP) exams
as a tool in measuring applicants
for admission. The APs are bad
— '
yardsticks, says the ACLU, be
cause California public schools lo
cated in high-income, predomi
nantly white communities tend to
offer more AP classes than their
lower-income, predominately mi
nority counterparts.
Because students at poorer, in
ner-city schools have limited ac
cess to AP courses, the ACLU be
lieves it is discriminatory to use
the tests in admissions processes
at all.
“California is flunking out
when it comes to educating these
students, denying them the intel
lectually challenging courses de
signed to prepare them for college
and holding them back by
squelching their competitive
chances of acceptance, ” Mark
Rosenbaum, the civil liberties
union’s local legal director, said in
an article in yesterday’s The New
York Times.
In this latest staked battle, the
ACLU is successfully taking an in
stance of inequality and holding it
up to the public spotlight. Their
knack for stirring up controversy
is valuable in spite of the tenuous
nature of the particular case.
The accusation that admissions
officials in California are discrimi
nating on the basis of AP scores is
probably untrue.
Most admissions officers take
into account the strength and size
of a school’s AP program when
considering an individual appli
cant’s AP record.
Al though the charge of dis
crimination may prove to be
groundless, the problem of in
equality among public schools is
more pressing than ever.
The ACLU may be slightly inac
curate to make universities the
target of its animus, but if the case
draws attention to the root of the
problem — the vast inequity in
the public school system — it will
have accomplished a worthy pur
pose.
For instance, according to the
suit, Beverly Hills High, a rich and
mostly white school, offers 14 AP
courses, while Inglewood High, a
mainly minority school in South
Los Angeles, has 3.
Figures like this show the prob
lem is in the public schools. A
wide inequality continues to exist
between suburban, wealthy -
schools and urban schools with
shoestring budgets.
Whatever critics may say about
the ACLU’s lawsuit, it will force
them to notice that some schools
really do have significantly less
academic opportunities than oth
ers. Such an inequality is wrong,
and fixing the problem will re
quire searching, substantive
changes in educational policy.
For instance, suits like this one
should continue to challenge the
practice of funding public educa
tion with property taxes. As long
as a school’s quality is dependent
on the quantity of its community’s
wealth, inner-city schools will suf
fer from inadequate funds.
Reminders that inner-city
schools often languish in destitu
tion, rendering them incapable of
meeting basic needs or offering
special opportunities like AP class
es, should create real debates in
communities about better ways to
finance education.
The ACLU’s efforts should also
squash the many proposals to cur
tail public school spending that
currently crowd legislative dockets
around the country. Cuts in edu
cation funds or voucher programs
that direct money away from the
schools that most need it should
be vigorously fought.
If the ACLU does nothing more
than rekindle these controversies
with its suit, it will have done
well. By suggesting there is a
problem with AP classes, they will
highlight the problems still facing
embattled public schools.
Caleb McDaniel is a junior
history major.
J