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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2001)
THE BATTALION :e applies ional 5 3 qualify foi ous Culpeppet I -1422. A job well done? Professors should spend less time on research T Dogs. Many p >. rabbits S tfe II & pepper. I Katie at 77$-£ ES condo. Urvm S380/mo. exas A&M students, consider yourselves warned: You are being taken ad vantage of and manipulated by your employees. “Employees?” One might say, “1 [have no employees.” And that my fellow Aggies, is why you are be ing manipulated. For some reason, students are I operating in college with the same I grade-school mentality of sub- ^^^servience to the teacher. Professors °r | work for the students, plain and simple. Our employees do things every day, such as taking atten- ear campus it), $28$ mo ZJ apartment, sw . ■ dance and grading papers, that ■ typify their position at the bottom Jof the totem pole. The new philos ophy of en loco parentis (in lieu of apartment ®parents) is totally misplaced. Students are not forced to attend JA&M. They do so that they may room in praise their marketability to the ^■work force and get good jobs after ■A^^Bschool. In the form of tuition (not if to mention to huge costs incurred for room and board), students pay good money for trained experts to ark Trawl P re P are them for their future. Professors have one job: attempt to get the information across to their stu dents to the best of their ability. jrm/2bth, net >95-9569 iry paid. Peftf mo. 68CHXK 1 5bth, wilt arlmenl, SS But often, many students do not eel they are receiving instruction hat will significantly help them in he future. It seems an alarming number of professors are here at A&M not to teach, but to conduct research and achieve personal ac claim. A business would not last ong if its employees were more :oncerned with personal prestige md achievement than facilitating s-oMun,uid' he company’s primary goal. Pro mt. M-rir ’essors at A&M should make SeZSJeaching their primary goal. Professors have one job: at- ;S /nest pnce*' 346-6117. empt to get the information across to their students to the best of their ability. It is up to the students to make the most of it. Professors should note that poor attendance is usually the result of an uninspiring lecturer and take it as constructive criti cism. Some professors assume that every student in their class es shares their zeal for the sub ject. If the professor is truly pas sionate about the material, the students will soon share in that enthusiasm. Professors should realize that not everyone in the class is enrolled because they are interested, but because they are required to take the class. There is a flip side to this ar gument, however. Students want to attend a prestigious and re spected university because it aids the job process upon graduation. Universities gain prestige and re spect primarily through publica tion of their professors and re search. In order to obtain this respect and prestige, A&M must devote resources to these pur suits. The need to have profes sors teach and pursue indepen dent research at the same time creates somewhat of a catch-22. But fear not! To solve this problem, the University has im plemented a fool-proof method of carefully and painstakingly weeding out all substandard professors: student evaluations. These confidential evaluations are so effective that nary a pro fessor at A&M is beyond their reach — excluding, of course, the large number of professors who have tenure. In that situation, the student evaluations have about as little effect as contesting a campus parking ticket. These professors enjoy a career not unlike that of a federal Supreme Court justice. There is no way for students to do anything about a poor pro fessor short of venting their frus trations on Pick-a-prof.com, and that only succeeds in shrinking the class size of an in adequate professor — not ex actly punishment. Perhaps stu dent evaluations should be set up on a merit system as opposed to a demerit system. That way, professors, regardless of their standing with the University, would receive positive rein forcement for doing their job. JOE PEDEN/'liih Battalion Students should not sympa thize with professors for having to teach two classes a semester. This is not exactly a heavy load when compared to that of most students. Remember, those same professors signed a contract before they started working at A&M. They know much more about what they are getting into at this University than their students do. It all boils down to two sim ple facts. First, professors and administrators work for the stu dents. Second, students should be left to decide what is best for them. The next time a professor calls your name out for sleep ing, politely ask him if you were snoring. If he replies that you were, apologize to him and the rest of the class. If he replies that you were not, put your head back down on your desk, and politely ask him not to disturb you again unless you begin to snore. As the boss, you should be the one calling the shots. Mark Mitchell is a junior journalism major. <! Express Most AccreS^ 1-4723. 25l* ISA SprinS 1estaurants. [! rTemptins the boundaries of bad taste 'Temptation Island’yet another ploy to get ratings, money and Fiords 1 condos. M] 2026. THE MOST ’RING BRE*', ON PROEM' he newest sensation in television, “Temptation Island”, begs the ques- |ion: When will reality shows et real? Can couples gauge the trength of their love by eparately subjecting them- elves to an island of seduc- rs? Four couples made the decision to test ^Tnutnt^Bneir love on Fox’s new reality show “Temptation Island.” The unmarried cou- Wples were whisked away to the Caribbean, here a harem of bikini-clad babes and iTcity/f^ chiseled hunks will put their relationship to ft/ffiffiJhe ultimate test: non-stop karaoke to Bette ^uenn^ Midler’s greatest hits. lUWCgM Despite its label as a reality show, se.Cflj/“Temptation Island” is not reality. It is Mothing more than a deplorable stab by Fox 7iritT«J}.to make more money. L. Brent Bozell, hairman of the Parents Television Council, laid, “Not even a relationship is considered to be honorable anymore.” Bozell went on say, “It tells me that the people partici- S&fbating are pathetic. The network and the jj lc , producers putting this together are shame- mvtffljp 88 , an d the public that would sit down and tone\yatch this ought to be embarrassed.” II nil It really is a great idea, though. There is H'MV 4° better way to explore relationship dy- ,0*232 2jlamics than by willingly allowing each chciuj^ other to be pursued by an island full of hard ^bodies. Clearly, any trace of uncertainty, ^■wry or doubt about the relationship will ’AT T(t be res °l ve d for the two lovebirds once they JiLw get a chance to parade about an exotic is- .jSlind with other possible mates. Just look at eQ bow many people solved their problems by discussing them civilly on “The Jerry Springer Show.” I Sandy Grushow, head of Fox Entertain ment Television, said in a Jan. 1 1 article in The New York Times that the intention ■f the show is “to explore the dynamics ol people in serious relationships.” This k, of course, the reason all members of the cast were certified by Fox as free of ;ing r He xe =n •69 sexually transmitted diseases. It was clear ly an effort to protect the jellyfish from amorous contestants in heat. Disease-ridden jel lyfish were not enough to scare away the 16 million viewers who watched the pre miere episode of “Temptation Island.” The show was an es pecially big hit with viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, most of whom are male. This demo graphic is the No. 1 audience targeted by advertisers. Hypno tized by models frol icking on the beach like a slow-motion scene from “Baywatch,” viewers will be powerless to the subliminal messages in the commercials. It is the perfect marketing scheme. After the blunder of “\\(ho Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire,” Fox execu tives promised to never again commission victimizing, crass programming. But the enormous success of reality shows such as “Survivor” and “The Real World” appar ently made Fox unable to resist the tempta tion to broadcast yet another provocative, alluring show. Grushow attempted to excuse his broken promise by saying that he would have been “negligent” if he had not attempted to capi talize on the growing market for reality shows. “Every network is out there trying to figure out how to pursue this trend,” Grushow said. “No network, like it or not, can afford to sit on the sidelines.” Network programmers turn to reality shows for a number of reasons. The young audiences attracted by the shows are the JOE PEDEN/The Battalion market advertisers want to reach the most. Reality shows are also much less expensive than scripted entertainment shows such as sitcoms, which usually require elaborate and costly sets. Paying the actors is not a problem be cause the cast consists of contestants picked off the streets. Jerry Springer has already proven that there is not a shortage of people willing to expose their personal lives (or skin) on national television. Shows like “Temptation Island” are among the cheapest on television, both in terms of production cost and content quality. “Temptation Island” is not reality. It de humanizes people by making them guinea pigs and putting them on public display. The only real thing about the show is that far too many people would sacrifice a beautiful thing for a romp on the beach with temptation. Will Knecht is a junior journalism major. BISD plan does not add up O ver the past several months, Bryan High School (BHS) has found itself awash in dis cipline problems. Teachers and administrators agree that the vast majority of stu dents are cooperative and respect ful, but signs of trouble have be come increasingly commonplace. The issue of disruptive student be havior surfaced last October when nearly one-third of the 197 teachers at BHS signed a letter of griev- ; ances. The letter was then sent to the Bryan Inde- ' pendent School District’s (BISD) board of trustees. Teachers’ complaints included excessive tardies, an increasing number of students displaying a con frontational attitude and an unacceptable number of students wandering the hallways, courtyards and commons areas during class time. To combat these problems, BHS is requiring all students and faculty to wear ID cards around their necks during school hours. Also, the school board has promised to consider increasing the number of hallway monitors and adding video cameras to mon itor overlooked places. While these steps will help a. little, they ignore the root of BHS’ problems. The school is full to the brim with about 3,500 students on two connected campuses. The large number of students has created an atmosphere of anonymity, providing a fertile ground for discipline problems. Students feel they can get away with act ing up because, as Blue Campus Principal Robby McGowen said in The Bryan-College Station Eagle, “there are so many kids here we don’t know.” BHS’s population has grown beyond the point where it can be effectively managed and discipline rules can be effectively enforced. Bryan needs a sec ond, full-size high school to alleviate the problems currently plaguing BHS, and to provide a better edu cation for all its students. Earlier this month, BISD superintendent Sarah Ashburn announced a plan for a second high school. Ashburn, who is retiring June 30, said she will con tinue to work as a coordinator on developing the new school. The second school has been described » as “experimental”: Administrators hope to imple ment different staffing and scheduling patterns. The concept is interesting, but has one major drawback: Current plans have the school servicing less than 800 students. The concept high school has won praise from other * administrators as a project with three main benefits: It ; would create a different and more attractive job market* for future secondary educators, give its students a unique education for their future careers, and provide - an arena to conduct new programs with faculty and ed-" ucation students at Texas A&M. Bryan School Board President Wayne Hayenga called it a “win, win, triple win” idea, there is a very decided loser: the 2,700 other.’ high school students at BHS. A full-size second high school has been discussed in the past, but shot down for financial reasons.. In ; 1995, the district decided to expand BHS rather thap build a second high school because it did not think if could afford to do so. Former trustee Allan Hanson told The Eagle that, in retrospect, the board might have made a mistake in not opting for a second school. In the same article, former school board president Bill Birdwell noted that the district was much poorer five years ago. BISD now has a rela- ' lively large tax base, and signs point to further popu lation growth. BISD’s tax base will likely continue . to grow, making the present the best time yet to fund a full-scale second high school. An 800-student school simply will not alleviate BHS’s overcrowd ing and discipline problems. Along with financial concerns, Hanson said, * another reason the board did not approve a second high school was fear of creating a school of haves and have nots. Hanson said the board did not think it could afford to equally staff and equip two full-size high schools, so one would be inferior. . Unfortunately, creating a school of haves and one of have-nots is exactly what Ashburn’s proposal - would do. Phillip Sulak, BISD’s communications director, said the experimental school’s popula tion would mirror the city’s in terms of economi-. cally disadvantaged families and ethnic makeup. While this avoids overt discrimination, those stu dents would still receive a better education than BHS’s students because they would have smaller classes. Also, Ashburn wants the school to pro- - vide a more attractive market for teachers, which would mean better teachers at the new school. The experimental high school is an interesting idea but impractical. A specialized high school might attract new teachers, but there will continue to be a shortage of qualified teachers as long as discipline problems occur. Future teachers fre quently do not consider high schools because they are perceived to be less safe than elementary and junior high schools. The way to increase teachers’ interest in secondary education is not by provid ing a more attractive experimental school but by fighting the ails of the existing schools. To do so, BISD needs to combat overcrowding at BHS. The BISD school board has had no public dis cussion on the need for a second high school, ex perimental or otherwise. Having a public forum for parents and community members to provide their input should be the first step in deciding the future of secondary education in Bryan. Eventual ly, a bond has to be passed by the public to fund the building of any second high school. At that point, tax payers will have to decide the issue for themselves. Eric Dickens is a senior English major.
