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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2002)
y NEWS battalion lean esia tacks k in the world 'vff oomber'', ling 14 ^ :ploded ling six dozen AP iat it is a havea is only made it they find some n,” Boyce said the mjddlecf msidering seal- rision had beet ’anted on tk ier leaving tk city, the aitpoa mostly youi! vacations ak te most terrify a Me Don#. , to make hard- any spent tk after the blast et up a massk ng home sir- The first flit rthern city! ; identified:" ladian. estination, ak mated to be® dead identifik ;tralian. ■ John Howard tional securit) for the United would not k tl tragedy f® he said, tpeared to lat te rn travelers. : outbreak, said ;e, Wainpkt^ leer. ctions turnout Yugoslavia rst presidential ; Slobodaa failed Sunda; voter turnout; or a protracted ) Yugoslavia t athy produced elow the legal jrcent, forcij 1 : nch the entire ’ Dec. 5. of the State don said 45- gible cast bat- ut was blawec )f governmer 1 between p r( - ; who ousted ^ living staf- tely no poss 1 ' >ut could P 285 loran Lucie, a . independed Elections anv definitely. ^ goal of these not elect a its 13 Opinion The Battalion Page 9 • Monday, October 14, 2002 A. biased education plan Georgia school hoard should teach all creation myths, not just Christianity’s JENELLE WILSON T he Cobb County, Georgia school board voted last month to teach alterna tives to evolution. The school board insists the change is to create balance within the school curriculum. The new school board policy's purpose is to •foster critical thinking among students, to allow academic freedom consistent with legal requirements, to promote tolerance and accept ance of diversity of opinion and to ensure a posture of neutrality toward religion," accord ing to CNN. The school board does not intend to "discriminate for or against a particular set of religious beliefs, religion in general or non religion." If the school board of Cobb County wants to teach alternatives to evolution in order to promote a more balanced curriculum, it should be able to. However, it should teach all alter natives, not just the Christian beliefs about the origin of man. There are over 500 different creation stories among the 19 major religions, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia. If Cobb County wants to teach either new or old world creationism, it has to teach the Buddhist belief that creation cycles and new worlds are created and then dissolve through out time. If children are taught about intelligent design, which asserts that the world is too complicated to have evolved on its own and therefore some intelligent being must have cre ated it, they should also be taught about the Navajo insect or the Mayan feathered serpent creation stories. The schools in Cobb County must match Christian creation beliefs with other religions, butproviding a balanced curriculum isn't what ttkreally trying to do. What it is trying to do is circumvent that pesky little First Amendment and the Supreme Court ruling in Edw ards v. Aguillard in 1987. Edwards v. Aguillard involved a Louisiana law which forbade the teaching of evolution unless creation science was also taught. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Supreme Court ruled the law vio lated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment; the teaching of creation science had no secular purpose. It only sought to advance a particular religious belief. This is exactly what is happening in Cobb County. School board officials will not provide "neutrality toward religion.” They will not be teaching about all 500 creation stories. Instead, they will only be focusing on and promoting Christian beliefs. Opponents of evolution often attack the the ory because it has not been proven. The textbooks in Cobb County already have disclaimers on them, saying evolution is a the ory and not fact, which is technically true. However, evolution is a scientific theory, meaning it has been tested over time and verified with experimentation and obser vations. In science, nothing can be proven true; it can only be proven false. The theo ry of evolution has not been falsified. Creation science is not actually “science" at all. Its theories cannot be falsified, which is required of true scientific theory. Scientists cannot prove there is no God. However, a main aspect of new world creationism — that the earth is less than 10,000 years old - is widely considered false by the scientific commu nity. The Cobb County policy is not promot ing a “balanced” sci ence curriculum. It’s pitting science against an untestable religious belief. The only way for the policy to be even remotely fair is to include all other religious beliefs — all 500 of them. Jenelle Wilson is a junior political science major. JEFF SMITH • THE BATTALION Americans are ignorant about foreign news The United States has historically ignored news from the rest of the world A merican ignorance can only go so far. Last Thursday, Germany’s most famous landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, was uncovered after two years of painstaking restorations. On the same day, Germany also celebrated the 2th anniversary of the Day of German Unity, which commem- otates the official reunification of the former West and East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Millions of Germans took to the streets of downtown Berlin re celebration of the Brandenburg Gate’s uncovering. I had Planned to be among the millions, but opted instead for a quiet ev ening with friends watching the spectacle live on TV. That Wa Y I did not have to fight for a clear view of the action and w as able to see and hear former President Bill Clinton present a rousing speech emphasizing American support for a united er many - despite Germany’s current attitude toward American ror eign policy. J had been looking forward to this day with the sort of giddi- ness made many Germans question why an American cared s °much about something that had little to do with American reforests. The Brandenburg Gate is a symbol of German ^rength, unity and resilience, and these are the same ideals all mericans have embraced over the past year in a struggle to 2 a| n balance within our country. I was annoyed that 1 had to defend the fools who gave America its reputation for being the land of the apathetic. As far as 1 am concerned, the question should never have laeen why do Americans care about foreign events, but rather, why shouldn't they? The uncovering of the Brandenburg Gate was just one of many important foreign events of which Americans are entire ly ignorant. If Americans expect to be respected by the rest of the world, they must take steps to educate themselves about world affairs. For decades, many Americans have proudly paraded their lack of interest and indifference toward the world outside their borders. In a country as big as the United States, it is easy to get wrapped up in the many domestic issues we face daily. However, there is no excuse for the geographic and historic ignorance we have been known to display. Part of the problem stems from the beginning of American political history. After being involved in major trans-Atlantic wars against Britain and France, Washington and Jefferson warned Americans about the "dangers of foreign entangle ments," thus laying the framework for the isolationist mindset which continues still today. American ignorance is also geographically imposed, notes former British diplomat Jonathan Clarke. America’s geographi cal isolation between two oceans nullifies the need for America to make concessions and maintain open dialogue among other countries. This argument seems a bit faulty in many ways; especially taking into consideration that the United States has the most powerful military and is the most politically influen tial country. Wherever there is something important happening in the world, it effects the United States. It is embarrassing that Americans do not take the time to inform ourselves about it so that we can properly criticize our government - good or bad. Even more embarrassing is that Europeans, a whole ocean away from us, can name our current president and give a rea sonably sound opinion about him. We are not expected to know all the heads of states of the European Union, but at the very least we should be aware that the European Union now oper ates under one single currency, the Euro, and it is stronger than the U.S. dollar. The media knows what attracts viewers and readers and what does not - sex tips, stock tips, 10 steps to one thing or another. In fact, broadcast media has significantly cut back its foreign news coverage in order to attract larger audiences, cultivating our own unawareness. It took a crisis the magnitude of Sept. 1 1 for people to actually demand more international news. I am trying to do my small part to undo the damage that is already done. But I wish the people here in Germany would stop asking me why the Americans do not care about the rest of the world. I am starting to run out of answers. Melissa Fried is a sophomore international studies major. MELISSA FRIED Residence Life is serious a °ut punishing hazing e sp°ns e Rolando Garcia's ct 1 1 article: ^icers^h^ 61106 Association (RHA) u PanH f C w ‘ t * 1 hazing need to grow forthoi u 6 re ^Ponsibility for their actions. Creek <:[ ene ^ t ' lot’s take a journey to the font nf t ^ . w hich is always at the fore- Univercih tl§ . g hazing and following er stand § Uldelines an d forced to a high- tio nsbvth tflan ot h er student organiza- dent nr '' e Univers ity- If a fraternity presi- n ew m Q ar iy ot h er officer were to take a s Pin thp m ■ ta P e to a chair and those mp m k" 1 0rder to cause vomiting, out of th ■ ers w °uld rightfully be taken nity couiH? 05 * 005 and the entire frater- nients th t tace sus pension. The punish- a teifnnn Were incurred were appropri- n °t less severe than a Greek member MAIL CALL would have faced. The RHA officers in question can whine all they want, but the truth is that the Greek system is held to a certain level by the University and the RHA needs to be held to the same level. D’Olive says that he is being nailed to the wall because of his leadership position. Exactly. You're a leader and you didn't live up to the expectations put on you. Accept it. Jason Finehout Class of 2003 I think that this article is a great example of the intrusive practices of Residence Life that are becoming more common on cam pus. To charge those students from Hart with hazing is clearly a sham. This incident no way involved admission or continued membership in that dorm. Furthermore, RHA's "anti-hazing" prac tices have been way over-reaching. More frequently on campus, people have been getting in trouble for meaningless horse play and college pranks. I think the administration forgets that this is college sometimes. Half the time I feel like I am still in middle school with the way that they deal with us. I think pranks and the like are an integral part of one's college experience; however, if this prank causes significant damage or danger, they should be held accountable. Whatever happened to a little "Good Bull" mischief? The fact that these Aggies had to lose their leadership positions for something as stupid as that is just ridicu lous. Whittle himself seemed to actually enjoy his experience, and why shouldn't he? For all those on campus, be pre pared to see this trend continue. Soon we will all be good little boys and girls sitting all in a row. Chuck Goldsmith Class of 2005
