Newspaper Page Text
Thr Red and Black
Tursday, Sept. 27. 1SK3
Page I
THE RED AND BLACK
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
Charles H. Russell, General Manager
Mike Tidwell, Editor-in-chief
Susan l-accetti. Managing Editor
w
GCPA
An independent student newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
More of the same
We should have expected it. It really comes as no surprise But
the timing was poor and the continued prospect of bigger tuition
bills is nothing to laugh about. But what we're getting lor our
money should concern us. And it does. A lot.
Earlier this month, the Board of Regents approved another 15
percent tuition hike for the University System. It came one week
before the first day of fall classes here. So we started off the school
year with a grimful reminder that taking classes at any state
institution of higher learning is going to get more expensive
The 15 percent hike, the third in three years, will take effect
summer quarter if the General Assembly puts it into the system's
budget. But everybody knows politicians won’t ignore that
suggestion Then in June of 1985, the regents will slap on another
15 percent hike, system Chancellor Vernon Crawford said last
week That will also Ire followed by smaller tuition hikes There is
no immediate end in sight.
But as far as the regents funding formula goes, the hikes are
necessary. System administrators say students need to finance 25
percent of the state's higher education budget That way students
pay a fair share of the educational benefits they receive. And they
might appreciate their education if it costs more, one official said.
After all, Roger Mosshart, assistant vice chancellor for Budgets,
said we were really getting a good deal. It costs students in some
states a lot more to attend state colleges.
Yeah, it may be relatively cheap to attend school here, but look
what we’re getting for our investment. Not much
First ol all nothing can outweigh the fact that some students
here will have to pay all four tuition increases. That’s a hefty bill
especially if that student planned on paying a certain amount for
four years of education but that figure more than doubles between
his freshman and senior years Spreading the tuition increases
over a longer period of time might have been more fair to these
students. Although that would have meant it would have taken the
regents longer to reach the tuition funding goal of 25 percent, the
hikes would have been less outrageous.
But the most unfair aspect of this whole situation is that
although this sacred funding formula is going to be abided by on
this end (but not exactly by our choice), the state doesn’t seem too
eager to pacify us like we are forced to pacify them.
Part of the funding formula is a gentlemen’s agreement bet
ween the regents and the General Assembly That agreement
stipulates if the regents approve continued tuition hikes to attain
the 25 percent student funding goal, then the state should finance
all areas of the system's budget as outlined in the formula. But
last year legislators ignored that deal, perhaps pretending they
forgot, but more likely because funds were tight. The state took
our money but gave us little in return. Sorry student, it was a bad
financial year.
Well it was a bad financial year for us too. And if that action is
repeated again this year, both University and system officials
should put their foot down. We will not accept another tuition hike
without the General Assembly also complying with the formula.
We need new equipment, building improvements and more
dollars for research. And if we are robbed again, the outcry should
hit legislators at the voting booth
With the big squeeze a virtual certainty, students should
prepare for a sound counteraction if legislators once again
pretend they never heard of any such formula Besides, didn’t
many of them, including our governor, get elected on a pro
education platform? Well, even with little money, we’re educated
enough to keep that in mind come election time
Help!
If you're interested in writing for The Red and Black and you're
not afraid of a little hard work, then stop bv room 512 of the
journalism building at 8 p.m. tonight for a news writing workshop
Also, if you’d like to shoot photographs for the paper, stop by our
123 N Jackson St office for more information
Departments
Editorial: 543-1809
chief (<fn Editor Mehvvj Jordan
t Hag* tYipv t dilf* Ale* Jahivum
Cop» tdilw'i Jamrt krmllev and l.ua
PntriH
Nmi Hilo* l'ind> tieutfte
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Spmli t dll or Todd Holt on lb
Pfcott-c'uphv fdito' Sam Walton
mi# \rm f ditto* ( lance Makrmsun and
Tommy Sum
4uuta*iSp»di f diio’ FdThumx*
Ctmtonl Photo Fdilto Curtl»Co*
L'UA Today Coofdintitor Mukr* Hi#*mhotluin
.%»«.*>» ffeportm Brian Hiaswrll and Stacy
I-a tn administration i.irg Fireman
government Rill Smith tervice* Ft am ine
Wilxosi. vtudent affair* Kluabrth \aeth.
police and ruuitx
1 ib’u'ioi MitheUe Miwcm
Advertising: 543-1791
Advertising Director Dan Stout
Student Advertising Director Carmen Timer
Advertising Representative* Marti Boson
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Classified Representative Sheila Ptullipa
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Production: 543-1791
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Contributions
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Opinion
Standardized Academic Torture
Supply and demand has reached its logical con
clusion as an educational force in Patterson. N J
Patterson has one high school, named after the
city, which has, for many years, been vilified as a
home of crime and abandoned hopes Its test scores
have been near the bottom and the incidence of
assaults upon teachers has been one of the nation's
highest
That has changed, thanks primarily to a man
named Joe Clark
Clark became principal of Patterson High two
years ago In that time, the school's scores have risen
dramatically More graduates are attending college
And fewer teachers are getting beaten up
And if you buy the line being fed by the rosy TV
report that ran a week ago, you believe that Pat
terson High is a new haven of secondary education
and academic pursuit
To what lengths has Clark gone in his search for
respectability for Patterson High’ What price has
Patterson High paid for its newly burnished
reputation’
Principal Clark patrols the halls with a bullhorn
When he spots a student breaking a school rule. Clark
— a former Marines drill instructor — whips the
bullhorn out and gives the student a vicious tongue-
lashing If he interrupts a class by doing so. so much
the better: The student becomes an example
Some of Clark's new rules prohibit such threats to
teenagers as gum-chewing and walking on the left
side of the hallway
In the last two years, Clark has expelled more than
250 students for offenses against model citizenship
Teachers who disagree with his philosophy of
education find themselves out on the streets, sear
ching for new jobs
Clark points to his school's higher test scores He
shows off his school's lowered crime rate He is
honest about the fired teachers: Firing them may not
be fair. Clark says, but a tight ship with proper
respect for the captain floats and a dissension-ridden
ship sinks
To hear Clark tell it. education is alive and well in
Patterson
It isn't Not really
Certainly, test scores will rise when you eliminate
250 low scorers Averages always jump when you
discard the lower end of the range And crime drops
for the same reasons
And how is education served when conscientious
teachers — so conscientious that they will disagree
about the subject with a man who will fire them for it
— also are eliminated?
How can you learn effectively when a tin-plated,
two-bit martinet threatens to sabotage your
education because you walked on the wrong side of
the hall’
These kids aren't being educated, they're being
terrorized
But the test scores have gone up, you say. Ah.
there's the rub How could they not. when a school
has been turned into rigid factory churning out
trained test-takers’
The educational market demands students who can
score well on tests Clark provides them. His students
•>re taught to perform well on standardized exams If
they learn anything in process, it's an accident
We live in a test-dominated society Georgia has a
poor school system because its students don't do well
on the Standardized Academic Torture — the SAT
The problem with such tests is that they don't test
anything useful An SAT score measures how well
someone takes the SAT It measures nothing useful or
practical
But because society believes there is a direct
correlation between knowing how to blacken little
boxes on a test sheet and intelligence, schools are
abandoning education for rote recitation of useless
trivia that may crop up on a test
We're conditioning kids to make a Pavlovian
response to a predetermined, homogenized test
packet We re not teaching them how to function in
society What is a true education w hen creativity and
originality and independence have been excised? And
anybody who won't conform to the nice, neat com
partment marked for him in Patterson, N.J . is left to
rot by the roadside
Education isn't being served in New Jersey Public
demand for something tangible is being met.
however, by meaningless figures Sterile numbers
Lifeless quotients
Joe Clark is the new hero of American education
Joe Clark has turned education into a sweatshop
system that extracts maximum output from its labor
for minimal benefits He rides herd over a brow
beaten school of cowed students, for whom a diploma
and a high SAT score are the ends of the journey Joe
Clark's students perform, by God
Too bad they don't learn anything
Alex Johnson is a staff writer for The Red and Black
Letters
University parking — the hassle continues ...
TO THE EDITOR:
This letter is in reference to an event
which directly affected many ot the
graduate students who park on the
north end of campus and, indirectly,
many individuals who park elsewhere
on campus Friday morning, without
any notice, every major G Zone parking
lot on the north end ot campus was
closed to all graduate students so that
individuals attending the Education
Forum could park in those lots
I'pon arrival at our parking lots we
were informed that we would have to
park at the Coliseum parking lot,
across campus Since we were not
notified ot this in advance, some of us
were late in running our studies,
teaching, and attending our classes
Parking stickers were just purchased
last week and I fail to see why the
University Public Safety Department
could not have posted a sign or provided
us with some type of notification ot this
change in parking availability so lhat
we could have made arrangements to
park clsew here Although we still would
have faced the inconvenience of being
denied the specific parking lots we had
registered and paid for, at least we
would have been aware ot the situation
and could have been on time to our
classes and laboratories
I hope in the future
the University will try to show some
consideration for their students and
employees
JANICE NAOMI STKIRN
Graduate, Psychology
f • ir.r.unu
1 he misconceptions of alcoholism
I am an alcoholic
People are sometimes curious about why I do not
drink and. if they ask. I tell them Bui sometimes
these people give me a hard time about it This is
incredible to me. but only because of what I have
seen
I've seen a drunken, bloody man stand in the rain
looking (or his wallet alter he almost killed me and
my girlfriend I’ve seen my (ace in the morning w hen
I looked in the mirror and wondered what the hell
happened the night before I've seen men who have
drunk away everything they had, rebuilt their lives,
and then drunk themselves hack into the same hole
I've seen good friends leave parties convinced that
they were sober enough to drive home I've seen
some ol the same people buried in sterile metal
caskets
And at a party last weekend, I saw a girl cock her
head, look at me. and say. "What you really mean is
that you don't drink because you can t handled."
She was right I can't handle it I can't handle any
of it I can't handle the fact that every year as many
Americans die violent deaths on the highways as died
in the history of the Vietnam War. and that at least
half of these deaths are caused by drunk drivers I
can't handle the fact that when I walk into a 300-
student class in the Journalism Auditorium, at least
50 of the people around me are m the early stages of
alcoholism I can t handle the fact that I almost died
because a drunk driver hit me from behind at 60
m p h and sent me skidding across two lanes of
oncoming traffic
And I can't handle the fact that there are people
who think I am less ot a man because I don't want to
get drunk and commit murder with an automobile
The idea that I have to drink like John Wayne or lose
some measure of my masculinity is stupid from any
angle and a symptom of social insanity in light of the
body count
There is nothing wrong with an alcoholic The
alcohol you drink is a foreign substance that destroys
tissue and deprives your brain of oxygen There is
nothing natural about drinking, and nothing, ab
normal about alcoholism It just depends on how your
body reacts to the poisons you put into it
ft took me a long time to realize that I was ad-
dicated to alcohol The alcoholic makes excuses for
his drinking and hides it from himself as much as
anyone else I had no idea of how much I was really
drinking because I did not want to think about it 1
was driving by this time, and I honestly do not know
how many mornings I woke up with a hangover and
had to look out the w tndow to see if my car w as there
When 1 quit drinking, some ot my friends actually
thought there was something wrong with me because
1 didn't drink It was always right beneath the sur
face. alcoholics sleep in dumpsters and urinate in
doorw ays, and Kendley here is one of them
The peer pressure was amazing, and that wasn't
the only source of the impetus tow ard drink I wanted
to drink, even though I had finally realized that my
father had been right when he told me that it would
eventually kill me Civilized men drink scotch or
smooth imppried ales Elegant ladies drink
champagne and sip gracefully out ot tall crystal
glasses Everyone knows that drinking is part of the
good life, and I wanted my share, even it it could only
be gotten by sucking suds out of the keg on Rusty's
back porch to the soothing strains of Molly Hatchet or
Iron Maiden
I just wanted to get drunk
If it weren't for the strength of my parents and the
pride that my true friends had in me. I might have
gone back to it I might have ended up hanging out at
the Marietta bus station bumming cigarettes from
strangers
Or I might have ended up getting drunk, slamming
my car into yours and killing you
Swifter court action and stiffer penalties for drunk
drivers may offer us protection on the roads, but only
to a small degree You can t legislate deeply rooted
social problems out of existence It's been tried
The deaths will not stop until we learn how to help
the drunk driver stop killing. Asking the guest if he is
OK to drive as he stumbles out of your party is not
enough We must allow the problem drinker to freely
seek help, and do everything we can to eradicate the
stigma and misconception surrounding alcoholism
Anything less is tantamount to suicide
James Kendley is a copy editor for The Red and
Black.