The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 18, 1987, Page 4, Image 4
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Viewpoint V
Wednesday. November 18. 1987 THE GAMECOCK 4
AMY DHL PC) Editor in Chief
rp- STEPHEN GUILFOYLE Copy Desk Chief j
1 DC BRENDA BLYTH News Editor
| BRAD FARRAR Viewpoint Editor
bamecock TAMARA WILLIS Features Editor
WAYNE WASHINGTON Sports Editor ;
KEITH JONES Photography Editor
Hrsl S C. College Newspaper,
1986. South C arolina Press ROBB I.ANE Graphics Editor
j * j PAULA WOJTOWICZ Beat I-ditor i
Literacy
South Carolina must improve
public education at lowest level
High school education is one of the most immediate concerns
for South Carolina, especially with the alarming number of
dropouts and the high illiteracy rate, and Gov. Carroll Campbell
knows it.
As Campbell told reporters this week in Charleston, "South
Carolina can't wait tor the vcar 2(X)0 to address the issues mn
fronting our state ? illiteracy, basic-skill training, welfare
reform, productivity and rural economic development.
"We cannot increase our per-capita income without a good
education system that promotes life-long learning. This is the
kind of education system 1 am committed to."
Every day about 50 South Carolina students drop out of
schools. Many students who do graduate are functionally illiterate.
Yet, these young people must compete in a job market
that is becoming more complex and specialized every day.
Poor education at the high-school level has a direct impact on
colleges and universities. Many USC students, for example,
come from ill-State hieh schools. Manv South Carolina frarhprs
tend to "dumb down" the material so more students can
understand it and not fall behind. Low scores on the Scholastic
Aptitude Test reflect this "dumbing down," which in turn
ultimately harms universities, especially large state schools with
liberal admissions policies.
While the governor and leaders of the business community
spent this past Monday discussing education and the future of
the state, USC President James Holderman and student leaders
from USC and Clemson also had a meeting. Evidently,
however, they did not talk much about key issues such as tuition.
Instead, they talked about the availibility and distribution
of post-season football tickets as well as the desirability of a fall
break for students to rest up for the USC-Clemson football
game.
Everyone acknowledges the importance of athletics in promoting
school spirit, but the timing of the events demonstrates
the irony of the entire education question. When will schools at
all levels push for academic excellence as well as athletic
excellence?
USC and all South Carolina institutions of higher learning
must lead the way if a revolution at the lower level is to take
place. The battle begins with an all-out attack on illiteracy, but it
doesn't end there.
"BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS "
^ - l-il
The Staff
\Nsisfiinf ( op\ Desk Chief Comics hditor
\ndy Bechtel [ ratey Mixson
Assistant News hditors Historian
I odd Hint's Bobby Jones ;
It'll Shrew shurs Adviser
Assistant features hditor Hill Rogers i
1 irdou? Hamji Acting Student Media
Assistant Sports hditor Director/Advertising Manager
k.ic I eiyh Margaret Michels
Assistant l'hotograph> hditor Production
Jonathan Williams ( huck Morris
Datehook hditor Son Ma
lennv Sharpe Assistant Advertising Manager
Dawn Miller
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Rlark at Willi
"Now is the time for all good men to come to the
aid of their country. " Didn 7 Tom Paine say that in
The Crisis
Anyway, not many people know it, but Thomas
Paine's first, unpublished manuscript of The Crisis
went like this:
"Now is the time for all good men to come to the
aid of their country. And wear black. AH over.
Really, guys, / mean it about the black. "
You can see that it doesn't work as good as what
he finished with (von know all that stuff nhnnt
summer soldier and sunshine patriots), but he was
still onto something about the black. And I think
we are in a crisis of similar, if not identical,
proportions.
Those folks from ? what do they call it? ?
Clemmons University. . . Clecson, Glcason. . . .
Those Tiger fans will be here Saturday. And no
matter how perverse a color it really is, they'll all
be in that orange. They're like that in the Upstate. I
know. I had to live with those Upstatcrs for four
years before I was able to make my escape and start
school at USC.
They're so full of themselves and orange-mania
that they even had the gall to send us that obnoxious
hat I'm wearing in the mug shot today. It
made music ? just press the brim and you hear
"Tiger Rag." That is, until it disappeared amid
rumors of orange-ocide.
But it's really going to look awtul if there's one
orange section standing out right in the middle of
We're talking
The semester is rapidly crashing to a close like
some hellbent stock market.
The Thankseivine holiday looms ahead, much to
the dismay of a few million turkeys, and finals
week comes soon afterward, much to the dismay of
thousands of students. So it's time to clear the
closet of a few random tidbits. . .
One of the world's great conflicts these days is
the Pink Floyd feud, which Rolling Stone recently
presented for all to read. Basically, Roger Waters,
the man who journeyed to The Dark Side of the
Moon and later built The Wall with his doom-andgloom
lyrics, left the band for a solo career, thinking
the group would collapse without him.
He was wrong, and guitarist David Gilmour and
drummer Nick Mason decided to get together and
record and tour as Pink Floyd. That's when the
lawsuits ? and the mud ? began to fly.
Pink Floyd fans face a dilemma. On one hand,
they get twice as many LPs and concerts, but on
the other hand, these albums and concerts are only
half as good as they should be.
So those of us who were weaned on The Wall
float in limbo, hoping for the Floyd reunion that
will probably ne\er be.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Students for
America presented a "Sarulinista gulag" earlier
Letters to the
Slavery wasn't
ancestors
cause of war ?<?h?n>"
adopted tlx
To the editor: bols, this
Sorry, Steve, you've insulted Southerner
another group with sour illconceiv- atop our S
ed, uneducated remarks ? true racist. Neit
Southerners. As a native ( aroliman, Christians
I wish to welcome all ya'll Yankees 10 klan uses I
our great state. the Christi
Here's some information that symbols,
could make your stay here a lot more Racism i
enjoyable, first of all, we talk dif- of the Sou
ferently, not wrong. We eat grits and shadowed
like them. South Carolina was the through th
first state to secede from the Union War. We v
before the Civil War, and we're pro- war" as so
ud of it. And as hard as it mav be for What we
some Northerners to believe, we maintain a
didn't secede because of slavery. why it was
Slavery was a dying institution in the I he Soul
South before the "Wawah of Nor- traditions
thern Aggression" and only became all ready,
an issue ai me enu 01 me war wnen teuerate v
Lincoln freed all Southern slaves in a holidays to
last ditch effort to win support for a tional antli
war effort far less popular in the tion of tli
North than Vietnam was in the '60s. natorial in
We seceded because we felt the flag hi
unrepresented 111 the national lions some
legislature and wanted more rights in our histc
lor me states. lorever to
That's why, when Ciuiltoyle calls further stn
the Stars and liars "an obscene sign proud herl
m em msme mm A
M Wfc GOT WMISTW IACMIUS...."
iams-Brice wo
Williams-Brice Stadium's usual potpourri of colors
? garnet, black, white. I've even seen chartreuse.
So I was thinking that all us Gamecock fans
ought to do that "Black Magic" thing again. It
would be really neat if everyone wore black to the
game, uon i >011 minx:
I'm of the opinion, since the game is going to be
televised to a national audience 011 ESPN, that it
would really be nice if we were to show a little more
unity of color than normal. You know, the color
unit> we had when USC played Florida State on
ABC in 1984.
F rom where 1 sat, the stadium looked black. It
couldn't have been any more black.
Think of how those little boys from Clemsor.
might feel if they marched onto the field and didn't
; about Floyd,
this week at the Russell House as a protest against
the Nicaraguan govrnment. It was a multi-media
affair, complete with videos of Marine I.t. Col.
Oliver North.
But the event's centerpiece was a cardboard construction
that bore a striking similarity to the South
Africa "shanty" sponsored by campus antiapartheid
activists a few weeks ago on the Russell
House patio. The two structures even had similar
slogans calling for liberation: "Free (fill in country
according to party affiliation)."
Maybe the same architectural geniuses who
designed the 'Shanty" lent their skills to the
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latrcd," Southerners con- If you left the North
slap in the face to our South Carolina, there
ho fought under it, many something about our sta
ever owned slaves. peals to you, so, Steve
e Ku Klux Klan may have state alone or move b
.* flag as one of their sym- North.
doesn't mean that all
s who look at the flag Phili
late House with pride are Political science
her are all Americans and
racist, even though the rLu
[he Stars and Stripes and Jl 1J vl >3 Uvo
lan cross as its other _ *?
to be let t $
s a blemish on the history CVf C
th, but was deeply overbv
Sh?*rman\ mnrch To flip <><liior
e South during the Civil Peaceniks are not the o
-ere not "still fighting the being victimized by poste
me would say ? we lost. have been spending Si5
are fighting to do is to week on flyers to annour
true image of the war and for America meetings. 1 |
fought. legally on bulletin boar*
:h has given up many of its brcll, Humanities and Ru
from this colorful period About five or 10 mini
from honoring Con- return to find them r
var veterans with state defaced! I have posted th
' playing "Dixie," our na- on the same bulletin boi
icm for a substantial por- as four or five times per
ie Civil War, at Guber- This has been going on
augurations. To give up during the past two seme
cvuuiv v/1 11 iv IIIOVWUWJJ- IV|;UIIUI IIIV>L IIK1UCIHN
people have as to its place House security on at leas
>ry would be to turn it over sions this semester.
racist organizations and There arc a few time:
p the South of more of its justified to remove a fl;
tage. when it is outdated or
C ' ' ?- ' f
c c < r c * * .
% ,, 'f ?> V*?>. 1
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ulrl Ha nipp
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see gel their usual orange rush, but saw a black
crush? Then it comes. The theme to 2001: A Space
Odysscv begins. The timpani pound, and the i
Gamecocks rush onto the field. ;
Think those scared little boys might feel a bit
concerned? If they don't, they're crazy.
And the real clinchcr'd be. ... .
Now,Coach Joe, from what 1 hear you're a bit
touchy on this subject, but 1 think that if the fan:^^
go to all the trouble of dressing up in black for this |
game to do a little intimidation from the stands,
you could have your guys on the field do the same.
Last time I remember seeing black britches with
black smrts was in 1VK.< when UbL lost to L Icnison.
But I really think any "black" bad luck is probably
hiding in fear of being tackled by Brad Edwards,
sacked by Roy Hart or run over by Sterling
Sharpc.
And the cry went out across the land ? "Now is
the time for all good men to come to the aid of the
campus. And wear black."
Tom Paine was a wise man. How can we argue
with his wisdom?
Please note: Gamecock columnist Stephen
Guilfoyle was strapped down and forced to wear
that Clemson hat. And he says he didn 't have
anything to do with its disappearance. He said it^ ^
with a smile, a leer if you will.
fascism, fads
This is actually an exciting trend; perhaps
another campus organization could give USC
students a cardboard cutout version of oppression
in Iran, Chile, etc.
The resurgence of tie-dye T-shirts reached a new
low Monday afternoon. That's when the driver of
a shiny BMW was spotted crusing down Sumter
Street in a tie-dye shirt.
The irony is simply overwhelming. But at least
Bob Barker is coloring is hair again.
Finally, despite some bad publicity about lack of^^
funding, Thomas Cooper Library still holds many^^
treasures for today's college students.
Particularly intriguing arc the magical tomes The
f-ashion Savages and Women At Decoration,
which can be found on the mezzanine level. The
latter work expounds just what the title would indicate:
women dressing to complement the decor of
their homes.
But because it was published in 1917, the book
doesn't offer how tie-dye I -shirts fit into the realm
of interior decorating or what outfits go well with
"shanty" or "gulag" protests.
Yes, political activists, you are on your own.
Dress for success.
; - L
to conic to posted on top of another piece of
must be literature. 1 have removed several
tc that ap- flyers in response to these violations
, leave our of clutter courtesy.
ack to the
I am concerned that onlv a few
people show up for SI A meetings,
p Hreu/eule They ask me why our club doesn't
sophomore advertise. Vandalism has severely cut
into SI A active membership. It has
iAltlfft gotten to the point where 1 have
V C decided to advertise in The
_ Gamecock personals rather than put|l0ne
''n^ 11P Hyers. It's a lot cheaper! If
any students are interested, SFA
meets every Thursday night at S p.m.^^
in Russell House Room 307.
niy students
r pilferers. 1 Not only arc flyers being ripped :
to 20 every down, hut 1 have actually been |
tee Students reprimanded by certain repressionDut
them up minded individuals for putting flyers
ils in Gam- up! I admit that some of the i
ssell Mouse. literature in question was posted as a
ites later I joke, but the First Amendment to the '
cmoved or Constitution protects all speech, not :
c same flyer just selected speech. Some people
ird as many have no sense of humor! Not only
day! this, but one fascist idiot told me I
consistently was not allowed in Gambrell Hall!
sters. I have Maybe he needs to post a sign that
to Russell reads: "Achtung! Conservative^^
t four occa- Students Vcrbotlen."
t rceciom ot speech lives!
? when it is
/cr, such as Janice Kraft
deliberately Management/marketing senior