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Fake 1.1 New drinking a{ deserve students Now that House Bill 3028 ha: taverns and watering holes shoi student population should sit up The purpose of the bill was t( age drinkers, and the prime tar au..:/?,?1<i In/'ol Ht-inlrinfT pi UUVIUUSIJ', U1V 1UVU1 Uluinm^ VL ing their liquor licenses threatei ness during the school year, so 1 around the new, improved minir New and improved because that lost out when a fake 21-ye the premises, now it goes both 1 threatened, but the person can easy. A $68 dollar loss, which was violation, was easy enough to 1 ABC officer and a little monej underage drinker before Monday Now that the bill has been pa the minimum drinking age laws over your driver's license for 9( months for further violations. A period results in another probati the end of the first one. That could result in losing f even a job, not to mention wors to take a ride without a license. The bars are trying to proteci just doing its job. It's the job of underage studi patient. "I77C0N6RFSSMEN I I/ ! ir. \\ ^> 11 C p ' ' K C The G< ~\ . SCOTT PRUDEN Editor-in-Chief Ron Baker News Editor Fred Gonzalez Sports Editor Kristin Francis .Graduate Assistant |ed Bonza Director of Student Media :ray burgos Assistant Production Manager Kyle Berry Assistant Advertising Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will ti jbe, at maximum, 250 to 300 words l( Sessional title if a USC employee or S a student. An address and phone nu Gamecock reserves the right to edit ^pace limitations. The newspap< , pj rcu ms tan ce. ).? ]e rules ' respect 5 been signed into law, Columbia's ild rest a little easier, while USC's and pay attention. ) make an all out assault on undergets are those carrying fake I.D.s. stablishments are fed up with havted every time they open for busithey were some of the first to rally num drinking age. where the bar was the only party ar-old was discovered drinking on ways. Yes, the bar's license is still ying the fake no longer gets off ; the first offense fine for an ABC Lake. A little time talking with an ' lost were the only threats to the f. ssed, an arrest for any violation of will instead require that you hand ) days for the first offense and six ny violation during a probationary onary period being tacked right on reedom, cheap transportation, and e problems if the offender decides t their businesses, and the ABC is snts to be very careful, or just be WOUIPN'T SALUTE IT* ftxy amecock Robyn Thompson Managing Editor, Copy Desk Chief Dennis Shealy Carolina Life Editor Nick Leoncavallo Photo Editor Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Laura S. Day Production Manager renee Gibson Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager 7 to print all letters received. Letters should jng. The writer must include full name, protouth Carolina resident, or year and major if mber are required with all letters sent. The letters for style, possible libel or in case of sr will not withhold names under any Artists shoul A few weeks ago in The State there was letter to the editor in which someone said th; tax payers' money should not be used to spor sor objectionable works of art. The writer of this letter said they had no ol jections to endowment programs like the N; tional Endowment for the Arts, but monitorir the content of the works produced was only a] propriate because public money should not I used to sponsor obscenities. The rationale behind this person's arguemei was that this sort of monitoring was not censo ship, but a way of responsibly sponsorir i-1 1 PUD11C WUrKS. This is, I think, most Americans standpoir They don't mind funding the arts, they ju don't want their hard-earned money being spe on objectionable works, whether they ever lot at them or not. The flaw with this arguement is that true ? cannot be created as long as there is some sc of restricting factor in either reality or in tl mind of the artist. If an artist, who has received some sort grant, thinks or feels that his or her work w not be labeled obscene or inappropriate by tl public that feeds them, they subconsciously cr ate flawed precepctions of their true intent. This cheats the public and the artist out of tl Better educa Pick up a newspaper any day of the week ai you're bound to find at least one article, editc ial or survey criticizing the poor performance 1 American students. The findings in these st dies consistently cite alarming statistics reve? ing the students' inability to place the Units States on a map, identify the president wl freed the slaves, or perform simple arithmeti Whether in relation to students in other cou tries or concerning their inadequate perfc mance on basic skills tests, it is clear that o ; current system is not doing the job. ? The problem with our system lies in tl & methods we use to evaluate student perfc : mance. Parents, teachers and students plai i more importance on "good" grades than on re ;* learning. Parents, eager to discover their ov * success through an objective measurement : their child's abilities, correllate good grad with intelligence and success. When a chi onngs nome a report card or test, a parent more likely to ask "What grade did you get than "What have you learned in this class?" Teachers whose classes contain a high nui ber of good grades are viewed as successfi And where does the child fit in this picture? j he is rewarded or punished for high or lc grades, the child's self esteem is either shatter or bolstered by the most influential adult a thority figures, teachers and parents. I Mandela's ideas need clarifying would To the editor! leagues Nelson Mandela surely deserves South i our respect and admiration. His The role in the struggle against apar- Well-be theid is singular and resolute. and wh Because he is bound to play a sure or key role in an> future restructuring of South African society, it is es- jj. sential that his views on the nature Af tfiot rocfni^tiinn/T ^.1 ~ ? ut umi ivouuwiuiiug ut/ llldUC . Hou Pointed questions relating to his political, economic and social ten- TV/f ^ dencies must be answered. lVXc Among these questions, none is * 1 more important than this: lO I Given Mr. Mandela's avowed admiration and strong words of To the praise for Fidel Castro, Yassir Ara- The fat, Muammar Qaddafi and Col- that ir onel Mengistu; and his consent to posed I appear in public with the convicted overw Id have free l Dennis Sheai ;g m , )C KM lit. , V at small pieces of truth and understanc r- good art gives to the world, ig Art has always been a means not e: the nature of a sociey at a given poin it. and planting ideas in the minds the p st the present and the future, nt Art has always been a means not e: )k the nature of a sociey at a given pjoin and planting ideas in the minds the p irt the present and the future." >rt The public today in part fears that d fie works of art will plant the wrong ide heads of today's young and reflect bad of society in the future. ill This is farthest thing possible from lie There is no replacement for people le e- think for themselves and discovering t varied tastes, lie And what is more, people are sma ition key to # % % \ scon SPEEF 10 V / ? mmmmm irur A student making good grades beco fident and assertive, but runs the risk le ing on good grades rather than leaminj ir- other hand, a child receiving, low $ ce branded an underachiever, separated :al peers and placed in a Slower paced ch vn he is better suited for, but which carrie of stigma. The slow child loses interest ir es and becomes a casualty of the grading Id Despite its faults, the grading systei is not be thrown out. Various experirm ?" shown that with no measurement o T1" Despite its faults, the grading syste ul* not be thrown out. Various experimi shown that with no measurement c >w mance, students study and learn less. ed the main fault of the grading system is u_ connotations of success or failure, 1 methods of testing. LETTERS TO THE I Rican who shot up the U.S. Africans, 1 in 1954; and given some There is ah anti-democratic, violent his- more to pr the ANC; along what lines placement < Mr. Mandela and his col- - western de i like to structure a future ernment th Africa? ment of th fate of South Africa and the by Presider ing of its citizens ? black De Kler lite ? depend in large mea- into the ne: i the answer to this question. is dragging new chap S. Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) democracy Vice-Chairman white leac se Subcommittee on Africa scared, an< black leade indela needs seNohwafn lead people principles. ; editor: that the mi re is nobody in this country Africa intc i their right mind is not op- must be let to apartheid. But so are the son Mande helming majority of South leader, but dom to create congressmen and Bible thumpers give them credit for. The average citizen can make up their own minds without consulting these people, and they should be given that chance. -Y And besides all of this, much of today's furor is for nothing because most artists do not create numerous obscene, if I may be so bold as to use the word in this context, works of art. ling that Most people do not come up with an incredibly brilliant or orginal idea instantly. They ^pressing have to mess around for alittle while with diffet in time rent ideas until they get the one that works for >eople of them. Is it so far fetched then to think that artists do the same thing, and that some of their ^pressing less main stream pieces are in actuality doodles t in time for much stronger works? jeople of This I think is so, and the reason there should be no restrictions on artists is they must be free listurbing at all times to work in any manner they see fit ? - hovinir tn \irr\mr ahrtnt nnhlir annrnval Cl?> III lilt w luiuui Having tu wv/n j uwui. |/W ly on our so that their creative flow of thought goes undesturbed. the truth. Controled sponsorship is the same thing as arning to censorship. heir own Remember, yesterday's scandals are today's classics. Let's not ruin the careers of tomorirter than row's Rembrants, Renoirs and Mapplethorpes. better society Objective testing, dominant even in some sectors of higher education, stresses short term memorization of facts. Students with good memory skills excell on tests, but seldom retain } the facts they were asked to remember. Furthermore, retaining facts alone does not constitute learning. Real learning can only be demonstrated by putting knowledge into practice. In a classroom mes con- setting, this can best be accomplished and meaof focus- sured through writing. By requiring students to I. On the demonstrate understanding subjectively, several grades is goals can be realized. First, students are refrom his quired not only to know facts but also connect iss which them in a logical, organized manner. Second, a s a social system relying more heavily on subjective eva i learning luauun is icss uauiagiug uj aiuuwu muiaiv anu system. more indicative of what the student has. learned, m should A multiple choice or true-false question is mts have either right or wrong, but an essay gives the f perfor- student an opportunity to show twhat he really knows about die subject and intelligently defend m should ^is own point of view. And finally, a higher de->nts have pendence on writing will make students learn to if perfor- write more effectively, thereby making them However better communicators. A society of better comnot in its municators can only lead to a more understand)ut in its in8. more informed society, and isn't that the main goal of education in the first place? EDITOR f -f ^. fS:> both black and white, casion. Giving in to the radical >o nobody that has done Leftists in his political following, omote the peaceful re- continuing to support the failed of apartheid with a pro- policies of sanctions that have mocratic form of gov- causd people to lose their jobs and an the present govern- homes, and children to go hungry, ie Nationalist party led or continuing to pursue a policy of it F.W. de Klerk. terrorism, whether as a bargaining k is not beine Dushed chiD or not shows the man to be *t chapter of history, he smaller than the demands upon reluctant leaders into a him. ter of post-apartheid Nelson Mandela needs to lead . He is dragging some all South Africans as F.W. de lers because they are Klerk is doing. That means leading i he is dragging some them away from violence, leading ?rs because they have a them towards a peaceful solution ida. and leading them into a strong i sure tat Nelson Man- economy where all can take their ?od man, that he has gi- rightful place in the political arena : to fighting for the right as well as a growing healthy But the bottom line is economy, ovement to bring South > full political freedom David H. Barron 1 by many. Perhaps Nel- Chairman la is the most important The Jefferson Educational he must rise to the oc- Foundation