University of South Carolina Libraries
English Teaching assistants should be able to communicate well The issue of whether foreign students with limited Englishspeaking ability should be allowed to teach math, computer science or anything else to other students is a touchy situation ? at oesi. The problem is not their nationality or their knowledge of the subjects they teach. It is their ability to communicate that knowledge to the people they are supposed to be teaching. The international students who are teaching assistants are intelligent people who know what they are doing in their particular field and have the knowledge to teach it to others. The problem occurs when the others can't understand-what is being said. These TA's have to take the Test of Spoken English, and the results are sent to the professor they want to teach for. The professor can then do anything he wants to with the results. He can use them, overlook them or simply ignore them. Or he can call the international student in for a personal interview to see if he can understand them. Of course, this is like putting someone in front of a radio distorted by static and asking them to listen to their favorite song. They'll understand the words no matter how faintly they can hear them because they know the song straight through. But if you put another person who had never heard the song and asked them wnai me woras were, mey a oe ai a compieie loss. A calculus professor is going to understand the teaching of mathematical formula no matter how broken the English, but a student who has never seen a particular formula before may not t realize that when the TA says, "sqlay loot" he means "square * root." Professors need to pay attention to the English proficiency tests. State regulations need to be set that wil ensure students can a understand their TAs and get their money's worth in the classes tl they're taking. $ 'USED TO BE IT WAS A BANDWAGON THEY JUMPED ON' ? (vlTrotr iouu foir-pum-fCH- l b< b< The Gamecock " Pi r News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 f Jeff Wilson Sharon Willamson L Editor in Chief Managing Editor/Copy Desk Chief Lynn Gibson Elizabeth Lynch ] News Editor Carolina Life Editor DougAube Renee Meyer J Sports Editor Photography Editor Kelly C. Thomas t< Viewpoints Editor Elizabeth Fox Sherri Tillman te Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editor ai David Bowden Kathy Heberger ** Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Carolina Life Editor ^ brant Long Julie Bouchillon Assistant Sports Editor Assistant Photography Editor Sara Verne Octavia Wright t Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant to the Editors C Kristin Francis Erik Collins fe Graduate Assistant Faculty Adviser ?> Ed Bonza Laura S. Day oi Director of Student Media Production Manager oc Ray Burgos renee Gibson d Assistant Production Manager Advertising Manager ^ Kyle Berry Carolyn Griffin 1 Assistant Advertising Manager Business Manager ^ re Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, pro- lc fessional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if fc a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any circumstance. S) ^^^?hmmmmmhmJ oi VTHEY COULD Dbscenity, ent A 32-year-old father of four was convicted of crime Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. tat could send him to jail for a year with a 1,000 fine. Charles Freeman was convicted of selling a assette to an undercover agent in June that was randed obscene. The cassette was 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty is They Wanna Be." Granted, the lyrics in lany of 2 Live Crew's songs are risque and istasteful by my standards, but I know many eople that find the group and its songs acceptble. That's the problem with regulating ob:enity. What one person considers to be ob:ene, another person considers entertainment. By passing a law that labels song lyrics ob:ene and by convicting store owners for selling le lyrics goes against the First Amendment of le Constitution. It is too difficult to regulate )mething so vague and subjective as obscenity ithout infringing on freedom of speech. Freeman's attorney Bruce Rogow said in his Books don't i A book is a book is a book. There is no substitute for a good book. Readig feeds the mind and allows for the quick extiange of ideas. Reading is also a wonderful ay to just pass the time. All different mediums ave their place, but nothing compares to ooks. Therefore, it is shocking to me that books rould be thrown away on a university campus, lpposedly a center of learning. Through no fault of its own, the Thomas ooper Library is forced to throw away about ,000 books a year. There is a tax law that will 3t allow the library to do anything with books jnated to them. The library doesn't have much loice other than to throw out old books each jar. The library is caught in a sort of Catch-22. hey have a limited amount of space, and new Doks are constantly coming in. As these new Doks come in, space has to be made. But since ey have a limited amount of space, they are >rced to make choices, pick books and get rid r them. I think it would be safe to assume most peoe who work in libraries are fond of books and LETTERS TO THE Walloons do IX oS )ose threat characters tively imm 0 the editor: isms of dc In response to Tim Queen's let- to a study r to the editor on Monday, we of Miami, e pleased to hear that Queen sup- the digests jrts the environment but are dis- life for up i essed at the misinformation pre- In his le dent to his letter. We are happy correctly si 1 document our evidence dealing cause of s* ith the harmful eifects of bal- hit by boa ions on marine wildlife. amination, A /^/*rvrdinfT t/~V A1 A A r?1 f TYr* hnua hnd * ntwiuiug iu rvi IVI^IIVII ui Lt" uuvi/ nau y aiders of Wildlife in Washington, systems. I .C., balloons can travel hundreds starvation, f miles to land intact in the even cause ;ean. 50 Simple*Things You Can. ndering a t o to Save the Earth, compiled by prey or es< ie Earth Works Group, states that boat propel )alloons released in the Midwest Aside fi in wind up in the ocean. Recen- implication y, a test balloon released in Ohio there are a ached the South Carolina coast to be cons only two days" (p. 58). A bal- mind The 1 >on released in St. Louis was Species Ac >und in Nova Scotia by Zoe Lu- $25,000 fi is during an environmental study. sentence to Balloons are made from either harming an mthetic rubber or plastic, neither Althougl : which is biodegradable. Accord- seem like BE THE DEATH BLOW TO AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE' gyb i SLAYIN<SS this year 1 .'111'!. I /<S*******. ^rtjiinmpiit ha jjji^ JEFF WILSON closing argument, "It's never easy living with the First Amendment. One person's vulgarity is another person's lyric." The idea of protecting a person's right to say something others do not fundamentally believe in is not new. Eighteenth century French philosopher Voltaire said "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." I disapprove of much of what 2 Live Crew says, but is it my right or the courts right to say the group shouldn't say it? Ironically, the 2 Live Crew controversy has made the group do much good *T * f Dennis Shealy f pta * / , would not throw any into the trash unless they had no other choice, and because of this law, they do not have a choice. The Thomas Cooper Library is not allowed to give the books away or do anything else with them because those who donate the books can take the gift off of their taxes. Therefore, the state sees the books as non-transferable property. This is not necessarily a bad law. I realize people could do some very tricky things with their taxes if there wasn't such a law, but there should be room for exceptions. Books are far too valuable to just throw away. I realize many of the books are probably out of date, but they could still be of some use. At least the paper could be recycled and put to : EDITOR itizens Guide to Plastics ^ symbolic of the larg an, "(Plastic's) durabil- cal dilemmas facing our >ably its most valuable day. There are so ma >tic. Plastics are rela- threatening our enviro une to natural mechan- so little time before c ?ay" (p. 9). According species are extinct. E\ done at the University protect our earth is signi ingested plastic stays in Katri /e tract of marine wild- Shann to three months. -p: tter to the editor, Queen tates the most common va turtle deaths is being Leig L pi v>A.~ ill cm UC1 many of these turtles )lastic in their digestive ^ ^ ^ n addition to causing J[ OD ^5 1 ingested plastics "may # * * i excess buoyancy, re- PFPfl urtle unable to dive for * V1 :ape from predators (or To the editor: lers)" (p. 8, Citizens). I am writing in respo om the environmental Gamecock Top 25. Wh s of a balloon release, this thing, anyway? To tlso legal consequences and I, it is a joke (I thin] idered. We humbly re- campus echo my sen [JSC of the Endangered mean, what does it tal :t. This law promises a vince you people that V ne and a 10-year jail nia is not a Top 25 fcx any person(s) linked to this season. They are c endangered species. ing a difficult time adjus l balloon releases might without Major Harris a small problem, they Turnbull, Mike Fox, < 1 OUR CHERISHED :,100 ^ I |"f T T" ' ZT" */.1vr T4 \k"^h ($r. ie>us pofr-ptfpAr**rd to regulate more popular than ever. There are several other rappers out there like Erik B. and Rakim, Young M. C., Queen Latifah, Schoolly D. and many more that may be relatively unknown to the mainstream public because they do not get the media attention like 2 Live Crew does. Others are not controversial enough, but 2 Live Crew is getting front-page attention in newspapers nationwide. This makes people want to go out and buy the album just to see what the hype is all about, which is the opposite effect of what the lawmakers wanted. And people like Charles Freeman get caught in the middle. 'They don't know where my record shop is. The verdict does not reflect my community standards as a black man in Broward County," Freeman said. Obscenity, a vague term that means different things to different people, cannot be regulated fairly or effectively, but tell that to Charles Freeman. I in a landfill good use rather than just going into a landfill. However, I have a friend who has looked through many of these and she told me that most of the books were not out-of-date books but were in fact many of the classics that were merely old but otherwise still in good condition. It seems to me these books could either be put on sale to students or given to other local colleges that might not receive as many books as a large university like USC does. Some of them might even go to local high schools. There are already students willing to do something with these books; they only need the go ahead. I plan to Find out more about this law and hopefully convince whoever needs convincing to let something useful be done with these books. America seems to be determined to close its mind. Censorship is slowly becoming the norm and individuals' rights seem to be on the slide. Throwing books away seems like one more nail in the coffin. If this concerns you in any way, do something about it. Write letters to USC's hnarH of fnicfppc tr\ TU& nr tov v* w. UUIVVUj tv M. I WUfrtbUl/UfV U1 U1V lUA commission, or volunteer your help in moving the books. Make a difference because you can. * ;er ecologi- think you're getting off that easily, society to- though. iny factors One other major faux pas stands nment and out. What does Brigham Young mdangered University have to do to prove that rery act to they are better than Miami, beat ificant. them again? That win wasn't a na Nylund fluke. Ty Detmer, the BYU quaron Stewart terback, picked that vaunted Hurri,, canes' defense apart en route to a m Steckler solid victory eth McKay _ m i t >ii j . r_ . n anenaan 1 win give you creau ior a ecu's of SAGE ple ?f things, however. Your poll does recognize Oklahoma as the seventh ranked team in the country r\A|] (someone even thought they were good enough for a number one jl|lp vote). You were the first poll to * A-JIV recognize our Gamecocks as a Top 25 team; and lastly, Georgia Tech nse to The 8ets some well deserved respect in o votes on y?ur P?H by being ranked, my friends in 1 feel that to be taken k others on seriously your poll needs to do timent). I little things like not waiting until ce to con- now 10 rank Virginia higher than Vest Virgi- our dreaded rivals, Clemson. When Dtball team y?u work out those little kinks, learly hav- The Gamecock Top 25 will finally jting to life get respect. , Renaldo Jeff Driggers etc. Don't physical education sophomore