The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, March 25, 1983 Page: 2 of 16
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A tongue-lashing for
foreign language need
The 1983-84 course schedules are out, and already the
epithets fly. "Spartan dogs! How can I get my double major if
they don't offer this course? Why are all my classes at A and F
hours? Processor Staff hates me!"
I have heard several students complain even more bitterly
about the notation on introductory foreign language courses.
Beginning next fall, distribution credit will not be granted for
the first-semester course (101) in a language unless a second
semester (102) is also completed.
Stop your whining. The reasons for such a decision outweigh
arguments of convenience and free choice. Too many students
who have taken a foreign language in high school view the
introductory language courses as a distribution roll, a quick
four for Division I. After they take 101, they either remember
how bored they were when studying the language in high school
or have filled their distribution, and so — foolishly — pass 102
by.
They leave with a half-built staircase of knowledge, one they
will rarely ascend, much less complete. There is no academic
purpose to French or Spanish 101 in isolation; if you begin the
language for the first time in a 101 course you need the second
semester just to know all the tenses; if you've had the language
before, you should have taken 201, or at least 102 or 103
(accelerated introduction), to ensure minimum competency.
Most likely you did not achieve it in high school.
Learning another language is crucial in the concept of a well-
rounded education. Acquiring such a skill, however, is a lot of
work. This work does not only mean grammar exercises to plug
through and lab tapes to parrot, although many introductory
classes frequently rely on these techniques; mostly, learning
another language takes a devotion of time. The accelerated
courses logically offer one of the highest credits on campus:
eight hours.
The fact that many people have taken only the first course of
languages can suggest several ideas. First, they may have done
so badly in 101 that they cannot advance. This is usually
rubbish; picking up the rudiments of a language resembles a
pleasant puzzle that requires little skill. The first semester
measures interest; the second semester, true aptitude. Second,
they may have fared poorly enough in 101 to disenchant them
from taking 102 for any of the reasons a Rice student ever has:
bad relationship with instructor, personal problems, work
conflicts, etc. Under the new system, such students will not be
punished; they receive three hours credit, but not for
distribution.
Distribution, after all, is not meant to be a set of statistics,
but rather a paradigm of academic goals. Although the much-
debated core curriculum omitted a foreign language
requirement, the importance of additional language capability
was noted in faculty discussion. Foreign language courses
might have been part of the proposal if some professors had not
balked at making 12 hours of instruction — the minimum
amount for proficiency — mandatory for students with already
heavy loads.
Taking a foreign language at Rice is thus still a choice. With
its new 101 restriction, the university is both acknowledging the
importance of learning another language, and asking that the
choice to learn be made in earnest. The language departments
don't have time for dabblers, and, believe it or not, neither does
the non-native English-speaking world.
—Jeanne Cooper
o^reowtjoflg iff
DIDNT TOE US GOVERNMENT
USED TO BE HESE SOMEPIKE7
SORK/.EELLA-t'tANOT
^UONEDTOSK/
'AT LAST,(sAMCs..., OPE.C IS BACK 1(0 DRIVER'S SEAT."
EXPANDING THE HEDGES/by Chris Ekren
The Teamsters caught up with
Allen Dorfman at a hotel parking
lot in suburban Chicago. Over a
dozen slugs from two guns riddled
the body of Dorfman, a major
participant in organized crime's
looting of the Teamster's Central
States Pension Fund. Dorfman's
death came shortly after he, Joey
"the Clown" Lombardo and
Teamster's Union President Roy
Williams were convicted of
attempted bribery of a U.S.
Senator.
Dorfman's death and the
likelihood that he might have
further implicated the Team^jers
may not be related. After all, two
anonymous, violent taxi drivers
may have decided to rub him out
for no specific reason. He may
have committed suicide, cleverly
arranging for his friends to hide the
weapons of his death after he
ingeniously shot himself with
two guns from close range
simutaneously. It is curious,
however, that
involved with
in some way
indictment for
nearly everyone
the Teamsters
is either under
a federal crime,
1-ft..•"
The Rice Thresher, MarcH 25, 1983, page 2
missing and' presumed dead, or
quite verifiably dead.
Against this backdrop of
gangland-style slayings and
rampant corruption, Big Labor is
lobbying for legislation to evis-
cerate the Employment Retirement
Income Security Act (ERISA).
ERISA currently requires
pension-fund managers to invest
only in ventures that maximize
return while minimizing risk. The
AFL-CIO and the Teamsters
apparently feel that they can get a
higher rate of return onlheir money
from Jimmy "the Weasel"
Fratianno and crime boss Nick
Civilla.
The relationship between union
pension funds and organized crime
is not a primary concern of most
Americans. Until they retire, that
is. Then they have their "golden
years" to wonder where their
money went. The infiltration of
union pension funds by criminals
is but one aspect of a growing
scandal. The fact that Dorfman
was shot after his conviction
makes one wonder what else he
knew.
It is not as if America hasn't
known the true nature of the
Teamsters and unions of the
Teamsters' ilk. The relationship
between organized crime and
unions has been anything but
undersensationalized in the news.
Jimmy Hoffa's use of blatant
illegalities to bludgeon employees
into accepting his union as their
representative is well documented,
his demise a fitting end to his
career as a "worker's representa-
tive."
Despite the inauspicious past of
union pension funds, the unions
are likely to get the changes in
ERISA they want. The Teamsters
supported Reagan for President,
so he owes them one. The AFL-
CIO probably owns Tip O'Niell. It
is also likely that Congress will
defeat an amendment to the Hobbs
Anti-Extortion Act that would
strip unions of the right to coerce
working people to join unions.
Currently, the 1973 Supreme
Court Enmons decision allows
union coercion as* long as
"legitimate labor objectives are
served."
As long as the voting public
believes the fiction that all unions
represent working people faithfully,
and that union-supported
politicians are invariably good, the
abuse that America's labor
movement has suffered will
continue. Most unions serve a
valid purpose. Holding union
actions above the law, however,
does little to promote better
working conditions, save for union
powerbrokers. Well, maybe not
for Dorfman.
SpC
THRESHER
Jeanne Cooper
Editor
Sandra Wasson
Business Manager
Patty Cleary News Editor
Deborah Knaff ....Fine Arts Editor
Mark Mitchell Sports Editor
John Krueger Back Page Editor
Jay Grob Senior Editor
*
Todd Cornett Advertising Manager
Lorraine Farrell Vfanaging Editor
Conrad Reining Photography Editor
Matt Petersen Copy Editor
Ruth Hillhouse Head Typesetter
Contributing Staff
Assistant Editors Paul Havlak (News), Stephen Ben* (Fine Arts)
Alan Mathiowetz (Sports), Chip Clay (Photography),
Sarah Jordan (Production), David Koralek (Advertising)
Contributing Editors Michele Gillespie, Harry Wade, Chris Ekren,
David Curcio, Ian Hersey, Mike Gladu, Alan Eynon
Graphics Lynn Lytton, Martin Zillman, Steve Woodward
News Staff Bob Terry, Mark Rome, Todd Giorgio,
Derek Smith, Dagmar Aalund, Anil Diwan.
Sian Min The, Scott Flukinger, Larry Lesser
Fine Arts Staff Chris Boyer, Geoffrey Westergaard, Andrew Tullis,
Barry Watkins, Ray Isle, Gwen Richard, Paige Pool
Reeta Achari, Geoff Spradley, Rick Hunt,
Aniko Kiraly. Karin Murphy, Michael Grant,
Loren Fefer, Alison Kennamcr
Sports Staff Steve Bailey, Steve Mollenkamp, Anne MacMaster,
Ed Swartz, Art Rabeau, Carolyn Burr, Tony Soltero,
Ed Brittingham. Mike Friedman, Joseph Halcyon
Production Staff Alysha Webb, Susan Sheridan, Karin Murphy
Photography Staff Ray Isle, Tom Cassidy, John Gibson, David Dean
Business Staff
Assistant Business Manager Susan Brown
Circulation Matt Petersen
Subscriptions David Steffens
Staff Michelle Grant. Jane Mitchell, Kay Gratke
Tht Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since 1916, is published
each Friday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the
students of Rice University. Editorial and business offices are located on the second floor of the
Rice Memorial Center, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251. Telephone (7 r3) 527-4801 or
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domestic, $40.00 international, (via first class mail). The opinions exp—"d herein are not
necessarily those of anyone except the writer. Obviously.
©1983. The Rice Thresher. All rights reservei '
Dux femina facti.
Hc5uwaL> ® 74
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Cooper, Jeanne. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, March 25, 1983, newspaper, March 25, 1983; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245527/m1/2/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.