View From The Lighthouse
The SAT Controversy,
Beacon Style
Richard Atkinson will soon be
the hero and icon of many high
school kids. No, he doesn’t play a
pro-sport, nor is he a WWF
wrestler. He did, however, manage
to tackle the SATs and is
considering booting them out of
his arena, the University of
California. Atkinson claims that
the SATs are not a good enough
tool to be used in considering a
student for admission to college,
and that a new, more effective test
should be implemented.
We could have told you so.
Actually, we’re quite glad that
some business-suit wearin’
starched and clean shaven college
administrator woke up to the issue
of the SATs and decided to do
something about it. Now don’t get
us wrong, the SAT is a valid tool to
measure a student’s performance
in math and verbal skills, but is
there more to the equation?
A) Yes, of course there is.
B) Yeah, maybe.
C) No, the tests are effective.
D) SATs - whut r thoze about?
If you picked letter B, start
reading the newspaper more often
and take a stand for something! If
you picked letter A, you’d agree
with Richard Atkinson and the
Behrend Beacon , something to be
very proud of! Measuring a
student’s performance on the SAT
is like looking at a new car and
trying to give a review without
even driving it. How’s that for a
SAT question? The point is that a
complete picture of a student
cannot be attained by just merely
measuring reading and verbal
skills of a person -that's not how
the real world works.
Say for example that a student
earned a 1500-something on his/
her tests but really didn’t care for
much else. Just a plain bookworm,
passing up opportunities to
participate in extra-curricular
events and community service
projects. His/Her classmate,
however, was involved in many
activities and was a local
coordinator for the March of
Dimes. That person’s score was
maybe a 900. Clearly a
discrepancy, but if it came down to
the decision between the two, who
should make it in? The seemingly
gifted student or the one that may
struggle a bit because of other
obligations? It’s something to
consider.
Of course, colleges don’t just
look at the SAT, they look at
attendance, grades, and so on and
so forth... Wait? Did we say
grades? What is an A and what is
The Behrend Beacon
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Editor-in-Chief
Jason Snyder
Managing Editor
Jeff Miller
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published weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie, The Behrend
College; First Floor, The J. Elmer
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Erie, PA 16563. The Beacon can be
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or (814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN
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a B? Some high schools don’t
even use the A-F grade scale
anymore. They use numbers or
rate by “Excelling,” “Passing,” or
“Failing.” Where is the standard?
The SAT seems to be a good
candidate as it has measured a
number of students’ performance
over the last 75 years. Is a little
bit heavier weight placed on the
SAT? It’s possible.
Okay, so we’ve complained
about the problem, now what?
There are many solutions being
proposed not only by Richard
Atkinson, but also by President
George W. Bush. Both men
believe that there should be a
standard by which students are
measured, but maybe the solution
lies in stressing the fundamentals
and offering more testing at the
lower grade levels. This w>ould
help poke a hole in grade-inflation
and begin to establish a national
“norm.”
Also, there is heavy
consideration by some of the 300
schools who have already dropped
the SAT from their admission
requirements to adopt the SAT 11.
The SAT 11, unknown to many,
has been around,for quite some
tune and measures certain subjects
like English Composition,
Spanish, and certain types of
Math. The only problem is that
each carries a fee. A few other
solutions include weighing a
student essay sample a bit more
and possibly holding personal
interviews with potential students.
So to make our opinion very
clear, we support the idea that
Richard Atkinson has started, and
we hope someday it will hit
Behrend. Perhaps a larger variety
of students with different interests
will be admitted if the SAT is set
aside and a look at the bigger
picture, not just the preview, is
taken into consideration. How
about a match between Atkinson
and Stone Cold? They could
throw books at each other.. nah,
we’ll settle with him working on
the SAT problem.
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Letter Policy: The Beacon
encourages letters to the editor.
Letters should include the address,
phone number, semester standing
and major of the writer. Writers can
mail letters to behrcoll2@aol.com.
Letters must be received no later
than 5 p.m. Tuesday for inclusion
in that week’s issue.
icc*^ —
Student defends Police and Safety
This is in response to the Letters to the Editor ar
ticle in the Friday, February 9 edition, "Questioning
Police and Safety.”
Behrend spans many acres of land, most which is
wooded, and officers patrol these areas as well as aca
demic buildings/parking lots. The size ot Behrend
(in acres) exceeds that of every other PSU campus
(even UP).
Police and Safety currently employs five full-time
officers and two full-time protection guards. To em
ploy more officers w'ould take more money, and if
someone would like to donate funds to pay tor an
other salary, I’m sure the office would be extremely
grateful. Having only five officers makes it almost
impossible to have more than three people covering a
shift.
Police & Safety officers are called upon to do much
more than guarantee the safety of vehicles. When
someone locks themselves out of a room or has an
overflowing toilet, who do they call? The first reac
tion is to pick up the phone and dial 6101, because
our officers are also trained mechanics, plumbers, and
magicians. If you want an officer out patrolling, en
courage other offices to have night staff so our offic
ers don’t have to do other's jobs. Not only do they
have to quit patrolling to answer these calls, but they
have to devote time to solving such mysteries as "who
keeps calling me at 2:00 a.m.,” and “why did my car
get towed, even though 1 parked in front of a TOW
AWAYZONE sign.”
Diversity begins by opening your eyes
After hearing the Shaggy announcement last
week, I would have to admit that I was a little
less than pleased. And after seeing the reaction
of other students when the announcement was
made, I would have to assume that their
excitement level isn’t too high either.
So I began to spread the news to some of my
friends who basically told me that just because I
didn’t listen to Shaggy’s music doesn’t mean that
others don’t either. And they were right.
Someone has to be listening if his new album
Hotshot is number one on the Billboards right
So further into the discussion I said, “maybe
he (Shaggy) appeals more to minorities.” I was
oh so careful in the way I phrased the sentence to
be as politically correct as possible. But my idea
of political correctness didn’t work. My friends
almost fell out of their seats as they were in
absolute shock that I said what 1 did. One even
went so far as to say that the comment was racist.
Then I got upset. How is it racist to have an
opinion that in no way looks upon another race
in a negative way? Just because I’m not a fan of
Shaggy doesn’t mean that I look down upon
everyone that is a fan. His music isn’t
controversial in a way that would make his fans
look like people that would condone sticking
their girlfriends in a trunk (Eminem). Saying
that Shaggy might appeal to minorities in no way
portrays minorities in a negative manner.
So my friend kept insisting that I couldn’t
make such a statement because I don’t know for
a fact that Shaggy appeals to minorities. Well, I
haven’t seen the final numbers on this past
election, but I could bet that more African
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Americans voted for A 1 Gore than George W.
, i • 7 Bush. I didn’t count the people in the audience,
LsClUgrlt 111 M 6 but I could bet that more African Americans
‘Snyder’Web attended the speeches made by Cornel West and
Arthur Flowers than Brandi Chastain. There
Jason Snyder are some things that are obvious. And it is
T~ obvious that more African Americans will
attend a concert by Shaggy than if we had
groups like Fuel or Our Lady Peace.
I don't believe we need to do a study before we
make a safe assumption. That is sort of what
seemed to be implied when saying that “I don’t
know for a fact that Shaggy appeals more to
minorities” than someone like Fuel does. I would
hope that we wouldn’t ask the Behrend Concert
Committee to make a survey that asks people to
write what their skin color is before they mark
down their favorite band.
My actual point when making that “racist”
comment was to say that it is fair. It’s fair that
after having all-white bands like the Goo Goo
Dolls and Train, that Behrend invites a more
diverse selection of music to this campus. And
Shaggy is the perfect choice. According to his
website, “Hotshot proves Shaggy remains a
master of many styles - from reggae and dancehall
to pop/R&B - making it a happy hunting ground
for every kind of music fan.” Every kind of music
fan refers to whites, blacks, men, women and
anybody else who turns on a radio tor
entertainment.
I’ll admit that my statement was stereotypical.
We have been taught since elementary school that
stereotyping people is bad. I agree...in some
cases. If I am speaking to an individual member
of a Greek organization, I shouldn’t assume that
person enjoys partying or drinking, just because it
fits the Greek stereotype. But I don’t see what’s
wrong with assuming that more people would
attend a frat party for alcohol than attending a
Beacon shindig to get smashed. The number of
people that last attended a Beacon party was about
ten. How many people attended the last frat
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To provide better security in the lots would cost
money. Who will pay for this'.' I don't suppose the
student body would want to. Students complain non
stop about the cost of parking, but they don't know
where the money goes. The funds from permits do NOT
go into the budget for P&S. They get put into a pool of
money to purchase things like parking lots, snow re
moval and summer maintenance. I'm sure the cost ot
parking would decrease il P&S were to decide that a
new, unpaved, unsupervised, unguarded, maintenance
free lot were to be erected in the cow pasture down the
road.
Parking ticket money does NOT go into the budget
of P&S. Who gets this money .’ YOU do. SCiA redis
tributes it back out to student affiliations. Does your
fraternity need more money for beer? Go park on the
grass a few times....
The new computers at P&S were NOT paid for with
your permit/ticket money, The office has a yearly bud
get with which to buy supplies. These new computers
were badly needed and are much appreciated.
If you would like the officers to spend more time
patrolling, go apply for a job. Student Auxiliary are
hired to do key services, escorts and ticket writing. The
same goes for w eekend oil ice hours. How can the of
ficer sit in the office to answer the over-flowing toilet
call if (s)hc is out watching your vehicle .’ I forgot, our
officers have the ability to be in two places at once.
The parking lot wouldn't be so overcrowded it there
were fewer cars in it. I know this is difficult, but fewer
party?
But when you think about it, aren’t we basically
being asked to stereotype or make assumptions
based on race sometimes? Just think if race
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FRIDAY, MARCH 23,2001
THIS MEAN
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cars = more open parking spaces. What does this
mean? If you want to make parking a better thing,
you would offer to give up your parking space. But
that vehicle is needed for a job, a ride, or something
else that would cause life to cease if not cared for.
Such is the story throughout campus. Until students
start leaving their vehicles at home, parking will con
tinue to be a problem.
There is a reason why our officers have the same
rights as “real” police, they are real police.
It isn’t the officer's fault that your car was broken
into, that you parked where you shouldn't have, or
that your permit was not displayed. But somehow
the blame always gets shifted onto the officer. What
you don’t see them doing is taking care of the impor
tant things: making sure the campus is safe, finding
new ways to ensure safety and helping victims of
crime. While the safety of your vehicle is truly some
thing to consider, there are lots of obstacles to over
come. The most apparent is the society we live in.
Why do people damage other's property? That is the
most important question. So when a car is damaged,
don’t accuse the officer of not being there when it
happened, ask your peers why it happened.
A Behrend chemistry major
(editor Is note: This letter was submitted before spring
break. No more unsigned letters will be printed in the
Beacon.)
wasn’t taken into consideration and coincidently
all entertainers on campus, including bands,
speakers and performers were white. Would that
be fair? I would hope that people would stand
up and say that it isn’t. 1 would hope that the
people who plan these events would be allowed
to assume that all-white entertainment is not
going to appeal to the black students, faculty and
staff on this campus.
Am I wrong for saying that Fuel would appeal
more to the white students on this campus? Am
I wrong for saying that the Dave Matthews Band
appeals more to college students than to the
elderly? I don’t believe many people would
think that I am wrong for making such
assumptions. But as soon as we throw the words
“black” or “African American” or “minorities”
into the mix, we all suddenly approach the topic
with caution. It’s as if some people are asking to
remove these words from the English dictionary.
The words “black” and “white” aren't bad.
They are not something we should avoid saying
in fear that we aren’t being completely
politically correct. It’s my belief that we should
embrace these words. We should understand that
in many ways we are different. We have
different backgrounds. We enjoy different
things. We relate to different people. It’s what
makes us human. We should be equal in the
eyes of the law, but different in the eyes of each
other.
Anyone who believes that being blind to color
is the solution to fixing a prejudiced society is
foolish and, in a way, racist. Being blind to color
is pretending that we are all the same, living in a
white-dominated world where blacks should just
keep adjusting to our way of living. And that is
unacceptable.
I welcome Shaggy. And it’s not because I think
his music is better than Fuel or Our Lady Peace.
It’s because he will give many whites and many
blacks some diverse music that has eluded
Behrend since I stepped foot on this campus
three years ago,
Snyder’s column appears every three weeks.
DOCS