Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 24, 1994 TAG: 9405250008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In college, tests come and go. If we pass, great. If we fail, no problem - we'll take the course again. But when it comes to dealing with bullets, starvation and homelessness, second chances can't be purchased.
Why do many of my fellow collegians show so little concern for the plight of others?
The answer is simple. It has to do with the inadequate core-curriculum requirements of schools such as Virginia Tech.
Students striving to be engineers, architects and doctors are required to couple their in-major courses with classes such as philosophy, psychology and literature.
Students from throughout Virginia and from other states enter Tech with no idea of and no worries about the nation's problems - and they leave the same way.
It's time to change the core requirements. Ideally, the freshman student entering Tech should be challenged by classes on such topics as urban policy and planning, minority relations and cities in contemporary America. Yes, Tech does offer such courses. Later for Rousseau and Shakespeare.
The inner cities' drive-by shootings, racism, poverty, homelessness and hunger are problems we can't afford to maintain. It's time to challenge the minds of students about these tragic American issues.
Let's ask the amazing minds of Tech students to figure a plan to halt the violence among the gangs in Los Angeles. If they don't want to ruin their potential engineering careers, they' d better come up with a solution.
It is when we do this that students of all races, religions and backgrounds will come together, recognize and analyze the problems in America and be encouraged to do something about them.
NIGEL DAJUAN HATTON
JUNIOR
VIRGINIA TECH
by CNB