4
Clackamas Print
Commentari
Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006
Face Off:
I
Instructor-written text:
The Moon landing
hoax is a hoax itself
Fact: On July 20,1969, Neil
Armstrong was the first person
to ever walk on the Moon.
Just don’t tell that to Bart
Sibrel, who claims that Neil
Armstrong never did walk on
the Moon’s surface. In fact, Mr.
Sibrel believes that nobody has
ever walked on the Moon and
that the 1969 Moon landing
was a hoax. Sibrel “proves” this
in his “documentary” called “A
Funny Thing Happened on the
Way to the Moon,” which can
be purchased for $29 on DVD
at his Web site, www.moon-
movie.com.
On his Web site, Sibrel lists
“10 Reasons Why No Man Has
Ever Set Foot on the Moon.”
These reasons include things
like, “Enlarged photographs
underneath the lunar lander’s
10,0(X) ¡pound] thrust engine
show the soil completely
undisturbed,” and “We uncov
ered some mislabeled, uned
ited, behind-the-scenes footage
from NASA that shows the
crew of Apollo 11 clearly stag
ing a shot of being half-way to
the Moon.”
Sibrel goes on to talk about
how the Moon landing was
faked because Russia accom
plished many things in space
before America. He also claims
that it was used as a distrac
tion from the Vietnam War.
Of course, he mentions that
the American flag waved in
die video footage of the Moon
landing.
Yes, Sibrel’s theories are
easily disapproved. Such as, all
those “rare” and “top-secret”
photos and video footage he
charges people to look at can
be all found on NASA’s Web
site. He also neglects to men
tion that one of the “rare” pho
tos he has, a picture of a rock
with a “C” on it, is one out of a
hundred other duplicate photos
of the same rock without a “C”
chi it
Oh, and that whole bit
about the flag waving in the
footage of the Moon landing?
The reason it was waving is
because the astronaut’s anus
were moving around when he
was trying to plant the flag into
the ground, as seen clearly in
the video footage of the event
When Sibrel’s conspiracy
theory became public (cour
tesy of, who else, Fox TV),
scientists went crazy. Hundreds
of sites and essays have been
published by scientists refitt
ing Sibrel’s claims. NASA
even went so far as to dedicate
an entire section of its site to
debunking the “Moon Hoax.”
If anyone is wondering if
justice has ever come to Bart
Sibrel, it did a few years ago. '
On Sept 9, 2002, Bart
Sibrel cornered Buzz Aldrin,
shoved a Bible in his face,
told him to swear on it that he
actually went to the Moon and
then proceeded to call him a
liar and a thief. In response, Mr.
Aldrin promptly socked Sibrel
in the jaw and walked away.
This, my friends, is what we
call karma.
Instructors using own
Instructors using own I
texts benefit students texts can inhibit /ear™
, David Stark
11 The Clackamas Print
Everyone loves it when an
instructor has to interrupt class
to check something in the book,
right?
Dead wrong, actually.
It’s quite annoying when
teachers are unsure of the facts
in the textbooks for which stu
dents pay a great deal of money.
Not to mention that often in
classes a teacher says to ignore
a sidebar, or even skip an entire
chapter that won’t be covered.
Now if only there were some
way for teachers to know exactly
what is in the books they teach
out of, some way to eliminate
extraneous information.
Some sort of teacher-written
textbook, if you will.
Why not look at that as a
solution and see if it meets the
criteria that have been laid out.
Teacher knowing what’s in the
book: check. Teacher not tell
ing you to ignore things in the
book: check. Book actually fol
lowing the teacher’s lesson plan
without having the student read
ing chapters out of order: check.
Well, it seems that teacher-writ
ten textbooks have everything
that’s needed.
While they don’t have the
clinical detachment of books
written by people who are paid
to put the maximum number
of details into the minimum
amount of space, they are a
much easier read.
Just ask anyone who has
taken a class where the teacher
wrote the in-class textbook. He
or she will tell you that the class
experience is superior to classes
where the instructor didn’t write
the book.
While not all teachers have
the necessary amount of time
or skill it takes to tackle a task
on the scale of writing a text
book, the rewards to complet
ing a project like that are truly
staggering.
In addition, a teacher who
uses a self-written text
book will have con
fidence in the mate
rial. How often do
teachers
complain
about the inadequa
cy of the text?
Sadly, the answer
is quite often.
Teacher-
written text
may
books
not be of a
higher qual-
ity than those
written
by
individuals
or groups who
are paid to
churn
out
textbooks,
but they are
more use
ful, more .
applicable
to class
es and
much
more
fun to
read.
Frank Jordan
I The Clackamas Print
As a fairly longtime student at
Clackamas Community College (by
necessity, not necessarily by choice),
I have had the opportunity to take a
wide variety of classes taught by seme
truly wonderful instructors. Those
instructors have been forced to use
textbooks written by some
other academics in those
chosen fields that some
times have been really
good and informative,
whi le some other
texts have been
truly awful.
But the question
is this: Should
instructors who
have
pub
lished text
books be able
to use those
texts in the teach
ing of their own
classes? In the fields
of math and science,
where, in most cases,
the answers are fair
ly cut-and-dried, this
should be easy to
answer. I person
ally do not have a
problem with the
question as far as
those classes are
concerned.
My problem
is in the other
classes, such as
or
Literature,
Philosophy, or
other English or
Social
Science
Photo Illustration by Jeff Sorensen Clackamas Print classes. I had the
opportunity to take Literature 1(
(Fiction) from Craig Lesley, who t
a wonderful instructor and an aca
plished writer. Lesley’s publ
works are really very good boo
and I encourage everyone to I
them. But thank God that I tool
class in fictional literature before!
books were the required readiJ
those classes.
How would you feel if you J
told to write an essay or a paper®
on your interpretation of a piel
fiction, knowing that fee instd
of your class wrote the piece of
tion? Just try to argue your point«
the author, knowing that your ga
depended on it Ifyoutooktheol
site road of what you thought!
the author was trying to say, \vq
you offend the author/instruct J
receive a bad grade because of it?]
Granted, good instructors wq
able to see both sides of any U
ment, and as long as a student tn® t
a valid point, then the grade shol
be based on that alone. I just H
that it is a bad idea for iinjuc ® ’
to teach classes based on their d®
published works, where a lot of a
grade may depend on interpret^«
of those works. Especially in I®
classes that are required for a de®
Elective classes are a little ditfefl
but a student’s grade point
may be at stake.
® -
If a student takes a class®
at Clackamas and is uneomta®,-
with the textbooks or reading i®
rial, then he or she should go
and speak up. Many people wiH
you that you don’t have a choice®
someone will hear you. Tcxtb® ?
are expensive to begin with, so H j
fully students will be able to pic®
choose what classes they have to®
and deal with those according!®
good luck to you all out there.
Classroom censorship: unacceptable, inexcusabl
Matt Olson
I The Clackamas Print
Gay marriage, evolution,
historical atrocities and gen
erally disagreeable material
are a part of life. Why then,
would parents and school sys
tems want to censor them and
keep students from preparing
for a difficult aspect of adult
hood?
Is censorship a valid prac
tice? When is censorship
appropriate? Who should cen
sor what, apd how?
In college, censorship is
frowned upon, and is mostly
inappropriate because the pro
cess of education is dependent
upon challenging the mind.
Still, administrations dic
tate policy involving subject
matter, restricting discussion
through intimidation or threat
of punishment.
How then, should colleges
and other schools deal with
this problem that affects the
past, present and future?
Firstly, society needs to
advocate the ideal of free
thought and discussion. With
an open forum for individu
al thought, people will fur
ther their understanding of
humanity.
Secondly, tolerance of this
freedom needs to be univer-
sal. The philosophy that every
voice matters is important in
the success of the democratic
process, and if even a
minority dissents then
we need to respect
their
opinion.
Thus
universal
acceptance is a
must.
Finally,
the
process
needs
to start at every
level of society,
be it the home,
school, workplace
or government.
In a perfect
world,
these
steps would
be taken and
the censor
ship wouldn’t
be a problem
any more.
It’s
agreed
though, that cen-
sorship is a problem.
Some believe it shouldn’t
exist, some believe it should
be very carefully administered
and others swear by its power
to “improve” life.
Colleges in Oregon seem to
have a good system of checks
and balances regarding mate
rial covered in classrooms and
on campus. The communities
are not afraid to voice their
opinions, and neither are the
students.
In Writing 122,
a required class
for almost all
of the degrees
offered here at
Clackamas, stu
dents are taught
to think and read
critically.
Most
often this is done
by
challenging
students’ percep
tions and process
of interpretation.
This pro
cess
is
) repeated
in
many
other class
es, including
Comparative
Religions,
Philosophy,
Business Ethics and
many more.
Even a
seemingly benign class such
as an athletics course will uti
lize a story of cheating to
inspire students to be honest
about their performance.
Utilizing books that wl
or are firebrands is a vcD
useful tool.
Controversy
food for debate and ch^H
Whatever the change may®
out to be is dependent o®
individual.
I
So the crux of the matte®
censorship in the classro®
Historically, censorship®
often designed to “pro®
impressionable minds,
deprives them of their “f®
for-thought.” In the case®
the college student, cen®
ship is encountered abst®|
ly through text selection
behind-the-scenes policies«
omit certain subjects. -H
These actions are ini
sponsible and inapprop®
College students are adu®
and as the last stage in th®
preparation for the work®
and all aspects of culture, I
leges should not be wor®
about protecting or restrict®!
students’ education.
I
Though it remains thajc®
sorship is a common pry®
in the US, colleges should®
one arena where this pi^HL
is nullified and people’s ni®|
are open to all possibiliti»®!
opinions. That is the truledBI
cation that is required foikheBl
transition into adulthood®»