PAGE 2
THE DECREE
FRroAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1973
Live And
After G)llege What ?
Let Live!!!
Homecoming is upon us now and the highways leading
to the many parties will be crowded. There can never be
enough said about safety.
There is a cloud no bigger than a tranquilizer pill
appearing on the horizon of traffic safety researchers
these days.
As though they didn’t have enough troubles with the
ominous statistics imcovered in connection with the
alcohol-impaired driver, there is growing evidence that
another type of drug-impaired driver also presents a
problem of tremendous potential.
A person can be taking such drugs for several ailments
and acquired from a number of sources. The cumulative
^ect of the medication is thus greater than would be
anticipated from any of the drugs taken singly.
Such mind-altering drugs as diet pills, tranquilizers,
antihistamines, barbituarates and bromides can impair a
driver’s ability to function effectively on the highway.
When used in conjimction with even moderate amounts of
alcohol, the results can be tragic.
In measuring impairment, the yardstick must be the
individual driver’s ability to handle a car when in a normal
physical condition ... that is, undrugged. The addition of
drugs to the scene creates a dangerous situation for the
driver. IBs perception of time and space is altered and his
driving equilibrium is thrown out of balance.
The magnitude of the legal drug industry can be
measured by the fact that just the promotion and
advertising of beverage alcohol and tobacco, patent
medicines and over-the-counter drugs costs $2 million
every day in the United States.
The real Sunday punch of the drug situation lies in the
so-called “synergistic” effect of drugs combined with
alcohol. This refers to the interaction of drugs which,
when taken together, increases each other’s effectiveness.
This means that a driver taking cold pills, for example,
might after a couple of cocktails, exhibit all the
characteristics of the town drunk. His reflexes could be
slowed, his speech slurred, his vision impaired and his gait
affected.
This man becomes a dangerous driver, by any definition
. . . and only because he woke up with the sniffles and
lacked the knowledge of the possible side-effects of his
pills and cocktails.
One researcher has observed that numerous individuals
arrested for drunken driving are also drug involved. In
certain instances, the individual has a very low blood
alcohol level but has also, in fact, taken some other
substances which are synergistic with alcohol and which
produce all the appearances of gross drunkenness.
With this in mind, please be cautious during the
upcoming festivities. Have a happy homecoming.
The Editors
111
etrse
OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
Editor-in-Chki Chariie Rogers
Associate Editor Tom Hardism
Advertiring MGR .Pha% Frazer
Badness MGR Chariie Rogers
CircnlatioB MGR Bob Lauraraon
Sports Writer .“SmiAey” Cameron
Tyi^ Peggy Verider
Photographer Jay Van Hoose
Adviser Mr. Brace Van Blarcom
Cohminists: Tom Hardison
Reporter: Donald Williams
Basiness Address: Box 3056, Wesleyan College
Rocky Moant, North Carolina 27801
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY WESLEYAN STUDENTS
Opinions PabUdied Do Not Necessarily Represent
Those Of Wesleyu Cdloge
To many college students in
our nation the biggest question
is how they can use their
college education to benefit
others without having a
Master’s or Ph.D. degpree. For
those freshmen and sopho
mores interested in math and
science, the State University of
New York may have the
answer.
On the campus of the State
University at Brockport there
exists a unique program known
as the Peace Corps /College
Degree Program. The pro
gram, the only one in the
U.S.A., was started at Brock
port in 1967, for the purpose of
training teachers in the math
and science areas to be
stationed overseas as Peace
Corps volunteers for two years.
The first five years of the
program were aimed at sending
teachers to Latin America but
the new emphasis is on
Francophone Africa, especially
Zaire, the former Belgian
Congo. In fact the project
director has just returned from
a two year teaching tour there.
The program, which lasts for
15 months, is geared towards
training volunteers who have
finished the equivalent of a two
year prog^ram, 60 credits, with
enough hours in their math or
science major to finish in four
semesters. The graduates, who
minor in French, Zaire’s official
langfuage; receive a Bachelor’s
Degree and provisional New
York State Teacher Certifica
tion.
The program begins in June,
continues through the fall, the
spring and a second semester.
During the two summer
sessions the students receive
intensive training with special
attention given to French,
taught by an international
staff. During the academic year
the trainees take a full load
which includes the French
courses taught by Professor
Georges Hingot, who lived in
Zaire before and after its inde
pendence. The French courses
involve total immersion and are
designed to give the students a
working vocabulary so that
they can teach in French by the
second summer of training.
During the spring semester
the co-directors; Mr. Noble and
academic director. Dr. Elaine
K. Miller, hope to take the
students to schools in French
speaking Canada to give them
the experience of teaching in a
francophone classroom.
Mr. Noble reports that last
year’s groups has finished its
training and is now at schools
throughout the Zaire. The
present group of 26 will take up
their assignments next August.
Both Dr. Miller and Mr. Noble
stress that there is a serious
need for trained teachers, one
that Peace Corps is helping to
fill, so if you qualify for this
program and are interested in
teaching in Africa, write to:
Peace Corps/College Degree
Program, 112 Hartwell Hall,
sue Brockport, Brockport,
New York 14420.
»* ** M
Next time you see
someone polluting,
point it out.
It’s litter in the streets. It’s air that smells.
It’s a river where fish can’t breathe.
You know what pollution is.
But not everyone does.
So the next time you see pollution,
don’t close your eyes to it
VWite a letter. Make a call. Point it out
to someone who can do something about it
People start pollution. People can stop it.
'A ■ AAtfcSei^et
V| TNsNswapKMr*
Th* AdwertiiinB Cound
Keep America Beautiful
99 Park Avenue, New York, New Vbrk 10016