Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Chris Griffin [Click to enlarge]

College Station lacks substantial cultural education. I know this is a college town, albeit, one of the better ones in the nation and making a claim such as the former seems downright incomprehensible. After all, the majority of the population is literate, can pass multiple-choice exams and often possess aspirations such as CEO of the Houston Astros. Very impressive, Aggies; Texas applauds you, but does the world?

In an age where international connections are literally a second away, (wireless connection mandatory), College Station falls, not surprisingly, behind the average curve for cultural appreciation … and mother earth isn't offering any extra credit.

To be fair, Texas A&M is 17th in the nation for international student enrollment and that's a much better number than our 64th placement overall, according to U.S. News & World Report 2008 college rankings. But it's hard to feel like a 17th-place victor when prowling Northgate on the typical Friday night. The scene consists of fishing shirts, cowboy boots, pearl snaps, Sperry's and the typical Texas lingo: twanged English peppered with ill-used and often ill-timed Spanish phrases.

In all honestly, from an outside view, Friday night partiers on Northgate look as though they either just finished herding cattle or just caught Brazos' largest fish. Sometimes the two styles even collide. Now that's haute couture.

To be sure, Aggies have Texas pride. The culture Texas students were raised in breeds just that and for rightful reasons as well. There is no harm in patriotism. There is no harm in pride. But according to an apparently widely known but never written Texan creed, the essence of harm itself exists solely in pragmatism.

Sure, Texans are friendly on the outside, but remember the uproar of restaurant chains around the state that changed French fries to freedom fries? A diner couldn't be sure if he or she had just ordered fried potatoes or a dead Frenchman.

Now, don't miscomprehend. There is no encouragement here to become anti-Texas, but investing yourself in a few pro-world ideas and activities wouldn't do any harm. After all, if the rest of the world recognizes Texas by a drawing in the sand, as the old myth goes, then shouldn't Texans acknowledge the possibility of life elsewhere on the planet? Not everyone is Lone Star proud and Jesus-saved, believe it or not, and what they are instead is just as promising, interesting and honorable.

Continued...

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