Top Ten

Thank God this abysmal legislative session in Texas (featuring a significant budget surplus but teacher pay raises in the area of $495.00 a year) did not go along with UT Austin on this legislation. However “prejudicial” UT Austin regards the existing legislation as being, that prejudice rests firmly on UT’s continuing committment to its own prejudices. It is simply that the institution dislikes public policy that refuses to “kowtow” to its desire to exercise unfettered choice of its own student population while continuing to graze happily at the public trough. The legislature got this one right, and I applaud those who stood up against the very powerful UT lobby to continue to make academic excellence available to all of the state’s children who have earned the right to attend the state school of their choice through their exemplary performance in high school!

Bill Harris, Professor at University of Texas at Brownsville, at 8:55 am EDT on May 29, 2007

The members of the Texas Legislature voting against this are very short-sighted. What makes universities great are the students it recruits. Without a cap on the 10% rule, UT could become a haven of drab book smart individuals. What will happen to the musicians, artists, and others not forgoing extracurriculars for the best class rank. The most innovative individuals are not necessarily in the top 10% of a high school class. The House was wrong on this vote.

Paul, Financial Aid Associate, at 10:40 am EDT on May 29, 2007

Top 10 Addendum

In my earlier posting, I omitted to mention that “exemplary” should, in fact mean “exemplary,” and it is, unfortunately, all too true that our secondary schools are not always covering themselves in glory on this point. That said, we need to quit making excuses for secondary failure and then acting as though we anticipate it and planning accordingly. It is high time to accord the professionals in those schools the respect they deserve (and pay them accordingly) while insisting on student performance at appropriate levels as a caveat for graduation, let alone distinction. We cannot continue to do business as we have in the past, simply pandering to the secondary schools’ shortcomings and adjusting our expectations downward accordingly.

It is true that there are students outside of the top ten who certainly deserve the opportunity to attend our state’s finest institutions of public higher education, but I don’t think it unreasonable to insist on membership in the top ten to enjoy the particular priority on admittance we are discussing here. Looking at these letters, I am struck by our schizophrenia in the sense that we want to have it both ways. On the one hand, we want to assert that many of the top ten percent of graduates from our public schools are woefully underprepared for college; on the other, we wish to argue that insisting on top ten membership is unreasonable academic elitism.

Here is a novel concept, how about funding the state’s other institutions at UT Austin’s level so that every region of our state and every potential student has the opportunity to get a first class education as long as they are willing to try? The day we do that (right after it rains beer), I will cheerfully support removing the present top ten rule.

Bill Harris, Professor at University of Texas at Brownsville, at 12:10 pm EDT on May 29, 2007

It’s an unlevel playing field

Top 10 Percent doesn’t ensure racial diversity any more than admitting every student in the state of Texas ensures diversity. What good is admitting every student if that student or that student’s family cannot afford the rapid tuition increases at state universities such as UT-Austin?

Addressing the racial divide in college admissions starts with addressing the class gap; the two are often intimately intertwined. “Does Top 10 Percent ensure economic diversity?” is the question we need to ask. Judging by tuition prices and how well families of students admitted were able to bear them from 1997 to 2007, it’s not hard to find an answer.

Does Carlton Banks deserve a shot at UT any more than someone from the Fifth Ward of Houston? It depends on who’s cutting the checks for the stadium expansion.

Steven, UT, at 3:15 am EDT on May 30, 2007

Good Job Texas

I share the sentiments of many of the people posting here.

The Top 10 rule does not solve all the issues we see in education today — underpaid teachers, low-income neighborhoods often times getting substandard education, colleges & universities collecting our tax dollars but catering to those in the higher financial brackets, etc., etc.

However it has helped many many students from lower socio economic neighborhoods to have access to an exceptional university based on the commitment of those students to academic studies.

I applaud the Texas legislative (who often times doesn’t get it right) and especially to the representatives from those less wealthy districts who proved that in the US one person’s vote is still equal to another’s vote — regardless of their economic status. They have done right by their constituents.

And if skills are lacking in some — let’s step up to the plate and provide programs to these students who have already proved their commitment and discipline to achieve good grades and succeed, by providing additional classes to help get them up to speed asap.

For once I am excited my taxpayer’s dollars are going to a worthwhile endeavor.

carmen, Goodwill industries, at 2:15 pm EDT on June 2, 2007

As a graduate of UT at Austin, I too applaud those that fought to keep the 10% rule. Let the rest compete with the 90% left. In 1965 very few Mexican Americans like myself walked the campus at Austin as freshman and later many of us were drafted into the Vietnam war. I think we have contributed enough so that our grandchildren can be longhorns or whatever else they want to be. Amen

Abdon Ibarra, at 3:05 pm EDT on June 15, 2007