By "radical", I mean- left wing extremism of a sort that would warm Mao Tse Tung. Our governor Rick Perry believes two things about UT- 1. UT is too expensive 2. The way to "fix" it is through state controls of prices. The former belief is out of willful ignorance, and the latter from misguided (and actually dumbass) thinking. Any real free market conservative would tell you an institution like UT, whose main problem is that far more people want to attend than it has room for, is priced just fine. Yes, it is expensive and becoming more so. What is the real free market and capitalist solution? Build more UTs! More schools modeled after it. Supply and demand, my friends. The second idea- Perry's "solution"- is scary in its wrongheadedness. Controlling prices by limiting payments to faculty and ignoring independent accreditation boards is a sure fire route to medicocrity and...wait for it...higher prices. Have we not learned? State managed price controls do not work! They did not work for any of the Soviet 5 year plans, nor for the Great Leap Foward (nor for Nixon when he tried them to stop inflation). The invisible hand of the market is too powerful, and experience shows us that the state is no match for it. Why is Perry pushing this? Because he is in with a so-called "think tank" that more than anything is upset that there are so many liberals on campuses. Too bad. That's life in this great, diverse world. If they proposed these measures at another campus in the UT system, one that was struggling, and let the market home them into something useful and desirable, I could support it. But not at UT- trying to radically transform a place that is already one of the state's greatest assets. I am a right wing reactionary, and I am inclined to vote for a Democrat for governor in the next election. Perry is the worst kind of radical- ruthless, and with complete faith that he is right. He needs to lose.
well said TaylorT! Another conservative on WM who loathes Perry. Seriously, who votes for this assclown?
Well said Taylor as well- I don't care if you vote for a Dem or Repub- and I don't care what party Perry belongs to- the only thing that matters are his ideas- and they really are moronic. And sadly as I had to leave the state- I can tell you- as opposed to earlier Governors- coverage of Perry is 100% embarrassing as an ambassador of Texas. He is a national joke.
I have two kids at UT and it would be a lot more affordable if $1000 per semester of the tuition I pay didn't go to pay for someone "less fortunate".
I didn't realize that education was a supply and demand proposition. I was under the impression that we wanted to provide the best education possible to our citizens so they could become more productive citizens. I guess we do want to shut out those less fortunate.
Does UT limit the amount of students that it admits every year? I think so. There are many students who get denied admission, why? They are willing to pay the price of admission to a school. Does the cost of tuition have anything to do with the performance of the school? No, it has to do with the quality of instruction, or better yet, the perceived quality of instruction. You will pay almost twice the amount of tuition, books, etc. to attend TCU. Is their education that much better than UT? UT could most likely admit more students, or use online technologies to reach more students. The playing field is not level.
Perry wants to turn UT into a trade school, with on-line education and paying professors according to students' rating of their classes. Research has no value to this bottom line approach. The State of Texas has gradually reduced support of UT to 30% of its budget, yet Perry wants more and more control through his appointed henchmen. Affordable education and trade school type classes are good ideas, and that is what we have community colleges and non Tier 1 universities for. Perry can strengthen that class of schools for those goals. According to the State of Texas constitution, The University of Texas is created to be a university of the first class, not a glorified mail order community college. Perry wants a report on how many classes, how many students, and how much research each professor does, so he can formulate some Mickey Mouse criticism based on what kindergarten teachers do, apparently the limit of his education understanding. He could easily cause UT to be censured for these tactics, and to fall to Tier 2 or 3 status with his proposals. Every UT grad should have their blood boiling over these ham-handed attempts at insider control from the governor's office. According to this morning's AAS article, a report such as the one Perry is trying to get UT to produce quantifying teaching hours, student numbers and research funding was produced at Texas A&M and drew a rebuke from the Association of American Universities, because such lists ignore quality of education. UT is not McDonalds. Quit trying to turn it into one. This insidious attack on quality education could easily cause an exodous of the best professors. We are in competition for them with Michigan, Cal, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, and other quality universities. We recruit them, provide labs and help them get research funding, endowed chairs and other amenities. They have choices where they can teach and do their improtant research. Get your grubby, stinkin' misguided hands off of UT, Perry.
The cost of tuition most likely has more to do with college loan guarantees than anything else. Once the government got involved the tuition landscape changed. Schools get their money, and they waste a lot of it. There are a lot of students who would qualify to get into UT, but can't. Why? Because of quotas. I'm not a Perry supporter at all, I want him out of here as fast as you guys do.
How some of you are just figuring out that Perry is a jackass is beyond me. It is how most of us view the rest of you conservatives as well. Strongheaded and stubborn regardless of the affect to others lives. As long as your bottom line is met.
Strongheaded and stubborn regardless of the affect to others lives. As long as your bottom line is met. HornsForever, Sounds a bit like Obama, but it is clear he has no intention of meeting the bottom line. Seems the only difference there.
SB 175 relates to the automatic admission of undergraduate students to certain general academic teaching institutions and to scholarship and other programs to facilitate enrollment at institutions of higher education. It doesn't madate quotas for any of the schools. What is it I'm not getting?
