Blog #5

Are Our Texas Universities Quality?

            My Texas Representative is Paul D. Workman, and my Texas Senator is Kirk Watson. There are always an innumerable amount of issues that need to be addressed, but there are always a few that stand out for me. The issue that stands out most for me at this time is the quality of higher education in Texas. Due to the way that some of the funding and incentives are set up, some Texas universities focus on research over education and the students lose out. Fortunately this is not a problem with community colleges, only the 4-year universities.

            It is not an issue that is on the news a lot, but it is one of the causes for the deficit in the average test scores for Texas students in civic classes. There was a survey completed at some universities around the nation that tested students on a standardized American History test. The Texas average test scores for freshmen was 47.9%, and the national average was 51.7%, for a deficit of 3.8% (Keener 1). “Worse still, just 2.9 percent of their civic knowledge (according to the survey) comes to them in the college classroom” (Keener 1). On other subjects they are competitive, but the civic core curriculum classes are lacking, as can be seen by the aforementioned statistic on American History. Texas has always been a bit lower on the scale of other schools, and the graduation rate from 4-year universities is rather low at 48.5% (Graduation 1). The Texas graduation rate in is the bottom third of the nation, with the national average being at 55.5%, and the top state, Massachusetts, at 69.2% (Graduation 1).

            The universities don’t want to lose their grant money they are receiving for the research they are undertaking, so the “professors are judged mostly according to their research accomplishments rather than their teaching ability” (Keener 1). They not only fail to spend the extra time helping the students learn the curriculum, they spend a very small percentage of their “at school time” in the classroom. The average amount of time many of the professors in the classroom is “about 21 percent of their time” (Keener 2).

            I understand that research needs to be done, but there are better places or businesses at which it can be done. There is still a need for research to be done at colleges and universities for learning purposes, but not as much as is being performed at this time. There are also other methods in which federal funding can be awarded to colleges, some of which are programs that are already in existence but are seriously under-funded. The best way to try and fix the problem is by “switching from a university-centered approach to student-centered, graduation-focused funding” (Keener 2). This, unfortunately, is not an issue that can be solved quickly, but it is an issue that definitely needs to be addressed.

Keener, Justin. “Higher Education Quality.” TexasPolicy.com. Texas Public Policy Foundation, 2011. Web. 12 April 2012

“Graduation Rates”. Higheredinfo.org. The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. 2009. Web. 12 April 2012