Affirmative action doesn't belong in education

El Paso Times ^ | December 30, 2003 | Victor Landa

[FITZ]

There are a few things that will have to change if Texas is serious about providing quality education for all children. One of them is affirmative action. Not the concept, per-se, just the words.

Those two words, affirmative action, when attached to the topic of education, are so encumbered with divisive meaning that they are useless. The term is a lightning rod attracting immediate defensiveness.

People have a nasty tendency to burden words. We hear them once and associate a meaning with them. And as we use them, in conversations, in debates, in arguments, we attach personal perspectives and prejudices. Eventually the meaning is diluted.

Take for instance the recent decision of the University of Texas to again consider race when evaluating student applications. The goal: Reinstate the practice of affirmative action as soon as 2005, which is either great or dismal, depending on what you attach to those words.

The problem is that affirmative action does nothing to further the cause of Texas children. In fact, affirmative action has nothing to do with children. The words have to do with court cases, endless race-based arguments and bitter accusations of favoritism. And the words send all minds gravitating toward higher education. The argument is that in order to close the wide gap between minority and non-minority students enrolled in public universities, race must be a determining factor.

The fact that minorities will soon be the majority of the population in Texas underscores the need for equitable, quality education. A solution must be found in order to avoid the certain economic disaster that will come from an undereducated work force.

But once again words have gotten in the way of a solution. It will do limited good to open the door of opportunity to minority students at the university level if they are not receiving a quality education in elementary, middle and high school. If children are well prepared coming out of high school there will be no need to conjure words and ideas like affirmative action. But then that brings up the problem of equitable school funding.

If you want to eliminate affirmative action at the university level you must first solve the problem of inequality in school funding.

This brings me to another thing that must change. If Texas is serious about providing quality education for all children, the system of school funding based on property taxes should be eliminated.

The wrinkle in the fabric here is that the sanest solution is going to cause the craziest reaction. It's been brought up before: Property taxes for school funding should be eliminated. And in its stead a state income tax should be enacted. It would be a fairer tax with a dedicated goal.

It's simple. The money collected would go to a general education fund divided equally among all the students in the state. Individual schools would receive a predetermined sum for each student, regardless of where they live or of the value of homes in the area. The thing needed is a Legislature bold enough to do it.

We could then eliminate the term from our vocabulary and replace it with the simple concept of fairness.

Victor Landa is a San Antonio freelance writer who often writes for Hispanic Link. E-mail:vlanda@sbcglobal.net

[FITZ]

Hang on to your wallets --- they won't eliminate the property tax would be my bet. Texans will have both a very high state income tax and a very high property tax.

[umgud]

I never dreamed or knew that more money was all it would take narrow the education gap. It's so simple I don't know whay I didn't think of this.

[donmeaker]

I propose this: eliminate state funding for schools. Eliminate the taxes which fund the state funding. Private companies would loan money to students based on their expected ability to get a productive job in their field of choice. Colleges, and high schools would enlarge school departments that were popular with students, rather than departments what were prestigeous in the rarified air of academia.

The first state to do this will suck up jobs from other states because of their low tax rates. The illegal aliens will not bring their children to be fed (school lunch program) and educated on the public dole. Productivity in the remaining schools will increase. Students who are not a good investment, whether because of drug use, bad behavior, or laziness, will not go to school, but they will leave the state to drain welfare in the states which have better benefits.

As crime increases, the concealed carry program will keep the number of active criminals to an appealingly low levels.