Don't undercut Texas higher ed - [personal transformation whine as Rick Perry pushes efficiency]

The fundamental fallacy is that education is treated as a commodity when it is a personal transformation experience. -- John Frederick, provost, University of Texas at San Antonio

Just as Texas was gaining momentum in its effort to boost more of its universities to world-class status — an accomplishment that would make them tremendous economic development engines for the state — Gov. Rick Perry, his advisers and his university regents kick off a new debate by pushing for more “efficiency.”

The push could aggressively move universities toward smaller faculties that concentrate on the number of graduates produced at the expense of the quality of education and the research produced by a relatively small number of students and faculty who focus on subjects off the beaten path.

As the UTSA provost, in the quote above, lucidly told Express-News higher education writer Melissa Ludwig for her story published Sunday about the impact on the assembly-line philosophy emerging in Austin, higher education can not be reduced to numbers.

For example, to judge an institution by the number of credit hours taught by each professor is to take a destructively narrow view of the role of research universities in particular. Higher-education critics veer dangerously toward a one-size-fits-all attitude.

The bottom-line approach also disregards the importance of crucial subjects — such as the top-rungs of math and science — that are not broadly popular with students but develop the crucial professions that push discoveries and job-creating advances in knowledge. Cutting-edge, hard-to-master disciplines attract a small but important cadre of students and professors.

Sadly, the new emphasis on efficiency could easily undercut the effort to create more Tier One universities. Several Texas institutions, including UTSA, are in the early stages of efforts to dramatically improve quality and enhance research as they reach for the Tier One goal.

Texas policymakers must not lose sight of the fact that Tier One institutions spin off companies and high-paying jobs. Abandoning the investment would be a foolish retreat.

Budget difficulties do require making the most of higher education dollars, and universities are willingly tackling that endeavor. Truthfully, Texas institutions of higher education have never been lavishly funded.

But measuring success with a business model is shortsighted and shows a misunderstanding of the purpose and benefits of universities.

If the Lone Star State is going to be an economic superstar over the long run, academia must be nurtured instead of slashed and bashed.

Gov. Rick Perry said "no" to competing in "Race to the Top." Texas Knows Best How to Educate Our Students

But Rep. Shelia Jackson-Lee and her Democratic Party wanted Perry's signature so the "money would flow to our schools within days."

Gov. Perry sued for Texas' money (without Washington telling us how to spend it) -- And won! Promise Kept.

Mona Charen: NRO Beware those 'radical' ideas -- Good opinion piece on Perry and education – Reagan simplicity that works

Chris Christie article -- Even Democrats are now alarmed about the state of education in this country but its too late because the GOP owns this issue.

UCLA: "Gov. Rick Perry’s ‘Seven Breakthrough Solutions’ would make for bad business, undermine meaning of a university"

Perry Draws Flak for Plan to Run Universities Like Businesses ……..”Perry, who has been governor since 2000, has filled state boards and commissions with those who share his vision and has launched a public attack on college costs.

“A bold, Texas-style solution,” the governor said in an address to the Legislature. “I’m challenging our institutions of higher education to develop bachelor’s degrees that cost no more than $10,000, including textbooks.”

The amount is about a quarter of what students at the University of Texas and Texas A&M pay for tuition and books. An organization formed to fight the changes, Texas Coalition for Excellence in Higher Education, counts among its members power Republicans such as TRT Holdings Chief Executive Robert Rowling, who gave $1 million to the conservative “super PAC” American Crossroads. Handling media for the group former George W. Bush adviser Karen Hughes, the Post reported.

Nonetheless, some of Perry’s higher-education ideas could be catching on elsewhere. Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he was passing on a list of higher education reform ideas from Texas known as the “Seven Breakthrough Solutions” to candidates for the Florida university and college boards of trustees, the Post reported.

Perry creates online university Gov. Rick Perry announced Wednesday that Texas is getting a branch of Western Governors University, a private, nonprofit school whose online model dovetails with Perry's emphasis on flexibility and affordability in higher education.

An executive order issued by Perry calls on the state's education and workforce agencies to help Western Governors establish WGU Texas.

[Texas Education Agency] TEA to lay off 178 workers [Thousands of pink slips for state workers]

[Rick] Scott Promotes Controversial Education Reforms [Rick Perry has championed] “Gov. Rick Scott has begun discreetly promoting the same changes to the higher education system that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has championed. The proposals include some of the same reforms pushed by conservatives in K-12 schools: merit pay for professors, tenure reform, and generally a much greater emphasis on measurement of whether professors are turning out students that meet certain goals.

The attempt in Texas has caused something of an identity crisis in that states higher education community, with opponents saying what needs to be reformed is Perry's control over university policies.<<< Florida might reject $100 million [Fed] grant to educate children [tied to Obamacare]

Perry's education record distinctly different from Bush's

Higher Education Coalition attack on [Texas Gov. Rick] Perry raises eyebrows

[Texas Education Agency] TEA to lay off 178 workers [Thousands of pink slips for state workers]

Gov. Perry: Veterans’ Experiences, Skills are Valuable to Our Workforce "The knowledge and skills our veterans bring back from service are an important, and all too often untapped, resource for our communities," Gov. Perry said. "While we can never fully thank them for their service to our nation, I'm proud to sign this important bill, which helps veterans and military service members transition to civilian life by applying their skills and experience to help them graduate more quickly and save money on tuition."

A cry in the black education wilderness - LINKS to education, leftists and race.

Rick Perry Leads the Way on Higher-Ed Reform [snip] First, runaway college costs are an important “kitchen table” issue for American families. After the economic woes of the past decade, many families are wondering how they are going to afford to send their kids to college (the yearly cost of attending an in-state four-year public college now tops $16,000 per year).

Second, like our public schools, America’s colleges are woefully underperforming. The authors of the recently published book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses found that 45 percent of college students show no improvement in critical skills after two years in college. Troubling statistics are forcing many families to question whether investing time and money in college is really worth it, particularly since many college graduates are struggling to find employment and appear to have gained few marketable skills.

Third, colleges are creating a heavy burden for taxpayers. According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, higher-ed spending accounts for approximately 10 percent of state spending. And federal subsidies for higher education (including grants, loans, tax credits, and direct payments to schools) amount to well over $100 billion annually.

Fourth, colleges have long been an intellectual driver of progressivism in American life. I am sure I am not the only person who found my undergraduate and graduate school years to have been a tiring indoctrination in leftist ideas. It is surely no coincidence that young American voters are more included to vote for the Left after this indoctrination.

For too long, the Right has neglected the need to challenge and reform American higher education. But in the current political climate, reforming colleges and universities (as well as our student-aid policies) is an eminently winnable fight — and one that would yield big gains for students and taxpayers.

Conservative leaders around the country should follow Rick Perry’s lead. [end]

LA Times story that underscores reasons for Perry’s 7 Solutions push: Take back the liberal arts - Too often, liberal arts courses aren't attuned to undergraduates looking for a broader understanding of the world but toward professor's narrow interests. -

………”Amherst once had a college-wide course called "Evolution of the Earth and Man," team taught by faculty from geology through genetics. It was exactly the sort of thing that drew people into the sciences. However, that offering no longer exists. Such classes don't earn points for the professors who plan them. Instead, they are expected to be doing research that will lead to tenure or higher ranks, which often means they are concentrating on ever more obscure topics.

An American Mathematical Society study of introductory courses found that only 11% were taught by regular faculty. Professors making their mark in "orbit structure of diffeomorphims of manifolds" feel their talents would be wasted teaching Math 101. But they might mull Albert Einstein's words to young researchers: "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother."

There are still colleges where the contents of the bottles match the labels. But they tend to be more modest schools, ones that don't expect their faculties to make national reputations in research. Occidental College in Los Angeles is such a school, as is Hendrix College in Arkansas and the new Quest University Canada in British Columbia. And there are excellent dedicated liberal arts colleges within affordable public systems. New College of Florida and St. Mary's College of Maryland are two; also Arizona State University's Barrett honors college and Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York, which waives tuition for students who maintain a 3.5 grade-point average.

As high school students and their parents consider college options, they might want to take a careful look at catalogs and course descriptions. In higher education these days, it's buyer beware.” [end]

Rick Perry Texas State Board of Ed appointment -- July 20, 2011: Meet Barbara Cargill, the SBOE's Latest Chief ……..>>>Her supporters say the Baylor University graduate is a mild-tempered, fair leader who is well suited to lead the 15-member board. Her critics say she is a dangerous culture warrior who injects her religious and political agenda into the classrooms of the country’s second largest public school system. But for those who follow the board’s every movement, there’s agreement on one point: For better or worse, Cargill’s tenure will likely bring more of the same.

Cargill’s immediate predecessors in the chair were, like her, a part of the majority-Republican board’s tightly knit gang of six social conservatives.

Because of that, her appointment “doesn’t change a lot,” said Dan Quinn, the spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, a liberal watchdog of the board and fierce opponent of its social conservatives.

“She has voted in lockstep with Gail Lowe and Don McLeroy in the past," he said. "There's no real space between them."

McLeroy held the chairmanship from 2007 to 2009 and said Lowe and Cargill share many qualities. “She is so similar to Gail with her complete integrity and honesty," he said. "Those two ladies are some of the finest I ever met."

McLeroy suffered the same fate as Lowe during the 2009 legislative session. The Bryan dentist, who lost to current member Thomas Ratliff in the 2010 Republican primary, describes Cargill and Lowe as some of his best friends. He said Cargill was “the scientist on the board” and that she was known for independently investigating all the issues that came before it.

The board’s longest-serving current member, David Bradley, echoed McLeroy. “She does her homework,” said Bradley, who consistently votes with Cargill. “Sometimes she would make light of the fact that when I get to the meeting I'm just opening my agenda for the first time.”

He also praised her modesty, a quality he said would serve her well as chairwoman. “I don't think you'll ever find her using the word 'I,'” he said. “She blushes at the drop of a hat, quicker than Gail Lowe. So the guys on the board have to be very careful.”

Cargill’s critics point to her role in the rewrite of science curriculum as evidence that she has used her position on the board to promote her own political and religious beliefs. She was instrumental in pushing the new science standards that students "analyze, evaluate, and critique" evidence for scientific explanations for theories like evolution — a move praised by the Discovery Institute, which supports research challenging what its website refers to as "neo-Darwinian theory." During the debate on science curriculum, she also passed an amendment that added the discussion of different scientific estimates on the age of the universe to the standards. <<<<………………

May 2008: Plan to rewrite English standards prompts criticism…………….>>>AUSTIN — Don McLeroy "has created havoc" as chairman of the State Board of Education and should be replaced, the senior member of the board said in a letter to Gov. Rick Perry.

"It is such a shame that after all these years of trying to improve public education in Texas, we are taking steps backwards because of Don McElroy," Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi said in her letter to Perry, misspelling McLeroy's name.

Berlanga, who has been on the 15-member board since 1984, said McLeroy's leadership has been a disaster and asked Perry to replace him with "a moderate conservative who can work with all members of the State Board of Education and the citizens of this state."

Berlanga faults McLeroy for the way he has engineered the rewriting of the state's English language arts and reading curriculum, which will go to the board for a final vote on Thursday.

[snip]

She said McLeroy has ignored board instructions to Texas Education Agency staff by issuing separate dictates and deceived public school teachers, ignoring their recommendations in favor of out-of-state teachers in the development of new English language arts and reading standards.

And she renewed earlier criticisms of McLeroy for inviting experts in topics ranging from special education and dyslexia, but not including Hispanic experts in the development of English standards. "Any intelligent, logical person would have named an expert who had dealt with Hispanic children and language minority children since more than (47 percent) of the 4.5 million students in our public schools are Hispanic," Berlanga wrote.

[snip]

She does not expect Perry to accede to her request, but the governor should, at least, speak to McLeroy about her complaints, she said.

"He can certainly encourage him to change his behavior ... (and) tell him that he can't behave this way anymore," Berlanga said Tuesday. "His tactics, I don't think anyone can change, but he's got to let the teachers speak and don't yell at them and don't be rude."

Berlanga should take her objections to the full board, Perry said, "and the board will appropriately make the right decision."

"I would suggest focusing on the issues that are important to the people of the state of Texas, not on whether I particularly like someone's personality," Perry said.<<<<………..

http://www.thebatt.com/news/editorial-what-s-in-a-grade-1.2540788

The release of Governor and potential presidential candidate Rick Perry’s Texas A&M transcript set off a media frenzy this weekend as commentators and columnists feasted on the underwhelming scores.While releases like this make for fun facts and cute analysis it should be asked, “Why should we care?”

College scores can be a great indicator of skill right out of college. They’re helpful for getting into graduate school and ascending the ivory tower, and they indicate a student’s proficiency in each subject. When evaluating a 61-year-old potential presidential candidate low grades are both meaningless and not uncommon.

George W. Bush joked about being a C student at Yale with a four-year average of 77. The “complex” John Kerry had a four-year average of 76 also at Yale. While Rick Perry, the face of the Texas economy, received a D in principles of economics, Al Gore, the face of global warming, received a D in Natural Sciences his sophomore year and a C-plus in natural sciences his senior year at Harvard. The Washington Post said in 2000, “[Gore’s] generally middling college grades at Harvard in fact bear a close resemblance to the corresponding Yale marks of his presidential opponent, George W. Bush.”

The point isn’t to deride Bush, Kerry, Gore or Perry, but that college transcripts are only a snapshot of a person’s life. Transcripts may give you a glimpse of Perry the student but they tell little about Governor Perry.

Drawing conclusions from information almost four decades old is a fool’s errand.

It would be just as absurd to assess college students by when they began walking.

It would be nonsensical to observe that Rick Perry earned a D in economics as a democrat while as a Republican governor, Texas has created 37 percent of all-net new jobs in America since the recovery began according to Richard Fisher of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

While we’re using old information to draw ridiculous conclusions it should be obvious that Perry is smarter and more driven than the college dropout Bill Gates.

The perversion of Perry’s 39-year-old transcript is a manifestation of ivory-tower elitism at its worst.

This pervasive dogma tells us that our measured academic achievement during a four-year period is more important than all our life lessons.

It’s absurd considering real world employers rarely care about college grades after a graduate’s first job.

In the real world, a college degree quickly becomes nothing more than a checkmark among more important items like work history and special skills.

This dogma would have us believe Rick Perry’s D in Shakespeare is more relevant than a record consisting of years as a state legislator, agriculture commissioner, lieutenant governor, and almost a decade as governor.

This dogma implies that Rick Perry’s C in gym matters more than issues like Gardasil, the Trans-Texas corridor and the seven solutions for higher education.

This culture of elitism is the reason every administration has a parade of eggheads running back and forth between Washington, D.C. and the ivory tower. These experts and policy wonks are evaluated on academics by academics more often than on unemployment rates and economic growth.

That’s not to say we don’t need eggheads and policy wonks, every politician has them, but when evaluating a leader, an F in organic chemistry is far less important than the decisions made after graduation.

As the longest-serving current governor of the second-largest state economy, Perry has relevant points of criticism. His college transcript is not one of them.

"I think there is a path to citizenship for ~~those young men and women~~ ILLEGAL ALIENS who have served their country," Perry said.

THEIR COUNTRY?! Perry thinks America is THEIR COUNTRY?!
Perry wants to give ILLEGAL aliens citizenship

In 2001, Perry signed into law the very first Texas “Dream ACT.” It allowed the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at any Texas university. Perry defended the Texas “Dream ACT,” saying, “To punish these young Texans for their parents' actions is not what America has always been about.”

Perry then jetted off to Mexico and bragged to the Mexicans that Texas passed this law, saying, “The message is simple, educacion es el futuro, y si se puede.” Education is the future, and yes we can.
Rick Perry’s immigration problem

In February 2007, Perry signed a shocking executive order forcing every sixth-grade girl to submit to a three-jab regimen of the Gardasil vaccine. He also forced state health officials to make the vaccine available "free" to girls ages 9 to 18. The drug, promoted by manufacturer Merck as an effective shield against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) and genital warts, as well as cervical cancer, had only been approved by the Food and Drug Administration eight months prior to Perry's edict.

Perry defenders pointed to a bogus "opt-out" provision in his mandate "to protect the right of parents to be the final authority on their children's health care." But requiring parents to seek the government's permission to keep an untested drug out of their kids' veins is a plain usurpation of their authority. Translation: Ask your bureaucratic overlord to determine if a Gardasil waiver is right for you.

Libertarians and social conservatives alike slammed Perry's reckless disregard for parental rights and individual liberty. The Republican-dominated legislature also balked. In May 2007, both chambers passed bills overturning the governor's unilaterally imposed health order.
Perry's vaccine order exposed lapse in political, policy judgments Rick Perry’s Superficial Extremism The Texas governor’s record doesn’t live up to his rhetoric.

“The Gardasil debacle is just one of many concerns a wide range of grass-roots conservative activists have about Perry’s record as governor. He’s soft on illegal immigration despite a few recent nods to border enforcement. He’s prone to crony capitalism. And as the vaccine mandate scandal shows, he demonstrated Nanny State tendencies that are anathema to Tea Party core principles.

Once again, the Perry campaign proves my point about the non-walkback-walkback. If Perry “erred on the side of life,” what his campaign continues to suggest is that those who opposed his Gardasil mandate from the beginning chose death. Instead of renouncing the human shield demagoguery he engaged it after the repeal, the Perry campaign has doubled-down. There is nothing — nothing — Tea Party about this.

The Gardasil debacle is a useful red flag on Perry’s basic political instincts, judgment, core values, and trust. It is no surprise — given his ties to Merck — that Perry is a consummate practitioner of corporate welfare “public-private partnerships.”
Plumbing the rest of the Perry record

Perry’s campaign website lists the Trans-Texas Corridor as one of his accomplishments. But is it something Perry really wants broadcast as an achievement? The Texas Republican Party’s 2010 platform includes a plank specifically opposing the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Rick Perry's NAFTA Superhighway Problem

That’s why I am also excited that Texas Secretary of State Henry Cuellar is working on an initiative that could extend the benefits of telemedicine to individuals living on the Mexican side of the border.
~ Rick Perry

Think ObamaCare is Bad? Rick “Open Borders” Perry Wanted a Bi-National Plan That Would Include Mexico

VIDEO Perry compares Giuliani to Reagan

VIDEO: Perry thanked by Vicente Fox for illegals in-state tuition

Rick Perry has a very questionable past. But one thing is not in question and that is Rick Perry is NOT conservative!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.