The Struggle With Tuition Raises

   My colleague Megan Harlow wrote an interesting entry on the recent higher education tuition raises. Because of our hurting economy, Universities around the United States including Texas have raised their tuition rates up 20% a year. This increased tuition rate has devastated many, especially the lower and middle class citizens. Harlow points out that there are other opportunities for those struggling to afford these new tuition prices such as community colleges or junior colleges. People could also go straight to the military or simply save money after high school. Unfortunately these options aren't appealing to most.

   Harlow makes a good point when she states that funding for higher education from the state has been shot down because higher education is a choice. In my opinion higher education shouldn't be a choice because to be hired for any decent paying job you have to have a degree, and most jobs will take a degree from a university over a community college. Higher education is essential for most people, so many are going into debt having to pay off all of the loans they had to take out just to earn a degree. For many years people will have to pay off these loans, so they need a good job to do so. But to get a good job you must earn a degree...its a never ending vicious cycle!

   Most students aren't going to receive full ride scholarships, so hoping for a full-ride scholarship your entire life just isn’t practical. Like Harlow said, a solution to this could be attending a community college or a junior college. I can relate to this personally because I attend a community college to complete my basics in hopes to transfer to a university. While this decision saves a good deal of money, it has left me without the "college experience" as Harlow stated. Because I can't afford the going tuition for a university I have had to live at home and take classes at a community college, which has made it difficult to feel like I'm even experiencing college. I'm sure many others are going through the same situation. Texas needs to do something about this. It needs to make higher education a priority and somehow help students that aren't able to afford tuition. If we want our state to prosper I think we need educated people to run it, meaning people with a college degree.

Flawed Redistricting In Dallas

    I chose the editorial Council Should Learn From Flawed Redistricting from the Dallas Morning News and it covered the risky business that went on during redistricting that caused a down fall. After months of debating and redrawing lines the ending result of the map was not looked at as successful.  The editorial stated that city officials should realize what was done wrong so that they may learn from their mistakes by the next decade. It was said that racial politics got in the way of good decision making. This was when gerrymandering really took effect and it took a toll on the new redistricting map for the city of Dallas. Apparently deals were made behind closed doors, and the result of this was a map that shortchanged Latinos and favored incumbents (current holders of political office). Mayor Mike Rawlings has already taken action to improve the bad redistricting job by starting to work through details and make changes to the city's charter.
   When I read this editorial the first thing that came to mind was what we learned in class about Gerrymandering. My first reaction to gerrymandering was that it shouldnt be allowed. Manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency just to favor one class is unfair and unlawful in my opinion. I don't believe gerrymandering should be legal but unfortunately it is.  I also don't agree with the fact that the redistricting was based off of racial politics. A district should not be made based off of race, and the city should not be segregated. This gives the incumbents and advantage and that just seems unfair. I think it's in Rawlings best interest to do as much as he can to prevent this from happening again in the next redistricting year. Its time for a change, and I believe its time to prevent gerrymandering as much as possible so that its the people who are favored, not our political leaders.

A&M and the SEC-Was it the Right Decision?

My classmate Megan Harlow made a very interesting point as she wrote on the topic of A&M leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC(Southeastern Conference). Basically, the Aggies have made the decision to move to the SEC and will no longer be playing their biggest rivalry the Texas Longhorns on thanksgiving day. This has been unfortunate for not only Texas fans, but Aggie fans as well being that these two teams have been rivalries since 1894;that is 118 years! Being a big fan of Texas football myself, I would have to agree on every point Ms. Harlow made. Ms. Harlow pointed out that this decision by the Aggies is separating the hearts of many fans. I believe this is completely true. For a fan, Football is a lot about the competition and loyalty to their team, so when the biggest competition disappears it takes some fun out of the game. A large amount of tradition is being lost, and some students that have waited for the opportunity to participate in that tradition now wont get the chance to do so. I agree with Megan when she states that she is "sad to see it end." Longhorn and Aggie will no longer be rivalries, and I believe this creates a loss of fans. So no, I do not believe it was a smart idea for the Aggies to leave the Big 12 and lose their biggest rivalry. I know that myself, and many other fans looked forward to the day the Longhorns played the Aggies, and now that day may never come again. 118 years of tradition is now lost.

Is the Abortion Sonogram Law Unconstitutional?

If you aren't already aware, Texas has created a new abortion sonogram law. This is a law that requires all women considering abortion to have a sonogram and listen to a description of the fetus before aborting it. This law was deemed unconstitutional by some, saying that it affects the women's reproductive rights. Because the law was granted unconstitutional, the law was appealed. The Supreme Court is now refusing Texas the permission to enforce the new sonogram law while under appeal. The real question is, is the new abortion sonogram law unconstitutional? Although I believe the law is a tad deviant, I don't believe it is unconstitutional. Even though the reason behind this law may be of biased opinion (people not believing in abortion) it can be argued that the law was created for medical purposes. It can be argued that the law was created by concerns for the health of the mother. It doesn't seem unconstitutional to me because it is just another required "medical test." Pregnant women have sonograms all the time, the only thing that could seem unconstitutional is that the mothers do not have an option to say no to the sonogram. The doctor giving a description of the fetus to the patient is not unconstitutional because that is a Doctor's job. I believe people are upset with the fact that they do not have an option to say no to all of this, which is interesting to me because there has never really been a reason to before. In my opinion, I like the law. It allows women to understand what exactly is happening to their bodies when they're pregnant and I believe that is something they need to be informed of. I believe it is necessary that before women get an abortion they truly understand what the procedure is. So in my opinion, the law is not unconstitutional, it just comes from biased opinions.

A Little Perry Humor

I chose the blog entry Do You Want a Revolution by Eileen Smith, editor of In the Pink. This critique of the  ABC news article was very entertaining to me. The author's intended audience was obviously for someone who enjoys the sight of Rick Perry making a fool of himself in the recent debates. If you are informed at all about how these debates are going, you will know that debates aren't Perry's strong point. The author bluntly points that out and makes her opinion clear to all that she agrees with that statement.

The author states that Perry discussed some American history with the Beta Theta Pi fraternity from Dartmouth university and slipped up on his dates. Actually, Perry was off by two whole centuries! Perry was making a point about the intentions of our founding fathers, and their intentions on where the wisdom and power should be held in this country. During this "informative" speech Perry made the mistake of saying the American Revolution happened in the 16th century, when it actually was held during the 18th century. This didn't look too good for Perry.

According to the author, Perry is in the danger zone and is not safe. According to her, Perry's debate performance was at its best "coma-inducing." Although I enjoy the authors humor and sarcasm in this editorial, i feel like its a little too biased for my taste. I agree with the author about Perry making a fool out of himself but it seems to me like the author is bashing on Perry. Although Perry's dates were pretty far off, everyone makes mistakes when they're under pressure. The question is, is it okay for a future leader of our country to make those kind of mistakes under pressure? I certainly don't believe so.

The rise of Cain, the downfall of Perry

I chose the article Herman Cain Rising written by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann from  the Texas Insider on September 26th, 2011. Since the debate, Rick Perry has shown to be a weak opponent of illegal immigration and an even weaker debater. The performance of candidate Herman Cain caught the public’s eyes of the conservatives with his “superstar” quality. A phenomenal debate performance by Cain led to a third place victory in the president’s straw poll in Florida. It also landed him a third place finish in the Michigan straw poll right behind Romney and Perry. Cain is a candidate that offers something different to the table. He offers “an alternative to Obamas class warfare.” Cain takes a new perspective on this issue giving another alternative for minorities to be successful. Obama’s way to the top was through community organizing, affirmative action, and a slow rise up the political ladder. Cain’s alternative to this is dedicating hard work to the private sector, having entrepreneurial initiative and managerial skills, and this is exactly what Cain did. He looks at the upper-class as models, not as envy and doesn’t despise the healthy class. Apparently, he “wants everyone to be rich.” Cain and Mitt Romney’s views are almost parallel to each other, both agreeing that experience in the private sector is better equipped to solve America’s economic problems rather than experience in government service. As Perry slowly fades, Romney is rising and Cain is not far behind him! This editorial caught my eye because although it was fact based, there was an immense amount of opinion evident throughout the editorial. The writers, Dick Morris & Eileen McGann, seemed a little bias to me in this editorial. It was obvious that they had biased feelings towards Herman Cain, calling him a “superstar” and saying how he blew everyone away in the debate. They made sure not to leave out the fact the Perry didn’t do well at all, and even had a downfall in the debate. It was a good editorial, but I would have liked to see opinions about the other candidates as well. It was obvious who the writers were rooting for, and that could be dangerous to a reader that lacks knowledge about other candidates. This editorial could easily change anyone’s mind. Although I think this editorial was biased, I do agree with some of the statements. I agree with Cain’s and Romney’s opinion that experience in the private sector is better equipped to solve America’s economic problems over the government service argument. Perry has devoted years of government service and was not able to have a reasonable explanation for illegal immigration and other factors that affect our economy during the debate.

It's not all about jobs; education's an issue, too!

It's not all about jobs; education's an issue, too!

This article is definitely worth reading; it is quite interesting! Just to summarize the article, since Governor Rick Perry became a candidate for president, some interesting arguments have escalated from citizens wanting answers about our education system.
If you are not already aware, Texas is looking at last place right now for the percentage of Texas residents who have completed high school and have received a high school degree. Now, I will have you know that Texas has not always been in last place. While Perry has been governor, we have gone from being ranked 45th to 50th in number of high school graduates. Some say that Perry was not to blame for our lack of education, and that Texas was already struggling with it before Perry came into office. Other facts show that more people, such as illegal immigrants, have moved to Texas recently who have not completed high school. Some false statements have also been made by Perry which look like excuses to some Texans for why our education isn't where it should be. How will Texas improve their education when Texas' ranking on per pupil spending has dropped from 35th to 43rd since Perry has been elected governor?  This article has made some compelling points on the status of Texas education and is worth further investigation.