Top 10 percent rule is unfair

govman
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:33:47 +0000

At the risk of distracting from the protracted, albeit colorful, debate over how basic’s privilege has disqualified him from maintaining a valid position on the 10% rule, I would like to make an observation. The argument by some seems to be that the rule in question helps disadvantaged students gain access to schools like UT which therefore increases their chance of entering the middle class and a supposed bevy of other benefits. I would argue, however, that rather than lower the standard of admission to UT by using the 10% rule, Texas must raise the standard of education at its other public colleges where inner city/rural students are more likely to make up a significant portion of the school.
I agree that education provides both hope and opportunity, but that will only remain the case if employers, and society as a whole for that matter, believe attaining such an education actually means something and is not just the product of artificial admissions quotas.