The Texas
10% rule
BY ROBERT CANRIGHT A RULE CREATED BY THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE. IT GUARANTEES THE TOP 10 PERCENT OF EACH HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATING CLASS ADMISSION TO TEXAS UNIVERSITIES
When Texas thought that its current practice of racial discrimination was going to be declared unconstitutional, the top 10 percent rule was created to force the top universities in Texas to accept under-performing students. The hope was that the racial and ethnic mixtures would be similar to those achieved through overt racial discrimination. The top 10 percent rule was a success from that regard. Yet it is a hazard to education in Texas, as will be discussed soon. First, however, we should be aware that the universities in Texas added overt racial discrimination on top of the top 10 percent rule. That is when Abigail Fisher sued (Fisher v Univer-
sity of Texas, No. 11-345). Her case is finally reaching the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow, October 10, 2012. What has happened is that state legislators from districts with large numbers of under-performing students are helping the children of their constituents to cut to the head of the line by playing the race card. The legislature is corrupting the ideal of an academic meritocracy by giving their kids special privileges. The side effect is that the reputation of Texas universities is declining. A friend of mine who interviewed for an engineering job up north was told that they almost rejected his resume because he was from Texas. They told him they don’t hire graduates of Texas universities, but they noticed he went to college in Ohio. Seventyfive percent of the freshman class at UT Austin enters through the 10 percent rule, and many of them would not have gotten in otherwise because they are sub-par. The legislature has been >> Continues on P 02
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