Tapsearch Com EditorTom Palaima about education in ethics box
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Palaima: Obama's rah-rah speech ignored sobering reality
Tom Palaima, REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR
Thomas Palaima, U. of Texas professor analysis of President Obama's speech about education
On Aug. 9, in the Gregory Gymnasium at the University of Texas,
President Barack Obama delivered what the White House called "Remarks
by the President on Higher Education and the Economy." The
president's 24-minute speech was a potpourri of remarks, sprinkled
with vague factoids and crowd-pleasing asides about hanging out with
Mack Brown, "rubbing the locker room's Longhorns," and re-creating a
made-in-America export economy we haven't seen since baby boomers
were in high school.
Obama's remarks generated a can-do, feel-good spirit about solving
the problems that have long beset public higher education in our
country. But there was no clear and systematic diagnosis, and his
prescriptions were on the order of a doctor telling a patient with
cancer to take aspirin.
In the atmosphere of a high school pep rally, Obama gave a rah-rah
stump speech relying on his personal charisma and the general
sympathies of his Austin audience. Obama's vision of producing 8
million more college graduates by 2020 met with cheers. But it is
fantastically at odds with fiscal reality, according to experts
surveyed this month by Sarah Cunanne in the Times Higher Education.
The assembled students, educators, political leaders and news media
could have used some straight talk about national and local problems
that have been long in the making. These were clearly laid out four
years ago in the U.S. Department of Education report on the state of
higher education.
The so-called Miller report was sobering. More sobering still are the
data that the president's speech writers could easily get on the
Internet from the annual reports of the American Association of
University Professors, the State Higher Education Executive Officers,
and the UT Office of Information Management and Analysis.
Gary M. Lavergne, UT's director of Admissions Research and Policy
Analysis, quickly provided me with data relevant to how well UT is
serving our state and country in critical areas highlighted by Obama:
increasing access to public higher education by Americans of all
income levels, races and ethnic identities while reducing their
educational debt burdens.
I can only address two points. First, Obama singled out the
University of North Carolina as one of two public institutions that
are "finding ways to combat rising tuition without compromising on
quality." Two clicks on UNC websites reveal this: UNC, a UT
competitor and peer, had total resident tuition and fees in 2009-10
of $5,450.16. On July 21, the UNC chancellor said that for 2010-11,
the figure would be $6,665. That is a whopping 22 percent increase in
a single year. UNC is a strange poster child for combating rising
tuition. But it is indicative of a clear national trend.
Like other states, North Carolina has a large budget shortfall ($800
million). So the UNC system is absorbing cuts of $142 million this
year. But it already had taken cuts of $575 over the past three years.
Many states have followed North Carolina in increasing student
tuition and fees. For example, the University of California at
Berkeley's tuition went up 5.85 percent. It also has resorted to
increasing the numbers of out-of-state students, whose much higher
rates increase revenues radically.
After 30 years of down-sizing government support, state colleges and
universities now have a choice: Raise tuition or "compromise on
quality." In most cases they do both.
Meanwhile, UT, faced with state cutbacks of about 15 percent, has had
its tuition increase capped at 3.95 percent and its ability to
increase the number of out-of-state students restricted. The
compromises on quality already are under way.
As far as making public education available to all aspiring students,
the numbers speak for themselves. The percentage of UT incoming
freshmen who reported parental income of more than $80,000 per year
has risen from 50 percent in 2004 to 56 percent in 2009, while those
declaring less than $40,000 has fallen slightly, from 20 percent to
19 percent. Median household income in Texas in 2008 was $50,049.
About 70 percent of UT's freshmen are above this figure.
In a state that is 36.9 percent Hispanic and 12 percent black, the
corresponding undergraduate student percentages at UT are 16.2
percent and 4.5 percent.
Here is a single point of light. In 2005, those numbers were 14.1
percent and 3.7 percent. Slow progress can be made, but in the
prevailing economic and political climate, it will take more than
feel-good speeches and lucky sports mascots. We could start with more
cold, hard facts analyzed by a highly educated president for a highly
educated and highly motivated audience.
Palaima is professor of classics at UT. He may be reached at
tpalaima@sbcglobal.net.
Palaima: Obama's rah-rah speech ignored sobering reality
Tom Palaima, REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR
Thomas Palaima, U. of Texas professor analysis of President Obama's speech about education
On Aug. 9, in the Gregory Gymnasium at the University of Texas,
President Barack Obama delivered what the White House called "Remarks
by the President on Higher Education and the Economy." The
president's 24-minute speech was a potpourri of remarks, sprinkled
with vague factoids and crowd-pleasing asides about hanging out with
Mack Brown, "rubbing the locker room's Longhorns," and re-creating a
made-in-America export economy we haven't seen since baby boomers
were in high school.
Obama's remarks generated a can-do, feel-good spirit about solving
the problems that have long beset public higher education in our
country. But there was no clear and systematic diagnosis, and his
prescriptions were on the order of a doctor telling a patient with
cancer to take aspirin.
In the atmosphere of a high school pep rally, Obama gave a rah-rah
stump speech relying on his personal charisma and the general
sympathies of his Austin audience. Obama's vision of producing 8
million more college graduates by 2020 met with cheers. But it is
fantastically at odds with fiscal reality, according to experts
surveyed this month by Sarah Cunanne in the Times Higher Education.
The assembled students, educators, political leaders and news media
could have used some straight talk about national and local problems
that have been long in the making. These were clearly laid out four
years ago in the U.S. Department of Education report on the state of
higher education.
The so-called Miller report was sobering. More sobering still are the
data that the president's speech writers could easily get on the
Internet from the annual reports of the American Association of
University Professors, the State Higher Education Executive Officers,
and the UT Office of Information Management and Analysis.
Gary M. Lavergne, UT's director of Admissions Research and Policy
Analysis, quickly provided me with data relevant to how well UT is
serving our state and country in critical areas highlighted by Obama:
increasing access to public higher education by Americans of all
income levels, races and ethnic identities while reducing their
educational debt burdens.
I can only address two points. First, Obama singled out the
University of North Carolina as one of two public institutions that
are "finding ways to combat rising tuition without compromising on
quality." Two clicks on UNC websites reveal this: UNC, a UT
competitor and peer, had total resident tuition and fees in 2009-10
of $5,450.16. On July 21, the UNC chancellor said that for 2010-11,
the figure would be $6,665. That is a whopping 22 percent increase in
a single year. UNC is a strange poster child for combating rising
tuition. But it is indicative of a clear national trend.
Like other states, North Carolina has a large budget shortfall ($800
million). So the UNC system is absorbing cuts of $142 million this
year. But it already had taken cuts of $575 over the past three years.
Many states have followed North Carolina in increasing student
tuition and fees. For example, the University of California at
Berkeley's tuition went up 5.85 percent. It also has resorted to
increasing the numbers of out-of-state students, whose much higher
rates increase revenues radically.
After 30 years of down-sizing government support, state colleges and
universities now have a choice: Raise tuition or "compromise on
quality." In most cases they do both.
Meanwhile, UT, faced with state cutbacks of about 15 percent, has had
its tuition increase capped at 3.95 percent and its ability to
increase the number of out-of-state students restricted. The
compromises on quality already are under way.
As far as making public education available to all aspiring students,
the numbers speak for themselves. The percentage of UT incoming
freshmen who reported parental income of more than $80,000 per year
has risen from 50 percent in 2004 to 56 percent in 2009, while those
declaring less than $40,000 has fallen slightly, from 20 percent to
19 percent. Median household income in Texas in 2008 was $50,049.
About 70 percent of UT's freshmen are above this figure.
In a state that is 36.9 percent Hispanic and 12 percent black, the
corresponding undergraduate student percentages at UT are 16.2
percent and 4.5 percent.
Here is a single point of light. In 2005, those numbers were 14.1
percent and 3.7 percent. Slow progress can be made, but in the
prevailing economic and political climate, it will take more than
feel-good speeches and lucky sports mascots. We could start with more
cold, hard facts analyzed by a highly educated president for a highly
educated and highly motivated audience.
Palaima is professor of classics at UT. He may be reached at
tpalaima@sbcglobal.net.
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economy, note the purchase of a huge carpet made in China (ignoring
the human rights issues connected with such products) as part of a $1
million dollar renovation of a reception and meeting room in the UT
Main Building:
"UT's big spenders show little regard for value of money," AAS
February 24, 2010
UTexas Edu. Research Publication
Ethics Box
Stories behind News in Global Economic Arena
The Rationale Quest
The World's News
Tapsearch explores untold stories
mascot are particularly offensive, when athletics expenditures across
the country are eating into academic funds (an average of $8.9
million per year at the large majority of national BCS institutions
in 2008) see:
(1) -"The Golden Football: The University of Texas' Bad Example," The
Texas Observer 03/05/10
THE GOLDEN FOOTBALL
Economic gods warped sports - Ethics BoxMar 22, 2010 ... Ethics Box - New: Published letters by Ray Tapajna foretelling the ... Ray Tapajna - Here is an article by Tom Palaima about the mixed up ...
WARPED SPORTS