Contempo Magazine Blog

by Dr. Tony Magana

A change proposed in the automatic admission of a student in the top ten percent of any Texas high school to public universities by state Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) is creating controversy

In almost every state as the economy has declined the number of students who might normally have considered attending a private university has dropped while the number applying to instate public university has dramatically increased. The difference in tuition costs between the two can vary as much as $40,000 or more per year. Top rated public universities across the country are now becoming much selective and increasing their admissions standards in response to the increased quality of the applicant pool.

Texas Senate Bill 175 (SB 175) was sponsored by the well known education reform advocate Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) at the request of the University of Texas which would change a rule about automatic admission to a Texas public university. Currently public colleges and universities in Texas are required to admit applicants who graduate in the top ten percent of the their graduating classes. This rule appertains to both public and private schools of all sizes and from any place in Texas as long as the school is accredited, the student has taken a recommended curriculum, and achieved a minimum college entrance test score.

SB 175 would change the rule to allow universities to cap the percentage of those admitted by this measure to 50%. The reason for this is that the University of Texas at Austin has become so full of applicants by the top ten percent rule that no other criteria can be considered. Last year they filled up 85% of the freshman class by the top ten rule.

Many traditional minority advocacy groups such as the NAACP, LULAC, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund say the measure unfairly would limit automatic admissions that were designed to increase diversity at higher education institutions and enhance opportunities for minority and low-income students, particularly at UT-Austin and Texas A&M. It also would penalize students who finished high school before the recommended curriculum was required.

In many areas of the state there are poorer mostly minority high schools such as in the small Hispanic majority towns of South Texas or the African American communities in the Houston area. Typically even the best students there may not score as well on college entrance exams like the SAT or ACT as more affluent students from better suburban public or private schools. The ten percent rule guaranteed that at least the top students from poor minority high schools would get a chance to attend a tier 1 public university. (Texas has only two tier 1 schools, UT-Austin and Texas A&M, and one private tier 1, Rice University.

I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have attended Texas A&M University in the 70’s coming from South Texas. If you visit the campus today the diversity of students is much different than when I was there. Now the proportion of Hispanics nearly reflects their representation in the population. Even more important, those Aggie values and Aggie networking rewards have now more than ever been adopted by the Hispanic community who are no longer outsiders. I do not believe the new law will endanger this but rather may strengthen it.

At the same time we must be cognizant that not all high schools are the same. Even in areas like the Rio Grande Valley there are are starting to be International Baccalaureate programs. McAllen ISD graduated their first 23 students just last year from the Lamar Academy. There are likely many high schools like these were the top 25% or even 50% of the class may be more qualified to attend college then the top 10% from another school. This new measure will put pressure on school districts to develop more programs of excellence.

Its long been acknowledged that judging a student by their grades alone or college entrance exam alone without consideration of other factors is a poor predictor of future achievement. President Obama was a B student in high school. Some time ago I was involved on the selection committee of a scholarship for disadvantaged students at Texas A&M where I observed that usually good students will have a triad of good test scores, good grades and community activities. Experienced educators at the college level need to have the ability to assess this three components for admission just as they do at my other school, Harvard.

Those school districts who were relying on the ten percent rule to obscure their deficiencies should take this as a wake up call to make changes. Sen. Shapiro’s new law does a great public service in helping to expose this inequity and forcing a change. If Hispanics or African-Americans are not matriculating to the major Tier 1’s under the new rule the most likely cause will be an inadequate public school system rather than discrimination by these great universities.

I also agree with the Dallas Morning News that with the large size of the state of Texas we need more public Tier 1 spots but also must opine that I have a strong feeling that Texas A&M’s prominence must be protected. Having too many Tier 1 schools could diminish the greatness of UT and TAMU who serve to a great extent to define what being a Texan means.

The new rule has passed the Senate and now has been recommended for a vote by the Texas House after being passed by the House committee on Higher Education.

Thanks for reading Contempo Magazine blog which discusses issues for McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley, and America from a conservative Hispanic point of view. Tony Magaña grew up in McAllen Texas, attended Texas A&M University, served as an officer in Army Reserve, and holds a doctorate from Harvard University. The co-founder of Contempo Magazine has participated in Valley business for over 20 years. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and also writes for the American Daily Review. Follow him on twitter http://twitter.com/contempomagazin

by Dr. Tony Magana

A new report that barely any guns or cash was seized after 5 weeks of an intense program searching southbound vehicles from the U.S. to Mexico contradicts statements made by Sec.Napolitano last month of “unbelievable” quantities.President Obama and Homeland Sec. Napolitano accused Texans of facilitating the smuggling of 2000 guns per day into Mexico and severely punished our border communities trade economy with the Outbound Inspection Program (OIP).

The $95 million dollar joint OIP being done along the U.S.-Mexican border has completed the first month with little to show. Under pressure from Mexican President Felipe Calderon who claimed the majority of weapons used by the drug cartels (2000 per day said the Mexican government) and cash (up to $39 billion say U.S. drug enforcement officials) were crossing into the Mexico from the U.S., President Obama started the (OIP).

Hundreds of Border Patrol, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Custom’s agents were transferred to the border crossings to begin random checks of vehicles crossing from the U.S. into Mexico. Prior to this program southbound vehicles had only been inspected on the Mexican not the American side. The Associated Press reports that very little in the way of weapons or cash has been seized. Only 51 guns or parts of guns and $12 million in cash has been obtained. The Houston Chronicle listed these details

According to CBP, between March 12 and April 30 officers seized:

Fifty-one pieces of ammunition, weapons parts and guns, a minuscule fraction of the 2,000 weapons the Mexican government estimates are smuggled south every day.

$12 million in cash, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the $17 billion to $39 billion the U.S. Justice Department estimates is illegally sent to Mexico from the U.S. annually, but more than the $10 million seized in outbound checks in 2008.

Sixty-one people on charges involving weapons or currency offenses and on outstanding warrants were arrested

From just Texas to Mexico more than 27 million vehicles cross the bridge each year. These crossings are vital to border cities like El Paso, Laredo, and McAllen ,Texas where millions of Mexican shoppers many from the prosperous city of Monterrey come to buy things in American retail stores. Millions of tonnage of commercial traffic vital to the economies of both countries also crosses these border checkpoints.

Local businesses in Texas have reported significant drops in sales for export and in retail from Mexican customers. No official reports are known about what has been seized on the Mexican side but AP observers reported their inspections were much less rare than those on the U.S. side.

This report of a lack of success seems to contraindicate the report given by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano who has officially released her comments at the Border Trade Alliance International Conference held just one month ago. At that time she was asked by a San Diego Chamber of Commerce official about the southbound inspections and had this to say about their effectiveness:

‘We’re looking for guns and bulk cash. We’ve already found in the two weeks that we’ve started this, I can’t tell you how much we have found. It’s unbelievable.”

The AP reports that they suspect smugglers may have lookouts ahead reporting if there is an inspection frenzy going on but this is a very subjective observation.

The lack of significant seizures suggests two possibilities. The announcement of the new program was a major deterrent which caused the cartels to immediately stop sending cash and weapons across the normal border crossings or that the amount of cash and guns actually smuggled directly into Mexico from the U.S. through border checkpoints was overly estimated. The statement made by Sec. Napolitano of an “unbelievable” quantity was clearly not the truth and at best a weak exaggeration. Why did she not give the truth?

This program has had major ramifications in that it has significantly damaged the local economies of the border cities by discouraging legal traffic between the nations. The Obama administration and the liberal media painted a false picture of South Texas as being an open gun supplier giving Mexican criminals 2000 guns a day. This was a misrepresentation that was clearly meant to scare the American public into accepting more stringent gun control. The accusations of the Mexican government that most of the weapons being used by gangs were being “legally” obtained in the U.S. must also now be questioned.

This unwarranted paranoia came close to shutting off the border which would have dealt more than a severe blow to one of the few areas of the country, South Texas, which has avoided severe economic hardships up to now. One wonders if in the rush to put personal , equipment, and financing on legal checkpoints, other potential routes of smuggling such as by sea, air, entry into Southern Mexico have been relatively ignored.

Our borders must be secure all agree on that but concurrently nothing is more important then that our government must always give honest information about which threats are real and which are imagined. The Obama administration owes an apology to Texas and Texans. Hence forth, the administration needs to act responsibly in protecting our border trade and 2^nd Amendment rights.

Thanks for reading Contempo Magazine blog which discusses issues for McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley, and America from a conservative Hispanic point of view. Tony Magaña grew up in McAllen Texas, attended Texas A&M University, served as an officer in Army Reserve, and holds a doctorate from Harvard University. The co-founder of Contempo Magazine has participated in Valley business for over 20 years. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and also writes for the American Daily Review. Follow him on twitter http://twitter.com/contempomagazin

South Texas legislators Rep. Eddie Lucio (D-San Benito), Sen. Juan Hinojosa (D-McAllen), Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) and others are to be congratulated on the passage of legislation in the Texas House and Senate which sets in motion the creation of The University of Texas Health Science Center-South Texas which will house a medical school and other professional medical degree programs in the Rio Grande Valley.

The legislation creating the medical school in a tough year for new projects given the economy and budget problems was enabled by the representatives and senators from South Texas agreeing to support a new law school in Dallas at the University of North Texas in return for which they received support for a South Texas medical school.

The new system will operate under the University of Texas System Board of Regents and thus will be affiliated with the systems other institutions in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The Lower Rio Grande Valley Academic Health Center will be absorbed into the new system. This creates the entity which can now start to plan the medical school, hospital affiliations, arrange funding including bonds and donations.

The main campus and administrative offices must be located in Cameron County but allows facilities in Brooks, Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Kleberg, Starr, Willacy, and Zapata Counties to operate programs and services as a part of the health science center.

The board of regents have the authority to designate a teaching hospital either public or private however the bill specifically states that the hospital may not be constructed, maintained, or operated with state funds.

This is an important step forward for the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas which will not only serve to improve the quality of health services but also no doubt as a stimulus to the local economy. The presence of a top notch medical education facility will bring not only a higher quality of care to the South Texas community but will also foster the development of specialized services much closer to home for those with special medical needs like children, cancer treatment, and Veterans.

Several studies of Veteran’s health care quality have shown that an affiliation with a medical school vs. a stand alone facility has consistently resulted in better outcomes for America’s veterans. This increases the chance of the eventual establishment of Veteran’s Hospital in South Texas.

This is only a beginning and the now the community will need to roll up their sleeves. The local community governments, civic organizations, and hospitals will need to work cooperatively with the goal of what is best for the whole community in turning this dream into reality. Inevitably there will be some conflicts about locations, affiliations, and contracts.

This is an important step in the Rio Grande Valley rightly taking its place at the table of the other major metropolitan areas of Texas. Lets make sure our civic leaders leave behind pettiness and work together. The passage of the bill does not guarantee that the medical school will come true but instead requires much still to be done and needing the full cooperation of the local community.

Thanks for reading Contempo Magazine blog which discusses issues for McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley, and America from a conservative Hispanic point of view. Tony Magaña grew up in McAllen Texas, attended Texas A&M University, served as an officer in Army Reserve, and holds a doctorate from Harvard University. The co-founder of Contempo Magazine has participated in Valley business for over 20 years. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and also writes for the American Daily Review. Follow him on twitter http://twitter.com/contempomagazin