A Texas degree could cost $100,000

According to April Castro tuition has increased by more than forty percent in Texas since lawmakers voted in 2003 to allow colleges to set their own tuition. On Wednesday, March 26, 2008 the UT board of Regents authorized increases in student tuition across Texas. The increase will be anywhere from five percent to thirteen percent. Why the increase? Presidents of the campuses reported that they needed the extra funding in order to offer their staff competitive salaries. I am sure the presidents themselves are included in that. I completely disagree with this. If the staff is not getting paid enough, it would be better to cut costs in other places then to raise student tuition. Democratic representative Garnet Coleman of Houston said,"Plain and simple, tuition deregulation...is the cause of skyrocketing tuition in Texas. In the next session of the Legislature, we must put an end to the increases in tuition and roll back the cost of higher education." He also estimated that a four year education could cost $100,000. Now I understand how someone can obtain a degree, work in the profession they studied for and be paying off their student loans for the rest of their life. This is one of the reasons debt has become the norm in our society. People rarely pay in full for things right away because it is so expensive, so we charge it and pay an outrageous interest rate which makes it almost impossible to eventually pay in full. If my education cost $100,000, I would not be able to attain higher education. I believe many people would not attend college if that was the case. It seems as though the campuses are more concerned about there being teachers, instead of students for the teachers to teach. I think the state government needs to take action and regulate Texas tuition.

West Texas school district approves Bibles

Eight parents of students attending Ector County Independent School District filed a lawsuit against the district last May because a Bible course was being offered. The parents felt that the class promoted biblical beliefs to students, which infringed on one's religious independence. Also, the article stated that the state and national American Civil Liberties Union and the People for the American Way Foundation sued the school district. T. Jeremy Gunn of the ACLU said,"It is unacceptable for government officials to decide which religious beliefs are true and which are not and then use the public school system as a means of proselytizing children."

A professor at a Texas college told me about the guidelines he has to follow for his lectures. He is allowed to teach the history of Muslim, Buddhism, Scientology, Evolution, Hinduism, etc. He is not allowed to teach about Christianity. There is something about Christianity that gets people in an uproar. My argument is that if you are going to teach one, teach all of them. It is not fair to the student's knowledge or Christianity itself. My opinion is that when religions that are not abundant in our culture are taught, one may feel as though they are learning about another's culture; instead of a religion. In our society Christianity is common, therefore one is more prone to getting offended because they feel they are learning about a religion; instead of a culture. This is thier culture, but maybe it is not their religion.

In an effort to bring a pleasant conclusion,the district "will continue to offer a Bible course, it will be a curriculum of its own choosing, it may use portions of any existing resource, and the Bible will be the main textbook for the course", stated Liberty Legal Institute's Hiram Sasser. Also, the course work will be formulated by educators selected by the superintendant. In the end, both sides walked away satisfied.

Bible Class allowed in Odessa school