This article appeared in the TACT Quarterly Bulletin, LI, No. 1 (pp. 9--10)

I am writing this as a member of TACT and not as a representative of any organization. I have been a professor of mathematics at Texas A&M University since 1971.

In its last session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill No. 148, which required the development by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) of a common core curriculum to be adopted by all public colleges and universities in the state and which would be automatically transferrable between schools. The bill added a section reading that THECB, "with the assistance of advisory committees composed of representatives of institutions of higher education, shall develop field of study curricula. ... If a student successfully completes a field of study curriculum developed by the board, that block of courses may be transferred to a general academic teaching institution and must be substituted for that institution's lower division requirements for the degree program for the field of study into which the student transfers."

I hope the other members of TACT are as deeply concerned about this law as I am. Not only does it take away a significant part of our right to control our curriculum, but, more importantly, our students will lose as a result of this law.

We serve in a wide variety of public colleges and universities having a multitude of purposes and delicate inter-relationships expressed in formal and informal agreements for the transfer of students. Working in our own institution, we have each become thoroughly familiar with the needs of our particular students. Keeping those students in mind, we have devoted many thousands of hours to developing courses and curricula precisely adapted to their needs.

Now we are told that we shall all teach within a common 42 credit core curriculum (with some exceptions allowed), and soon the first two years of each of our degree programs will have a prescribed content. THECB and its committee have worked with sensitivity to the needs of the many institutions in Texas, and the core curriculum they have produced can be lived with. But it is far from perfect for each of our schools. For some it requires too much; for others too little. The problem is not with the requirements at any particular school; rather it is with the idea that a one-size-fit-all core curriculum is possible. THECB has done its best with an unreasonable law, but the effect of the law remains harmful to the students of Texas.

The field of study part of the law has the potential for even more damage to the delicate interweaving of courses and preparation of students in Texas. I believe this part of the law may cause the destruction of the best curricula this state has to offer. Of course, the precise mandate of these first-two-year curricula will depend on the wisdom of the committees appointed to prepare them. But how is a single size plan supposed to suit all of the varied needs of the students of Texas? Should all mathematics degree programs be alike? Should the vocabulary lists for first Spanish be the same throughout the state? What about the differences between the very best students in Texas and the least prepared? Should these students be treated alike, or should there be different programs for their different needs?

I believe that these problems will cause the common field of study plans to fail after costing the faculties of the state's institutions vast amounts of time writing them and rewriting curricula already carefully adapted to the specific students at each school. Not only will the state lose the large cost of this effort, but the employers of the state will lose the fully prepared graduates they need to step into the twenty-first century.

Every college and university in the state aspires to become the best they can be. Long term plans are drawn up by each college, and their faculties work hard to make those dreams come true. The core curriculum bill and related laws may well have the effect of aborting these plans, leaving Texas with no outstanding public institutions.

Arthur Hobbs
Professor of Mathematics
Texas A&M University