Texas cheats on academics like sports

As a community newspaper editor, I have much familiarity with how star Texas high school athletes shop around to find the "right" school district which amazingly has an aunt, uncle, grandparent, etc. willing to house them because their parents have "suddenly" lost that ability.

It happened in Lancaster, where I was the editor for several years. Perhaps Bev Humphrey as a track coach wasn't so bad at it, and had better motives, than the typical Texas high school football coach, but, after she started winning state titles, it happened.

That said, because of that, it comes as no surprise to me that another cadre of Texas students is similarly shopping for high schools where they can improve their chances of graduating in the top 10 percent, with all that implies, above all, guaranteed admission to Texas state universities:

Generally, the movement was from magnet schools to less competitive local schools, where the grade-point average to be in the top 10 percent was lower and/or the students moving could earn better grades.

The authors found that though both white and minority students engaged in “strategic” high school selection, white students benefited and minority students lost. The reason is that whether it is white or minority students transferred into the lesser high school, those at the high school who were pushed out of the top 10 percent were almost always minority students. Virtually no white students lost slots as a result of these choices.

Texas isn't the only state that has a top 10 percent rule; and, surely, it's not the only state where students game the system.

I have no doubt, though, that it's the worst.