The Pebble Beach Pro-Am Open: This is one of the best golf tournaments on the PGA Tour. The pros teamed with amateurs makes for fun golf. Needless to say if you have been watching this weekend’s event you watched some exciting golf.
Phil Micklelson’s Three Shot Lead-Two Holes To Go: Not much work will get done in offices around the country on Monday morning due to the last two holes being teed off around 08:30 AM Pacific Coast Time. Workers will be heads down on their computers, not doing work, but rather watching PGA.com. as Phil goes into the morning ahead by three strokes, with two holes to go. I am rooting for him all the way. He has been my favorite on the PGA Tour for many years. My mother, Rita, would always try to watch every PGA event he played in. She loved watching Phil play golf and followed his career closely. I would have to label mom a Phil Mickelson groupie. She would regularly comment on how much she loved his aggressive play, reckless even, at times, but very fun to watch. Mom will be looking down on him tomorrow…..watching him close out his 5th Pebble Beach Trophy. Win this one for my mom Phil!
The University of California Needs To Go Private: In this Sunday’s San Diego Tribune, front page story, Gary Robbins writes how “international student enrollment” at UC San Diego is pushing 25%. The UC Officials cite their oft heard defense that they do not get enough tax funding to maintain their status as a “first class university” on par with schools like, Stanford, Harvard, and the like.
The University of California Regents justify reducing the seats offered to California student residents….your kids, and grandkids in order to keep the University of California a top notch institution of learning. They have decided to “sell” our kid’s UC seats to Chinese, Indian, and other foreign students in order to have the money needed to do what they are supposed to be doing, which is educating our students. The article failed to list how many of the remaining seats go to “out of state” students, which also brings in higher tuition revenues. Foreign, and out of state, student admissions are nearing 50% of total seats taken by all students UC wide.
What this means for these hard working, smart, California kids is their chances of attending the University of California, at any campus, are extremely slim. The parents, and grandparents, worked year in and year out paying high California taxes as their kids transitioned through grade school and high school, believing it would pay dividends for them in the end. When these kids finish up and are ready to apply to UC schools what do they get? They get an “I am sorry to inform you” letter from the admissions office. The best of our California kids, finishing with 4.0 GPAs and higher, find it “a crap shoot” at best to get admitted to a U.C. School.
This sucks for them but also it sucks for mom and dad….and the grandparents too. Is this really “The University of California”…or has it evolved into a semi-private school system that caters to whoever they choose, based on their goal to bring in the most money per seat?
It is time for the University of California to stop taking tax money from the residents of California. If you live in California and have a young child you hope to will attend a UC school one day in the future then move to Beijing, Toronto, Mexico City,….anyplace but California. Your kid’s chances of admission will be far better.
The Regents need to come clean with the citizens of California and admit they are using our tax monies to benefit a private school system. They should stop taking my tax money, and yours too. They call our tax support meager and they marginalize the importance of our students. I suggest the State of California begin a ten year draw down of support after which time they no longer contribute any tax monies to the UC system. After the ten years pass the Regents can admit whoever they want, but they also must drop the name “The University of California”.
As things now stand I know I would benefit more, as would my kids, and grandkids, by the State of California redirecting my tax portion to fix the local potholes in San Diego.
Michael Hawke