The hardest thing about having a Texas education is having people always make the same joke. I couldn't tell you how many times I have heard some yahoo say “Texas education? Isn't that an oxymoron” as if they thought they were clever and it was the first time I had ever heard anything like that. Now don't get me wrong – there is plenty that is wrong with Texas. Let me just say that George Bush isn't the only one of his kind. There are lots of oil-digging, gun-toting, immigrant-hating fools around my fair state, but there are also a lot of good people. In that sense, Texas is just like everywhere else. You can find the good and the bad basically everywhere.
For the most part, the Texas public education that I got was actually pretty good. It all comes down to the difference between Houston and Austin. Living in Austin, you get the best progressive Texas education available. Many schools actually offer a Texas bilingual education, something important in a state that has such a heavy minority population. The school that I went to growing up was nothing like the stereotypes you hear about Texas. It was a cosmopolitan, cultured area with excellent art and music programs, as well as solid academics. It definitely got me ready for college.
The University of Texas school of education Is not one of the best education schools in the country, but it is certainly respected. It was pretty interesting to go to, actually. As a Texas public university, it has its share of native Texas culture, but it also has a pretty international population. Basically, it was a cross-section of America, if not the world. Although some of my best friends dropped out and went into online graduate programs, I kept with it all the way through my masters degree. I was enjoying higher education so much that I didn't want to leave. Even after my postgraduate studies, it was hard to give up the perks of my Texas education. Living in that university was cushy!
I guess there was nothing particularly unusual about my Texas education, but that is exactly the point I'm trying to make. Some people have bad stereotypes about Texas while other people have bad stereotypes about the Midwest, but when you get right down to it, every place is a cross-section of America in miniature. Stereotypes only bring us apart.
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