Author Archives: Bill Hobby

Right when you think good sense is on permanent leave, along will come an example of such good leadership, good policy, and good timing that one is encouraged to settle back for another century or two of democracy. The example … Continue reading →

Most Americans seem to think that mathematics is a monster to be feared and hated. About 70 percent of the graduate students in engineering and 54 percent of the graduate students in mathematics are foreigners. If the number of American … Continue reading →

School finance reform in Texas is beginning to resemble a nineteenth century Russian novel. The story line runs across generations, the plot is complex, the prose is tedious, and everybody dies in the end. Forty years after the enactment of … Continue reading →

Recent television and newspaper reports have called attention to a secret federal agency’s establishment of a questionable line of succession to the Presidency to assure continued government in the event of a devastating nuclear attack. A New York Times story … Continue reading →

Health care is the top concern of many Americans in the 1990s. How do we get health care? And how can we afford it? Health care is becoming the political, social, and collective bargaining issue of the 1990s. In the … Continue reading →

Within the next few years, hundreds of thousands of highly trained men and women will be mustered out of the armed forces. Of the 750,000 soon-to-be veterans who will leave military service over the next five years, about 150,000 are … Continue reading →

Are public schools in this country as bad as we are led to believe? Not by a long shot. Can we do better? You bet. Hans Mark, Chancellor of the University of Texas System, recently put the figures about “dropout … Continue reading →

Texans can make a difference. That’s what two constitutional amend- ments on the ballot November 5 are about. The amendments allow each citizen to cast his or her own vote concerning issues that will decide the future of our state. … Continue reading →

In just a few months, it will be 1992, 500 years after Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and “discovered” America. Will the anniversary will be the occasion of big celebrations of that event? Well, yes and no. Every year … Continue reading →

Frustration with politics and government is everywhere. It is a deeper resentment and dissatisfaction than most of us have ever seen. Why? Because politics seems to ignore the things that concern us most. Some politicians seem more interested in fighting … Continue reading →