The other day, my 13-year-old told me they had no plans to go to college in Texas or live here when they were done with their education. “I have fewer rights now than when I was born, and I’ll have fewer still when I’m older,” they said. I couldn’t argue…
Not just students looking towards going into college, but also faculty currently working for these universities. Over the past few years is become abundantly clear that the TX government isn’t interested in the education of their citizens. Faculty are making less money in TX, have less labor protections, have worse health are benefits, and so on and so forth.
None of my favorite professors teach in Texas any more…
None of my professors teach in Texas
Now they hang their hat in NYC.
All my ex[professor]s [no longer] live in Texas …
My spouse and I are very fortunate to work remote. We want to try for another baby, but if there are complications we won’t have access to proper healthcare. We are actively looking for new places to live.
Every trip we take is designed around finding a more family oriented place to live.
My neighbor’s high-achiever daughters told their mom they don’t want to go to college here (“here” meaning Texas), my wife and I for the first time in at least 20 years at least talked about the idea of a future not in Texas, and we’ve both told our little girl that if she wants to move away, she’s more than welcome and we’d understand.
The plural of anecdote is not data, and TBF I haven’t seen a ton of people actually go yet, but it does make it extremely easy to imagine a brain drain coming. If the Texas GOP wants good little evangelicals who don’t think too hard, they should be careful what they wish for.
I think it will be interesting to see if this holds over the next few years.
The political climate might become very different, very soon (depending on voter turnout among other things).