College tuition; musicians on strike

College tuition

I agree with Texas House Speaker Joe Straus that the pursuit of a college or some form of higher education is paramount to our state and nations continued progress and success.

The question is always who and how will it be paid for and why is tuition inflation growing so much faster than our general inflation.

I just pulled up a January 2015 Bloomberg report of the “Fastest Growing Endowments in Fiscal 2014.”

The University of Texas is now ranked No.2, behind Harvard, with an endowment of $25.4 billion.

Without having read the UT Annual Endowment Report, a question we all should be asking is, are those funds, in all Universities not just UT’s, being maximized to make a college education available to those students Straus is most concerned about.

Couple this issue with two previous articles on the salaries of football coaches versus teachers and a follow up article citing 31 percent of Texas teachers have to work other jobs, we have serious problems facing our educational systems.

Musicians on strike

Being a professional musician is one of the most difficult professions to be in, and the pay does not reflect the training and hard work required.

Most of the Fort Worth Symphony musicians have to teach and freelance in addition to their full time job just to make ends meet.

Many do not have a day off.

They are not trying to get rich.

They are only asking to be paid a fair living wage.

Less than 2 percent of all classical musicians who graduate with a music degree will end up playing in a well-paid U.S. orchestra.

It’s actually probably less than 1 percent. How about some support for those amazing musicians who work hard to bring a little culture to this city.

Would you treat striking teachers, firemen or police officers this way?

I was relieved to see letters of strong support for the musicians who play for the FWSO.

Fort Worth is a wonderful city with a rich cultural heritage and a strong business community.

The crown jewel of this amazing city is the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the brilliant direction of its conductor, Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

This orchestra has been moving towards recognition well-beyond regional acclaim thanks to its musicians and conductor.

Now it comes to a grinding halt due to a lack of funds.

It appears its management needs more creative people to work out this problem.

I have been a patron for many years and have witnessed the passionate love the people in Fort Worth have for their orchestra.

This story was originally published September 22, 2016 at 5:20 PM with the headline "College tuition; musicians on strike."