In those days, it was not difficult to get a math degree in three years with a couple summers: 137 hrs. What griped me was that a math degree at Texas only required 120 hrs, a full semester less work.
When I challenged the administration at A&M about this, they had a line of BS about Aggies having a 'greater capacity for work'. Later on, I figured it out. Texas A&M had lots of facilities and professors, but a relatively small number of students (maybe 12,000) compared to Texas (more like 25,000). A&M needed to justify their number of teachers, considering the uncrowded classrooms. While Texas needed to move people thru the system faster, A&M needed the students to stick around and take more classes, thereby making work, and job security, for the teachers.
I always considered this shameful on the part of the A&M administration. Back in those days, a senior had to write an essay in order to demonstrate 'English proficiency' prior to graduation. That curriculum difference was the subject of my essay. A friend of mine, Lani Presswood, was a writer for The Battalion. Sometime in 1966, he adapted my ideas into an editorial, but it fell on deaf ears.
Thankfully, for more recent students, those policies requiring so much more work than at Texas have changed. There's still a difference, but the gap has narrowed.
Now, back in the day, relatively few engineering majors (as the poster above cited) got out in four years. The worked their a$$es off for their hard earned degrees. Still do, I imagine.
Thanks for listening.
Cap'n Bill, '67
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."
Douglas Adams
[This message has been edited by leardriver (edited 4/9/2011 9:32p).]
