not having a college degree seen as a negative thing

[This_person]

George W Bush is our only MBA to reach the White House and Barack H. Obama has a law degree.

Are there two better examples of just how much a degree can mean?

If you're saying that they made their mistakes based upon their degrees, then yes.

I think they made their mistakes based upon who they are and their experiences. Bush trusted intelligence, and his dad was director of the CIA, so he had reason to do so. Obama had never been in charge of anything or held responsible for any of his actions, so he has no experience with failure (and, as a business owner I'm sure you understand failure is a prerequisite for success).

 

[Larry Gude]

No he floated into the White House because so many idiots thought it was a black man's turn.

Nope. He floated into office because the people who supposedly knew what they were doing ####ed things up so much that some dude with zero resume sounded like a good idea. I agree if we're saying he was an affirmative action hire. He was. If not for his skin color, he would not have even entered the primary let alone won. However, again, the condition of the nation created the opportunity to say "Well, why not someone who has zero resume? A great resume doesn't guarantee good results."

 

[Larry Gude]

College records for the highest position in the land should be released, in fact, we should see his resume and transcripts. As far as I am concerned, his college records are important because instead of working he was a full-time college student. That becomes part of his experience. If you don't have the experience, education can be a substitute and vice versa. It isn't so much about the degree itself as it is accounting for that time.

That's not a Constitutional requirement and, as such, should not be required. We VOTE people into office. We, the people, could consider insisting on things like that, knowing more about whom we vote for, but it is not and should not be a Constitutional requirement. Our system was designed so we could choose someone like Dubbya or Obama or Clinton or even an ex actor.

 

[Larry Gude]

Our most (formally) educated president was/is Dr. Woodrow Wilson, who campaigned for his second term with the slogan, "He kept us out of war," and upon his re-election promptly launched us into WWI. And that was only one of his pockmarks on this country that we are feeling the ramifications of to this day.

THE pockmark. The biggest #### up in world history.

 

[Larry Gude]

so you are saying that if you knew nothing else about two candidates for president you would choose the less educated man over the more educated?

You'd have to define that.

A = one year of business school
B = two years of law school

I'd take A.

C = law degree, tops in class
D = a year running a lemonade stand, struggled every step of the way

I'd take D.

 

[Larry Gude]

Elitist, not elitist, who cares....
If we had to make a decision based on nothing other than education i think most people are going to choose college educated over not for a president.

Why? If anything, a college education is indicative of people who successfully know how to avoid the real world and are good at process. We have a nation built around the most extensive process's in world history that seem to be run by people who live in some other world.

 

[Larry Gude]

Because we can see how well that's worked out for us??

That's the argument, that what we have is better than the alternative.

THAT is a scary thought.

 

[GURPS]

Amazing that so many parents continue to encourage their kids to attend college. What is this world coming to?

There is no point to a kid going to college unless they are VERY interested in specific areas of study.

and where exactly does that 'interest' come from a kid that doesn't know what he / she wants to do, but they sit in 4 yrs of High School listening to Guidance Counselors and Teachers banging the College Drum ..... or someone that actually needs / wants the advanced studies

 

[Hijinx]

He was a fighter pilot. Not many dumb people can pull that off and live to tell about it.

McCain seems to have done it.
Of course he crashed a few planes on the way.

5th. from the bottom of his Annapolis class, His daddy got him into flight school which usually doesn't take those at the bottom of the class.

 

[Larry Gude]

and where exactly does that 'interest' come from a kid that doesn't know what he / she wants to do, but they sit in 4 yrs of High School listening to Guidance Counselors and Teachers banging the College Drum ..... or someone that actually needs / wants the advanced studies

How to explain where interest comes from...sorry. I don't have the education for that one.

 

[vraiblonde]

There is no point to a kid going to college unless they are VERY interested in specific areas of study. Having been part of three kids going to school, the one who went to do what they were interested in got huge benefit from it, the other two, we would have been FAR better off simply supporting them for a year where their job was to go see and do and explore whatever they wanted. And cheaper, too. The 'experience' gained, if you want to call it that, by going to just go, is a 100% waste of time compared to other things they could be doing with the time and money; living life instead of dicking off with 13th grade. Then 14th and so on. You CAN go back when you're ready and actually interested. Kids not sure and school seems to be an OK decision, even then, it's a waste of time and money. Go DO something. Go BE somewhere. THEN, when you have some real interests, then go.

What our college peeps who flunked out did get out of it was kicked out of their comfort zone to explore new places and opportunities. Would they have done the same if we'd just handed them $40k+ and told them to get out? Not sure - doubtful. But the kid that gives you fits is the only one who has a true wanderlust, which I had hoped they would all have, and I believe that is a benefit she got from living in a new city/state under the guise of going to college. Granted, those were very expensive training wheels, but she may not have done that otherwise. The kid who was terrified of all sorts of things, including her first airplane trip - now you could drop her in any city in the US, perhaps the world, and within a few days she'd have a job, a place to live, and a bunch of new friends.

Now, you know the situation better than I do, and I freely admit that I could be full of chit, but that is my impression.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I guess you're right. My undergraduate degree is from a Jesuit-run university and I am an atheist. Some agenda they have there, eh?

Nothing wrong with a Jesuit education at all, in fact I have a lot of respect for the education system they developed.

I just feel you were being disingenuous in your statement about public vs private education.

 

[PsyOps]

Dean is claiming you should have a college degree to be qualified for POTUS. How many of you voted for a president because you knew they had a college degree? If so, how high on the list of important items was it? I have voted for every president since Reagan term 1 (9 elections) and NEVER even considered whether they had a college degree. The primary qualification is YOU – THE PEOPLE. If the people say so, you are qualified; even if you lack the executive experience that is needed for the job. And we’ve that even having extensive executive experience can have very little meaning. Given what we’ve gotten in the past 4 presidents, I think it’s impossible to know whether education AND experience ends up amounting to much. But when I make my pick, whether they have a degree or not is WAY down on the totem pole.

 

[Ken King]

Dean is claiming you should have a college degree to be qualified for POTUS. How many of you voted for a president because you knew they had a college degree? If so, how high on the list of important items was it? I have voted for every president since Reagan term 1 (9 elections) and NEVER even considered whether they had a college degree. The primary qualification is YOU – THE PEOPLE. If the people say so, you are qualified; even if you lack the executive experience that is needed for the job. And we’ve that even having extensive executive experience can have very little meaning. Given what we’ve gotten in the past 4 presidents, I think it’s impossible to know whether education AND experience ends up amounting to much. But when I make my pick, whether they have a degree or not is WAY down on the totem pole.

While I get what you are saying the bottom of the totem pole is actually the most important and significant to its creator.

 

[Larry Gude]

While I get what you are saying the bottom of the totem pole is actually the most important and significant to its creator.

Yup. Bad foundation, bad totem pole.

Good people at the bottom and middle means any dumb #### can be on top which I guess explains the last 14 years in the most optimistic way I can.

 

[Larry Gude]

What our college peeps who flunked out did get out of it was kicked out of their comfort zone to explore new places and opportunities. Would they have done the same if we'd just handed them $40k+ and told them to get out? Not sure - doubtful. .

In no way, shape or form did I mean to hand them anything of the sort. We could have said "go get a pass port, we'll send you to Europe for a month" and spent, maybe, $5 k and they'd have gotten more out of that than they did from school. or we could have helped them live in NYC for summer or the West coast or both for far, far less and gotten far more out of it.

 

[Larry Gude]

Now, you know the situation better than I do, and I freely admit that I could be full of chit, but that is my impression.

Neither one of them was ready for school, especially premo school, and we can at least agree on that?

 

[Larry Gude]

I think they made their mistakes based upon who they are and their experiences. Bush trusted intelligence, and his dad was director of the CIA, so he had reason to do so. .

Nothing irks me more than when someone throws something out there that could not possibly be further from the truth AND is readily disprovable.

We KNOW pops advised against going back into Iraq. We know that so, don't even try that crap. Please.

 

[Midnightrider]

Why? If anything, a college education is indicative of people who successfully know how to avoid the real world and are good at process. We have a nation built around the most extensive process's in world history that seem to be run by people who live in some other world.

I think you are making a huge, and incorrect, assumption. In my experience people who went to college didn't avoid the real world, they excelled at it. Nearly every person I went to undergrad with had gotten great grades in advanced classes, played sports or other activities, and did some sort of volunteer work and/or had a job. That's everything heir peers did in high school and more, not to mention at a higher level.

 

[Lurk]

So you're saying the libs are dummies who teach at community college, and the best and brightest, who teach at private colleges, are conservatives?

He would never say that based on personal experience. When he went to Howard, all the professors were liberal.