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The Political Elite

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  • The Political Elite

    Interesting

    A lot of people don't know much about him yet, and he may not even be running, but if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is elected president in 2016, he'll immediately accomplish something that no other candidate being talked about can: He'll lay to rest the absurd belief that you're a nobody if you don't have a college degree. And he might even cut into the surprisingly recent takeover of our institutions by an educated mandarin class, something that just might save the country...

    ...And that's why a President Walker would accomplish something worthwhile the moment he took office. Over the past few years in America, a college degree has become something valued more as a class signifier than as a source of useful knowledge. When Democratic spokesman Howard Dean (who himself was born into wealth) suggested that Walker's lack of a degree made him unsuitable for the White House, what he really meant was that Walker is "not our kind, dear" — lacking the credential that many elite Americans today regard as essential to respectable status.

    But the college degree — especially a degree from an elite school — has become an entry-level ticket into the educated mandarinate. In his important book, The New Class Conflict, Joel Kotkin calls it the "clerisy" — that now dominates government, journalism and academia. And as a result, an America that once prided itself on real-world achievement and practical good sense now runs largely on credentials
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...lumn/23454543/
    Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

  • #2
    If you have a college degree, you're one of the American elite? I guess my card got lost in the mail all those years ago.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Psychic Missile View Post
      If you have a college degree, you're one of the American elite? I guess my card got lost in the mail all those years ago.
      The article is speaking of the political elite, and what is considered necessary to have "respectable status" in the political world.
      Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

      Comment


      • #4
        In my undergraduate days, I had to write a research paper on education theory. My professor recommended I write on an obscure sociologist (I can't remember his name offhand) who argued that there was no real purpose to modern education other than providing credentials. Over time, this would lead to credential inflation to the point where basic jobs would require a PhD. I wasn't convinced by the entire theory but I definitely thought there was something to it. (Yes, I got an A on the paper.)

        After I presented my paper to my class, one of my friends said, "KG, that was scary how you just stood up there and told us how we're not going to find any jobs." I had no idea how right I would end up being.
        "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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        • #5
          Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
          After I presented my paper to my class, one of my friends said, "KG, that was scary how you just stood up there and told us how we're not going to find any jobs." I had no idea how right I would end up being.
          Sad...
          Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Psychic Missile View Post
            If you have a college degree, you're one of the American elite? I guess my card got lost in the mail all those years ago.
            Not surprising you totally missed the point, PM.
            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by seer View Post
              The article is speaking of the political elite, and what is considered necessary to have "respectable status" in the political world.
              I found the article quite shallow. How can we know a college degree is considered necessary to have respectable status in the political world? The argument seems to be "most politicians have degrees, so if Walker won the presidency that would be unorthodox". Yeah, so?

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                Not surprising you totally missed the point, PM.
                A college degree is a very low barrier to entry for the political elite. I don't think I missed the point, I don't think there was much of a point.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Psychic Missile View Post
                  I found the article quite shallow. How can we know a college degree is considered necessary to have respectable status in the political world? The argument seems to be "most politicians have degrees, so if Walker won the presidency that would be unorthodox". Yeah, so?
                  The whole point PM, is that the Dems (like in the quote from Dean) are going after Walker because of his lack of a college degree. It is news, but it shouldn't be...

                  http://news.yahoo.com/walker-dodges-...QDBHNlYwNzcg--
                  Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    If one's higher education results in only improved vocational training then there's little, in principle, better in Harvard than in a state technical institute. If, however, higher education improves one's ability to think critically, expand ideological perspectives, and better place oneself in culture and history then it is better to be highly educated than not. Such wisdom and intellectual growth can come without an undergraduate degree, sure. But it's more difficult, which is why colleges exist in the first place.

                    As it pertains to Walker, he doesn't seem to have been particularly interested in broadening his understanding in college, nor would I say that he's shown a great deal of intellectual heft or breadth during his public service. His recent choice to demur regarding the question of evolution certainly demonstrates something against, if not outright contradictory, to the virtue that ought to come from education — that is, the ability to understand and express that which is true.

                    There's a certain level of elitism to higher education, of course. Because education has a defining merit and is hard work, there will always be those who value the label without valuing the work that actually leads to the label's value. But we should not imagine that running a country, let alone the USA, requires less knowledge and wisdom than an undergraduate diploma, at least in principle, minimally conveys. I would argue that higher offices require higher education than a B.A. or B.S. provides, at this point in time.

                    If Walker got that education outside of a university setting, great — any devotee of Aristotle would likely be a better president than half the kids I went through college with. But, fairly or unfairly, a diploma signifies a bar of excellence in education. Walker has to show that he meets or surpasses that bar.

                    —Sam
                    "I wonder about the trees. / Why do we wish to bear / Forever the noise of these / More than another noise / So close to our dwelling place?" — Robert Frost, "The Sound of Trees"

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by seer View Post
                      The whole point PM, is that the Dems (like in the quote from Dean) are going after Walker because of his lack of a college degree. It is news, but it shouldn't be...

                      http://news.yahoo.com/walker-dodges-...QDBHNlYwNzcg--
                      It seems like a rehash of Obama having no experience, aka mudslinging. Nothing special.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Psychic Missile View Post
                        It seems like a rehash of Obama having no experience, aka mudslinging. Nothing special.
                        I wouldn't draw an equivalency between a man who was 34 credits shy of graduating his senior undergrad year and a man who graduated from Harvard Law School, personally. Obama's "lack of experience" was part of the Reagan-esque fetishizing of governors as being more seasoned than congressmen. This Walker deal, merited or not, is something different.
                        "I wonder about the trees. / Why do we wish to bear / Forever the noise of these / More than another noise / So close to our dwelling place?" — Robert Frost, "The Sound of Trees"

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Sam View Post
                          I wouldn't draw an equivalency between a man who was 34 credits shy of graduating his senior undergrad year and a man who graduated from Harvard Law School, personally. Obama's "lack of experience" was part of the Reagan-esque fetishizing of governors as being more seasoned than congressmen. This Walker deal, merited or not, is something different.
                          Yes, "community organizer" on your resume should automatically lock in the position of Commander in Chief.
                          The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                            Yes, "community organizer" on your resume should automatically lock in the position of Commander in Chief.
                            You seem to be forgetting a few more recent entries on that CV ...
                            "I wonder about the trees. / Why do we wish to bear / Forever the noise of these / More than another noise / So close to our dwelling place?" — Robert Frost, "The Sound of Trees"

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Sam View Post
                              You seem to be forgetting a few more recent entries on that CV ...
                              More recent than 8 years ago when he was "applying" for the job?
                              The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                              Comment

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