“Even now, I wonder what I might have accomplished if I’d studied harder.”
This regretful remark, delivered to Eureka College’s graduating class of 1982, inspired uproarious laughter from the audience. Why? Because it came from a sitting president of the United States. Ronald Reagan, despite his admittedly mediocre grades, had already made it just about as far as anyone can.
Ideally, college study helps to form the whole person. But to some extent, and for most Americans, it is viewed as a means to an end — a preparation for later accomplishments in life.
Today, there still exists a very small, elite world in which school ties can pull big strings. Outside of that world, neither grades, nor school pedigree, nor even possession of a finished degree matter very much. Those who have already entered the professional world and shown themselves capable of handling its rigors are seldom asked about their education when applying for the second, third or fourth jobs of their career.
Even so, the concerns of that elite have suddenly been aroused because one of the leading Republican contenders for president — Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin — quit school without finishing his bachelor’s degree. Walker quit college in good standing, but 34 credits shy of graduation.
“During my senior year at Marquette University,” he said in his 2013 State of the State speech, “I was offered a full-time job at the American Red Cross. I thought I would squeeze in a course here or there and finish things off in a year or two, but then Tonette and I got married. Then we had Matt. And then came Alex. Next thing you know, you’re putting all your extra time and money into your kids.”
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean argued this week on television – to the incredulity of his MSNBC host – that “the issue is, how well-educated is this guy? And that’s a problem.”
Perhaps it is a problem for Dean, who was born into great wealth in East Hampton, N.Y. But Walker’s path is not really that uncommon for students from lower- and middle-class backgrounds. For those lacking family money to fall back on, it can be difficult to turn down the certainty of a suitable, attractive job simply in order to check the box on a degree — the primary purpose of which, after all, is to help one find a suitable, attractive job.
Much like the gotcha question about evolutionary biology that was recently tossed at Walker (he declined to answer), this newfound and irrelevant discussion about his education is really just a dog-whistle — one of the few that certain members of the Northeastern white liberal gentry still feel comfortable blowing. A college degree shows certain people that someone is “one of us.” But of all the potential reasons to oppose Walker, his incomplete college career should not be one of them.
Walker has proven he is competent in the same way most Americans must — with or without degrees — based on his actual career accomplishments. He spent a decade as an obscure state legislator, was elected Milwaukee County executive, and is now the thrice-elected governor of a large state not known for easily favoring conservative Republicans. Love or hate what he has done in office, he is probably the nation’s most accomplished sitting governor. Does anybody really think that an extra few semesters in college over 20 years ago represents the difference as to whether he is or isn’t qualified to be president?
Walker has more than earned his politics Ph.D., by any reasonable person’s reckoning. Over the course of any presidential campaign, he’ll be rigorously questioned by voters, the press, and rival candidates. There will be ample opportunity for Americans to judge whether he’s capable of holding the job of commander in chief.
Democrats would do well to stop appealing to outdated prejudices and instead attack his record on the merits.
