Sarah Palin’s College Daze
For those of you who can’t get enough Palin — I’ve pretty much had enough, though, obviously, I’m still paying attention — the L.A. Times has an interesting feature today on Palin’s five-year, four-school, three-state college career. In short, she is “barely remembered at all,” having “left behind few traces.”
I don’t think you need to have attended, say, Harvard Law School to be president — and consider that Bush is both a Harvard and a Yale grad — but, obviously, one should hope for more than Palin’s meager achievements. It’s not so much that she isn’t remembered, or that her college career was so erratic, or that the several colleges she attended aren’t all that great, it’s that she seems to lack — and here she is like Bush — that certain seriousness, and sense of purpose, and engagement, that comes from a genuine interest in academic learning, as well as curiosity, both intellectual and about the world in general. For Palin, the world is pretty much just Wasilla and its immediate environs.
She wanted to get of Wasilla, understandably, but she just went briefly to Hawaii, then on to Idaho. Even at the University of Idaho, where she majored in journalism, “her name appears nowhere in the archives of the campus newspaper.” She went to Matanuska-Susitna College, near Anchorage, for a semester, where “[g]enerous educational loans from the state of Alaska [along with beauty pageants] helped her pay her way,” before returning to Idaho and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communications, launching her brief career as a sports reporter. In other words, she didn’t really distinguish herself in any way during her time in college. And, after a few years as a reporter, she became a career politician.
Does any of this matter? Yes: that her college career was so erratic and unfocused, and so shallow; that some of her education was government-supported (given her libertarian views on government); that she became a career politician backed by the extremist Alaska Independence Party; that she has never demonstrated much of an interest in anything outside the narrow context of her small-town Alaska upbringing other than the oil industry; and that she seems to be an utterly shallow, un-serious, un-curious, anti-intellectual person propped up by outsized ambition and an ego to match.
And all this look back over her college career reminds us is that she’s utterly unqualified to be anywhere near the White House.
(Cross-posted from The Reaction.)
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13 Responses to “Sarah Palin’s College Daze”
Yes, as we all know, only graduates of 'approved' schools, and of 'correct' academic careers, are deserving of success in life.
And there is of course the accepted Leftist corollary – all Republicans are morons; all Democrats are geniuses.
Austin, your characterization in no way matches what Stickings actually wrote.
If you want to be taken seriously, you should provide some support for your criticisms.
Your criticism may in fact, apply to some but not to Stickings.
Some of the language he used is, shall we say, ironic (and likely a projection).
Bottom line, a certain amount of intellectual curiousity is desirable in someone who might be president of the USA… no? Where are the signs of those qualities in Palin? Seriously, someone feel free to point them out..
Mr. Stickings, why is it that every time that you want to make a claim about Mrs. Palin or Mr. McCain that has been debunked by a reliable source, you use your own previous blog post as a reference?
In this post, you claim that Palin was backed by the AIP. Both FactCheck.org and Wikipedia dispute this claim. Why would the AIP back a Republican? I guess in the vaunted college career that you've had, (have you graduated yet or are you going to be changing majors again?) that sort of un-serious reasoning is acceptable, nice try, though.
“…that the several colleges she attended aren’t all that great…”
So I suppose you would be the first one to start arguing that we should withhold the funding they get? I mean, if they aren't all that great and aren't performing well, it may be time to pull out that scalpel that Obama mentions.
Why don't you do a bit of research into the Universities themselves, and see what kind of research they do, how many students they enroll, what kind of work their graduates do, or maybe even who the notable alumni are from all of them? You mentioned in your second paragraph where Bush came from–two of the most prestigious schools in the world. Yet, look where that's taken us.
“…that her college career was so erratic and unfocused, and so shallow; that some of her education was government-supported…”
As a member of Academia myself, I will simply say that this pretty well describes most college students I teach and work with on any given day. This isn't a bad thing; it's my job to engage them. I agree with JSpencer, intellectual curiosity is highly desirable for someone running for office, and I can't point to anything she's displayed. But I think there is much more to disqualify her from office than where she went to school.
I have thought carefully on my reply to you jdave, as I want you, in particular, to take me seriously. It is very, very important to my mental well-being.
PPPPPPPPFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTT!!!!!!
Do some Canadian junior high schools actually have majors? That's news to me.
While the quality of the school is pretty important, it's not the only factor. It seems that Sarah Palin knew what she wanted and was willing to work for it, and her entering beauty pagents (in the link to the LA Times piece) helped pay for her college, at least for a semester. This country would be better off is more people folowed Palin's example and got a college degree, even if it means working to be able to afford college. And if they wanted to switch schools until they found a place they felt comfortable in then so be it. So it's great that Palin was willing to work to put herself through college.
Not only working to afford college, but choosing a college one can afford on one's own often decides which college one attends.
Well Austin, I can appreciate your humor.
uh well I'm no snob about higher institutions of learning, and don't mind a president who didn't graduate summa cum laude, but I also have noticed plenty of reverse snobbery on the right about those who are intelligent, and have gone to Ivy League schools being elitists who don't know how to relate to the average voter.
It certainly is no badge of honor to get a “D” in Economics when you would be facing the greatest economic meltdown of our times.
jdave – thanks for taking it the way it was meant!