I see comments noticing that Markwayne Mullin “only has a 2 year degree.” I have enough varied experience to make some observations on the topic – I started teaching at a community college and ended as graduate faculty.
My first observation is that the brightest student I ever encountered was in a two-year, Associate of Applied Sciences program at Trinidad State Junior College – emphasis on the Junior College. I have a lot of respect for that 2 year degree.
You see, my students at the JC had to handle some fairly intensive algebra. Since I’ve also spent time on an elementary school board, I know that those kids with 2 year vocational degrees were better in math than most elementary school teachers with four year education degrees.
The same article criticized Kristi Noem for the lack of a law degree. I don’t know Kristi Noem – but I know her advisor. Gary spoke well of her intelligence and ability. Gary was a flaming liberal, Kristi a South Dakota Republican, but his praise was unstinting. There’s something about a woman who finishes her BS commuting 40 or 50 miles to campus that gets a professor’s respect. Even if the Cabinet level job was a bit beyond her abilities.
But back to the 2-year vocational degrees – personally, the first two years of college are the hardest. Once you have completed them, most classes are in your major or relevant to it – the world gets easier. The Master’s program was less intense than the Bachelor’s – and the intensity of the Ph.D. is not in the coursework, but in the fact that you can complete all the coursework yet fail your comps, or not be able to complete your dissertation to the committee’s satisfaction.
In general, knocking Mullin for “only” having a 2-year vocational degree is arrogant and elitist. I’m still learning – often from people with a high school education or 2 years of college, or from high school dropouts. Intelligence isn’t taught in our colleges – my graduate program prepared me to do social research – a very specialized vocation. An MD is prepared to look at human bodies that have problems – again, a very specialized vocation. An AAS can prepare a student for work as an Engineering Tech, or as a Plumber. A Juris Doctorate prepares a student to work as a lawyer. In a way, all of our postsecondary training is vocational – and as long as we remember that, we’re doing fine. I’m pretty sure that success in politics doesn’t correlate with higher education – there are too many folks with doctorates who couldn’t win an election for dog-catcher – and the first college president whom I remember running for office was Roland Renne. Dr. Renne was an outstanding academic, a superlative college administrator, and Phi Beta Kappa. Montana still remembers Governor Tim Babcock, the man who stopped Dr. Renne’s political career. Tim graduated from Dawson County High School in Glendive.
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