Sarah Palin to resign as Alaska governor

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I agree it's a red flag at your initial interview. I don't think it's still a red flag when you've been gainfully employed (such as it is in politics) for a decade or whatever.

In non-political life, I'd be amazed if an employer looked back at the college record of a 44 year old applicant who had been successfully working in the field. So, if you didn't continue to switch jobs like you had switched colleges, I don't think it would really matter.

But I work in a really low pressure field. If you hold the credential needed and graduated from state U, you're good to go.

(But I do wonder if some of this is age based. I think I'm a decade older at least that you and Munchkin, so I don't regard someone's college experience as being as character defining. I believe that Munckin has a pretty awesome job after rigorous college preparation and I know that you are in law school, so I'm not belittling you guys with "in the real world" kind of junk. I just mean that perhaps the more you watch people professionally sink or swim, you realize that outside of a pretty limited number of elite colleges, what someone did in college doesn't mean that much compared with what they do after.)

I don't know if it's necessarily age-based; I can't speak for Munchkin (although I believe she's been in the working world for a few years, between full-time and summer work during grad school), but I've been working full-time since 2001 (I worked full-time during college as a preschool teacher, after college in public relations, and I've worked during law school as a law clerk). I'll agree that in many fields there's a point where your professional credentials will have (at least) as much importance as your academic credentials.

As far as the importance of it - I think that going to what works out to be one college per year for four years shows the same types of red flags that it does for someone who changes jobs every couple of months. I think that, barring any significant experience since that point, it's a detriment.

Now, it's true that Palin has served as a mayor and governor since that period. However, she's also running against other people who have served as governors, senators, leaders of industry, etc. That type of experience becomes the baseline, and all other things being equal, switching between several colleges works against her.

It may be acceptable for other professions where you're talking about experienced professionals, but it becomes a bigger issue in this specific context.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I don't know if it's necessarily age-based; I can't speak for Munchkin (although I believe she's been in the working world for a few years, between full-time and summer work during grad school), but I've been working full-time since 2001 (I worked full-time during college as a preschool teacher, after college in public relations, and I've worked during law school as a law clerk). I'll agree that in many fields there's a point where your professional credentials will have (at least) as much importance as your academic credentials.

As far as the importance of it - I think that going to what works out to be one college per year for four years shows the same types of red flags that it does for someone who changes jobs every couple of months. I think that, barring any significant experience since that point, it's a detriment.

Now, it's true that Palin has served as a mayor and governor since that period. However, she's also running against other people who have served as governors, senators, leaders of industry, etc. That type of experience becomes the baseline, and all other things being equal, switching between several colleges works against her.

It may be acceptable for other professions where you're talking about experienced professionals, but it becomes a bigger issue in this specific context.

I think, based on your postings about politics, that you like a certain amount of wonkiness in your politicians. I would be surprised if someone with Palin's education background could deliver what you're looking for.

But I don't know if that's what's really important (although it drives me crazy that so many conservatives look dumb) so I'm likely to use a different standard.

I don't think though it can be said that in other fields that people would go back to your undergraduate transfer record to make a decision about your qualification about employment once you've out of school for 20 years.

People didn't really worry about Biden's academic background at all, and he had a scant five years of experience between law school and the US Senate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden

(It seems strange to me that being elected by the people of Delaware would be regarded as a qualification in its own right when you think about it. Because they are repeatedly willing to send him back, the rest of us should regard him as qualified and doing a good job?)

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I think, based on your postings about politics, that you like a certain amount of wonkiness in your politicians. I would be surprised if someone with Palin's education background could deliver what you're looking for.

It's part of the whole package for me, a factor, though not the only factor. This past election is actually a perfect example of that - Pres. Obama had the more impressive academic record, but there was no chance I would have voted for him. The rest of the package (platform, etc.) outweighed his academic credentials in my mind, so I voted for McCain instead.