I'm Such a Snob

In the runup to the Michigan and Arizona primaries, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told a crowd that President Barack Obama wants everyone to go to college.

He punctuated that claim with "What a snob!"

In Santorum's view, the president is a snob for wanting people to get a college education. The desire to make college more accessible somehow disses good, solid, hard working Americans who have skills instead of a college education. Not only that, but college education is delivered by liberal professors. Few things in life are as dangerous as liberal professors.

Santorum actually said about Obama, "I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image. I want to create jobs so people can remake their children into their image, not his."

I always wonder if Republicans who spout this kind of nonsense really believe it or are just employing whatever attack they can find against a Democratic incumbent. With Santorum, I'm sure it's the latter.

You see, Santorum holds an MBA--Master of Business Administration, one of the snobbiest graduate degrees available--as well as a law degree. Santorum is an educated man, not a skilled, hard-working American. Of course, Santorum managed to avoid indoctrination by those dangerous liberal professors; he was obviously not remade in Barack Obama's image.

Neither was I. I’m a few years older than Obama and finished my college education before he started his. And I sort of agree with Santorum that Obama is wrong about making college more accessible. But that’s because I don’t he’s suggested a plan that’s bold enough.

The plan I’ve promoted for several years is free college education at public universities for anyone who graduates from high school with a B average or better. Anyone who wants to go to a private college has to find the money for it.

So I may be a snob twice over, but I know something about today’s world that Rick Santorum doesn’t know. I know that more and more American jobs require at least an Associate’s degree. A high school diploma is no longer the price of entry for most jobs. To get a job in any sort of technical field, such as medicine or information technology, you absolutely must have a bachelor’s degree.

Because hiring managers at so many American companies are apparently snobs. And no presidential candidate is going to change their minds.