9/13 Notes on Palin nomination

John McCain nominated Sarah Palin as his running mate several weeks ago, so I've had some time to think about this. What strikes me is the sheer cynicism of the Republican message; the ticket wreaks havoc with the American Dream.

Right before the convention, it came out that McCain doesn't know how many homes he owns. For most Americans, this answer is simple: one. For many Americans, the answer is and always been zero, and for a frighteningly increasing number of Americans, the answer used to be one but is now zero. I'm sorry, but if you do not know how many homes you own, then that puts you squarely in the "elite" category. End of discussion. You can wear all the cowboy boots and vote against Martin Luther King Day and pretend you like your salsa hot and engage in all the other redneck activities you want to; you're still an elite.

I have many issues with the Palin nomination, but I'm just going to comment on her from my vantage point as an educator. Five colleges in six years. Now I don't have the full story on that, so I'm not going to say anything but that: five colleges in six years. I teach at a community college; I have seen, and I understand, and I respect many non-traditional educational paths. Most of my students are going to go to two schools, mine and the four-year institution they choose. Some come to us from other schools, so they may end up with three or four. Most of them are working, so five or six years, even longer, is well within the realm of the respectable. Let me just put it like this: I teach at the community college in Las Vegas, and I have had a number of students who let it be known they were earning their money, or had previously earned their money, dancing on or near a pole. These students are fully entitled to a nontraditional educational path; they may have had the hardest row to hoe educationally that I have ever heard of.

Five schools in six years. Why does Sarah Palin need more schools than a pole dancer? What has she done? Not even pole dancers, many of whom are not known for their couth or available study time, have pissed enough people off or educationally lagged enough to require five schools in six years. Five schools in six years. Five schools in six years.

And yet she has the nerve to sneer at people with Ivy League educations, many of whom won their degrees at one school in four or perhaps five years. Now let me make myself clear: I obviously do not teach at an Ivy League institution. I do not have an Ivy League education myself, nor did I seek one; I applied for no such institutions. I do not think the education is innately superior to that which I received or that which I dispense.

Having said that.

As an educator, I obviously have colleagues with Ivy League educations. They are universally bright people whom I admire. I do not necessarily admire them for their Ivy League educations per se, but I certainly admire the stress levels to which they subjected themselves to receive that education.

If a relative of mine received a scholarship to an Ivy League college, I would be thrilled. For those people for whom the American Dream, the answer in about 75% of the cases has been education: your education opens the door to your future success. (Of course it isn't that simple or direct, and of course in many cases, it doesn't work. An education is neither necessary nor sufficient for success in America, however that may be defined. However, I have never heard anybody older than 40 with any sense say, "Gee, I wish I hadn't wasted that time getting an education." (I have heard some people say something along those lines, but there isn't any indication that they actually received an education, so I don't consider the comment valid.)

For most Americans, education is the first step. An Ivy League education, while certainly not required, often shows a willingness to work hard, to go above and beyond, to put yourself out there in ways that not everyone is willing to be subjected to. Yeah, I can see why an American wouldn't find that admirable or respectable.

So here we have a man who claims to be homespun but owns so many homes he can't keep track of them and a woman who barely seems to have escaped the educational system, yet is willing to mock people who actually...well...had clues. Sign me up for that ticket.