Not an impressive collection of grades, but Perry has put together an impressive collection of economic and job growth in Texas

— William “We Don’t Need No Steenking Fact Checks” Jacobson

Link to article showing that it ain’t so:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/falkenberg/7542490.html

However, I have to agree with the Perfesser that grades don’t mean jack. He is a Harvard Law Grad who has traded in his IQ for IOKIYAR. Bush and Perry are different – they didn’t have nearly as much to trade with. Some men are born stupid and some thrust it upon themselves.

Ummmmmm, I love the smell of Powderfinger in the morning.

What the grades (and their distribution among the subjects) does tell me, is that the man is lazy. If it doesn’t entertain him or provide a tangible (material) payback, he doesn’t give a shit. If a less melanin challenged job applicant presented a resume like that, it would be held up as an example by the Tea Peeple of a significant lack of work ethic.

He got Megan McArdle to recalculate his GPA, and it’s now 14.6. He’s now officially smarter than Einstein.

Perry has done a great job, Texas will keep the jobs and the economic growth.

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LASST48000003

http://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1&acrdn=1

NOT! /borat

OK, I will admit that the unemployment rate didn’t get as bad in Texas as in other states but the result was the same. Businesses reduced their expenses while keeping the same revenue, making employees work harder, making themselves richer. Texas Real GDP hasn’t risen since 2006. No growth, just more profits.

You would think someone with an education like Professor Jacobson would know the difference between growth and increased efficiency. I guess paying for an education IS a waste of money.

academic achievement is total bullshit

In Jacobson’s case, this is obviously true, but then he has that brain dead conservative loon affirmative action program at the nation’s law schools going for him.

Barack Obama, who guards his transcripts like they’re the equivalent of the formula to Coke, presumably had very good grades at Harvard Law School because he graduated with high honors, a purely grade-based achievement.

“like they’re the equivalent of the formula to COKE” – BAM!!!! Whoever says this guy is not totally hip is, like, WRONG, ok? Sure, it’s got a few too many prepositions, but still . . . he’s got a million of ‘em, folks!

“purely grade-based achievement” – WTF??? So Harvard Law just dispenses grades randomly? It doesn’t take hard work? You don’t have to actually know anything?

And am I right in thinking that we have a Cornell professor here who thinks Rick Perry would make a great president? Maybe the Ivy League ain’t what it used to be, after all.

Eh? As always, IOKIYAR. We saw this movie already with legacy GW Bush, who is dumber than a rock. I know bc I have a relative who shared a dorm suite with W during Freshman year at Yale. Thick as a brick & took lots of drugs, snort snort.

But everyone knows that the Ivies: 1) admit the legacies no matter how dumb they or no matter what crap grades they got at their undoubtedly exclusive prep school or whether they committed heinous underage crimes, etc (i.e., it’s just the teen version of: IOKIYAR), and 2) kick the legacies “upstairs” so that they graduate with an Ivy degree or 2.

The Prof at Cornell is *entirely correct* that grades don’t mean jack-shit if: 1) you’re well connected anyway and/or super rich, 2) you graduated from an Ivy, or 3) IOKIYAR.

and so on… what’s the point??? To say that GoodHair is “worthy” to run for President?? Well, since the Pres’s job is just to be a POODLE for the mega-rich, anymore, I guess GoodHair’s grades don’t matter, either.

It’s all so… degrading… anyway.

My favorite comment:

Academia forgets that some of the most successful men in history were ‘dullards’ and drop outs:

Einstein
Edison
John F Kennedy
John Glen
Rush Limbaugh

I assume that’s in descending order.

Despite the Perry “miracle”, my state, Maryland. has lower unemployment and a higher credit rating, even though we have a liberal governor. I’m just not stupid enough not to recognize our built-in advantages to give him all the credit.

Everyone knows the Ivies….

Right. Try to overcome whatever prejudice may be causing your objection. It isn’t becoming.

Try to overcome whatever prejudice may be causing your objection. It isn’t becoming.

George W Bush:
Yale University (1968)
Harvard Business School (1975)

Now, you were saying ….. ?

The part about legacy admissions is unfortunately generally true and the Ivies are notorious in academia for their grade inflation (it is almost impossible to actually flunk).

My brother, Bunny-Bunny – public high school in LA, SAT’s of 1600, scholarships that funded the entire deal, Phi Beta Kappa, followed by UCB. Claimed legacy thru John Ross, Harvard class of 1810 (?)

Demonising applicants or recipients on the basis of where they attended school is both silly and ignorant. Legacies are sometimes just as foolish – and sometimes not….

Nobody is necessarily demonizing all legacies, but the fact is that legacies are not held to the same high standards as other applicants (which your brother would obviously have met). The primary purpose of the legacy admissions is to open a back door for the shiftless children of the elites (and thereby increase donations from the grateful families).

The primary purpose of the legacy admissions is to open a back door for the shiftless children of the elites

So, when McMegan McCardle’s adopted brat (cuz wazhisname has The Hannity Syndrome when it comes to teh girls) “applies” to some hoity-toity school is she ushered in on a silver Himalayan-salt-covered platter through the front door or back-doored with the promise of a free 18 month Atlantic subscription?

Demonising applicants or recipients on the basis of where they attended school is both silly and ignorant. Legacies are sometimes just as foolish – and sometimes not….

You have it backwards. I’m demonizing the school, not the students. It’s Harvard and Yale that make themselves idiotic by screwing their own reputations. As a result, I have no special respect, a priori, for anyone with a Y or H degree.

IOW, inflation is devaluation, just like with dollars?

Well, kind of. In the case you cite, that would only apply to the University of Chicago, McMegan’s alma mater, whatever school hubby went to, or any Ivy that some other ancestor had attended. It is also more a question of sneaking them in the backdoor (they do not really advertise that they do this, but everyone knows it). They do hope for a rather more substantial donation than a subscription (we are talking 6+ figures) down the line.

I was kidding DrD. We all know McMegan eats her young….

Prof’s still pissed cause he’s waiting for tenure.

“Look out Momma there’s a white Gov coming up the river…”

“purely grade-based achievement” – WTF??? So Harvard Law just dispenses grades randomly? It doesn’t take hard work? You don’t have to actually know anything?

Sort of. Law school is a tremendous amount of work, but the line on Harvard Law is, “Pay your fee, get your B.” You have to work really hard to distinguish yourself, and you have to work really hard to fuck up. Yale has long had no letter grades for 1Ls, just high pass, pass and low pass.

That said, the top law schools don’t want people failing out, so they pick people who are likely to make it through (I don’t think legacy status counts as heavily at HLS as it does for Harvard undergrad). I went to a different top law school, with a tougher grade curve (that was, mercifully, changed my first year — prior to that, 40% of the class had to be below a B, and there was no B minus), and there was a guy in my first-year class who had sort of unraveled the previous year, failed a lot of his classes, and was given the chance to wipe the slate clean and start over again.

By contrast, I now work at a law school where failure is actually an option, where the school tries very hard to prevent student failure by teaching them the skills they need to get through law school. But the atmosphere is very different.

Oh geez-louise, once again: bad grades are only important when we’re discussing Dems! If it’s a Puggie then you’re just being elitist. And of course Perry and Bush received lower grades cause they’re white. Obama had everything handed to him ecause he’s black, DUH.

That said, in Perry’s defense, at least HIS mediocre grades were at ONE school, versus a certain snowbilly grifter someone’s twelvety-catrillion.

My niece(the lawyer) said part of getting through law school was the organization it required. (She passed the bar on the first try, too.)

FTW