Does anyone really believe that Bush's Yale grades weren't rigged?

[Cyrano]

A Yale Graduate? How do you go about accomplishing this without the ability to conceptualize, theorize, or analyze? How do you get through one of the best schools in the country if you lack curiosity, and the only "philosopher" you can name is Jesus?

Poppy Bush's friends and connections have pulled junior out of every jam in his life. And if junior actually was capable of passing any course at Yale, no less passing enough courses to graduate, I'll eat shit in Macy's window. He was given passing grades because of who he is, period.

I'm sure the preferences junior received is an every day occurrence. It wouldn't even have been worthy of comment if it had not been the first step toward his eventually being appointed president, and spending eight years destroying our economy, our reputation, and virtually everything worthwhile in this country.

Perhaps we should consider this each time some undeserving wretch is given a free pass at Yale, Harvard, or one of our other "great" universities.

[Taverner]

1. well he hired poorer kids to do his homework if thats what you mean

[TahitiNut]

6. As a college student of that era, I can confirm that it was common for poor but good students ...

... to do the class work (and even take tests) for the more affluent but lazy/stupid students. It was the era of student draft deferments and the Viet Nam war. The symbiosis between poor-but-smart students and rich-but-stupid students was even given a winking disregard by many ('peacenik') professors and instructors.

[devilgrrl]

2. It seems to run in the family, I'm told his daughter Barbara grades were rigged at Yale.

Gotta love those legacy students - what's that shit about Affirmative Action again?

[yy4me]

3. Don't forget the MBA from Harvard. Dad's $$$ is good in both

schools, not to mention an oil company, sports team, military, etc...you get my point. The only thing **** can say for himself is that he can be bought and paid for.

[billyoc]

4. One of the many benefits of the Bush selection.

Finally putting the lie to the benefit of an Ivy League education.

[Warpy]

5. I think he was capable. He was just too busy partying

Undeserving wretches have traditionally been given free passes at Ivy League schools and probably at smaller schools handsomely endowed by their wealthy families.

There is no reason for them to do anything but register and move into the same frat house Daddy was in. There is really no reason for them to show up for class, let alone do any of the work. The gentleman's "C" is automatic.

Schools have made noises in the past 20 years of undoing the legacy system, but I really haven't seen any evidence of it beyond making sure undeserving wretches actually attend classes once in a blue moon. They are still ineligible to fail.

I think Stupid was probably born with normal intelligence. He was just presented with absolutely no reason to bother to use it.

[santamargarita]

7. I think it's obvious this asshole didn't do the work himself

[moobu2]

8. I work for an 82 y/o lady right now

I’m doing some remodeling for her. It’s a pretty big job and I’ve been there for 3 months. I’ve gotten to know her pretty well and we talk about politics occasionally. She told me the other day that her cousin went to school with G.W. and he said that G.W. was drunk all the time. She told me her cousin said everybody knew he was drunk all the time, and he drank right in front of anyone, day and night. Anyway, that doesn’t answer your question, but how could he have studied or even retained anything that he had managed to learn being such a huge drunk?

[Occam Bandage]

9. The hardest part about college is getting into one.

I went to UChicago. I'm pretty sure your average man-on-the-street is capable of pulling a C there if he puts his mind to it, and from what I understand it's by no means an easier school than any of the Ivies--the hard part of a top-flight school is getting them to let you in. Junior's name and money did the hard part for him; all he had to do was show up and not sleep through class. But hey, I just graduated, and this is the era of grade inflation, after all.

Of course, I have no doubt that he paid smart kids to do his work for him. I just also don't think it's impossible that a man of middling intellect could survive an Ivy.

[DavidDvorkin]

10. Gentleman's C

That's what they called the grade given to such rich boys as a courtesy, no matter how much lower their real grade should have been.

[Captain Hilts]

28. It was also 'unseemly' to work hard at studying. nt

[Donnachaidh]

11. Skull & Bones factor should NOT be left out

Yale Legacy, Skull & Bones -- yep, pretty much guarantee not only a place at Yale, but good grades to boot. Bet if you had a Bush birth certificate you could enroll a pet rock with that surname and still wind up with good grades.

Of course, our Democracy doesn't have ARISTOCRACY, now does it? :sarcasm:

[Posteritatis]

21. A C average is hardly good grades (nt)

[Donnachaidh]

23. not in your world.

But kids who have family money backing them up aren't known for their *need to achieve*. I'll bet his parents were damned happy with those Cs.

[brentspeak]

12. He wouldn't necessarily need connections to get passing grades at Yale

The Ivies have a long history of grade inflation. Princeton, for instance, is the king of "everybody gets an 'A'" grading system.

[bobd0]

13. These past eight disastrous years prove Bush never had what it takes and still doesn't.

It was no secret then and it definitely isn't now.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=503181

“Whenever just bumped into me, he had some flippant statement to make,” said Tsurumi when reached at his home in Scarsdale, N.Y. “The comments he made were revealing of his prejudice.”

The White House did not reply to requests for comment on Bush’s time at HBS.

Tsurumi said he particularly recalls Bush’s right-wing extremism at the time, which he said was reflected in off-hand comments equating the New Deal of the 1930s with socialism and the corporation-regulating Securities and Exchange Commission with “an enemy of capitalism.”

“I vividly remember that he made a comment saying that people are poor because they’re lazy,” Tsurumi said.

Tsurumi also said Bush displayed a sense of arrogance about his prominent family, including his father, former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.

“ didn’t stand out as the most promising student, but...he made it sure we understood how well he was connected,” Tsurumi said. “He wasn’t bashful about how he was being pushed upward by Dad’s connections.”

Tsurumi said that the younger Bush boasted that his father’s political string-pulling had gotten him to the top of the waiting list for the Texas National Guard instead of serving in Vietnam. When other students were frantically scrambling for summer jobs, Tsurumi said, Bush explained that he was planning instead for a visit to his father in Beijing, where the senior Bush was serving at the time as the special U.S. envoy to China.

In addition, Tsurumi is still sore about what he recalls as Bush’s slight to his cinematic taste. When he arranged for students to view the film of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath during their study of the Great Depression, Tsurumi said, Bush derided the film as “corny.”

At the time, Tsurumi said his worries about his student extended no further than the boardroom.

“All Harvard Business School students want to become president of a company one day,” Tsurumi said. “I remember saying, if you become president of a company some day, may God help your customers and employees.”

[w8liftinglady]

14. I've always thought that.My dad went to Yale,and he was a GENIUS

Bush couldn't carry my dad's bookbag.

[spanone]

15. like many athletes, academia is not required...money money money

[bobd0]

16. Bush was a cheerleader not an athlete. nt

[ayak9]

17. Don't forget Bush's body man

Blake Gottesman went to Harvard Business School after several years as Bush's body man. He only had a semester or two at an undistinguished college and got into graduate school at Harvard. His claim to all this was predicated on having dated Jenna in high school. Now he's back in the White House as Assistant White House Chief of Staff. They put this kid in charge of the transition, a back-handed insult if there ever was one.

As to whether the rich hire other students to do their work for them, I can vouch first hand that this is, indeed, the case. I wrote papers for Blake's dad back at the University of Texas in the late 60's and early 70's.

[bottomtheweaver]

19. Unfortunately it's difficult to catch the really good cheaters.

The amateurs are the ones who get nailed. If a student turns in an essay written by someone else, and they're not obvious about it, it can be very difficult to prove they didn't write it, whatever suspicions one may have, and charges don't stick without proof, sad to say. And let's face it, if there's one thing Junior is seriously good at, it's cheating.

[cherokeeprogressive]

18. Far too many rich white pieces of shit have been afforded the same treatment. n/t

[sutz12]

20. Well, he never succeeded at anything else...

Why would anybody assume he actually succeeded at academia?

"Stupid is as stupid does." Forest Gump--who, incedentally would have probably got better grades than Dubya.

[AZ Criminal JD]

22. There would have to be a huge conspiracy at work

Professors, agents talking to professors, other students, etc. And none of them have said a word about this? Pass the tin foil.

[ayak9]

24. Sorry

Go Utes!

[donco6]

25. Not at all.

It happens everywhere. Every fraternity has its "file room" - a room with recycled essays, past tests, maybe even current tests . . . depending on how powerful they are. The professors wouldn't even have to know - though they would surely suspect, given that Student X never contributed anything of value during class, but suddenly perked up on the final exam. But, you look at the name, you look at your paycheck, and things magically fall into place.

[ZombieHorde]

26. This happens with students who are talented at sports as well.

Universities are corrupt.

[Captain Hilts]

27. Grade inflation was always common. Getting in was the hard part, unless you were a legacy. nt