What educational qualifications does John McCain have?

[nightrain]

I have heard that he has some sort of aviation certificate? How about college/grad school? Does anyone know?

Thanks.

[DrDan]

1. uh - yeah - U.S. Naval Academy . . . . (Annapolis)

[Boz]

2. Admirals wiki entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Ackbar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#Formative_years_and_education

[Seedersandleechers]

3. Class standing

894 out of 899 at the Naval Academy
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Tale_of_Two_John_McCain_ranked_894_out_of_899_at_Naval_Acad

[nightrain]

5. yes, thanks....now I remember his low ranking at the Naval Academy. When

you graduate from one of those academies is it a BA? or ??

[DrDan]

7. yes

[nightrain]

8. wow, that's pretty scathing then... to be #894 of 899 in a BA program. Guess that would

correspond to about a D- huh? Like a GPA of less than 1.0 ! LOL. And he thinks he's qualified to be president? Again, more Bush.

[Raschel]

10. correspond to about a D- huh? Like a GPA of less than 1.0

And he calls Obama elite and makes fun of his Harvard education. Let's see, I thought leaders are supposed to encourage education, not ridicule it.

Now being smart and achieving according to McCain is being an "elite".

That's what troubled kids in high school do to achievers, ridicule and ostracize them.

And we still haven't seen Palin's transcripts.

[DrDan]

12. well - another to think about it

he did graduate . . . and the Naval Academy is pretty selective. Of course, his Father probably played a role in his acceptance - but again, he did graduate.

[nightrain]

19. just f--king barely...

WE CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER!

McCain/Palin are just not acceptable. Shit. I have 2 bachelor's degrees, 2.5 MAs, and 20 or 30 years' experience in various fields. I have traveled and lived abroad. I can speak foreign languages. I guess that makes me OVERQUALIFIED to be VP. I should live where I have a view of another country, and if I could only lie better, I'd be a damn shoe in!

[DrDan]

24. I am not arguing that we could not do better - we obviously can

I am just saying that his education should not be short-changed.

Graduating near the bottom of the class at the academy still provides an better education than graduating near the top at many other accredited institutions.

[nightrain]

33. by virtue of his performance, it doesn't appear as though he made use of his education.

Couldn't we at least get a president who was in the top HALF of the graduating class and didn't have a history of destroying (animals, companies, people etc). Perhaps had dealt with his anger issues (both McCain and Bush). Both of these guys are consummate liars, cheats, dissemblers, control-freaks, and are lacking real compassion for regular people.

So there are stories about McCain and the ?5 planes that he "lost". Seems to show poor performance, poor judgement, ?hubris, lack of alertness due to ??? Both Bush and McCain are damaged goods, not qualified to lead much of anything.

Bush, there's some brush in Crawford calling your name.....

[reaganbites]

11. it's a BS

appropriate for McCain I suppose.

[nightrain]

13. LOL!!!!!

[margotb822]

17. Now it's a BS regardless of major

But it didn't begin issuing accredited degrees until the late 1960s.

"First designated engineering degrees are granted to qualified graduates of the class of 1969." http://www.usna.edu/VirtualTour/150years/1960.htm

[Earth Bound Misfit]

26. Hmmm. 894 of 899. A VP choice who graduated with a degree in

communications-journalism, which she "achieved" after attending Hawaii Pacific College, left after her first semester, transferring in 1983 to North Idaho College and then to the University of Idaho. She attended Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska for one term, returning to the University of Idaho to complete her Bachelor of Science degree.

No wonder they're painting their candidates as "Mavericks" & "Reformers", and the Dems as "elitists".

Maybe they should change their campaign slogan to "The Maverick & The M.I.L.F--they're just like YOU--Dumb as a FENCE POST"

LORD, HELP US IF THE MURKIN PEOPLE REALLY ARE FUCKING STUPID ENOUGH TO PUT THESE DIMBULBS "IN CHARGE" AT THIS (OR ANY) POINT IN HISTORY.

[harun]

30. I don't think they are very bright but not because of where they

went to school or how many schools or for what.

I don't think they are very bright because of how they discuss the issues, what issues they think are important and their poor track records as public servants.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

32. I agree, however a lot of MURKIN's ...

IMHO, Can only judge the "players" by their "batting average" or "their numbers"...to judge each candidate on the issues would require **GASP** to stop watching "American Idol" reruns and start paying attention to more than sound bites on "Fair & Balanced" news outlets and 30 second smear ads.

[RichGirl]

36. He was in the BOTTOM...

1% of his class.

When a kid graduates in the bottom 1% of his class, the first thing everybody says is: "He'll be president of the United States one day!!"

[LunaSea]

4. Flight experience

"McCain had roughly 20 hours in combat," explains Bill Bell, a veteran of Vietnam and former chief of the U.S. Office for POW/MIA Affairs
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/cin_mccain_lost_five_u.htm

[riona]

6. A couple of things from a Marsha Mercer article

"At Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., he said, "I made my resentment clear in my immature ways to upperclassmen and school officials, piling up demerits and earning the distinction at the end of the year of 'worst rat.'"

"At the Naval Academy, where he finished fifth from the bottom of his class, he said he accumulated so many demerits and pulled so much marching duty that he could have marched from Annapolis to Baltimore and back 17 times. That might be a record he said."

[nightrain]

9. thanks. That's nothing to be proud of.

[AspenRose]

18. Ah, so that explains the McCain signs I've seen around Alexandria

Yikes

[dgibby]

14. Soooo,

he wants us to trade a "C" student in the White House for a "D" student? How's that working?:shrug:

[ContinentalOp]

22. LOL. That GWB is too much of a Washington elitist what with the Yale and the fancy "C" grades.

We need a real barely-passin man of the people.

[dkofos]

15. He graduated from Annapolis at the bottom of his class 50 years ago

[ecstatic]

21. lol nt

[GirlieQ]

16. My husband's pet project is trying to figure out what his major was.

Obviously he didn't do well, but what was his major? It was so long ago it doesn't really matter because he must have forgotten all but the basics, but there is *no* information on what his major was at the Academy.

[ContinentalOp]

23. Post #17 says they weren't issuing accredited degrees until 1969.

So maybe there really were no "majors." Maybe he just majored in "Navy."

[Earth Bound Misfit]

27. bwaaaaaaaaaahhh...

DUzy!!!!!!!

[TheKentuckian]

20. McShame is a legacy graduate

He probably only got in and only made it through because of having a grandfather and father were Admirals.

Pure lineage selection.

[old mark]

34. There exists unofficial groups in the professional US military

generally known as "ring knockers" (as in military service academy class rings) who look out for each other's careers and promotions, etc, regardless of ability or performance. McCain, as a son and grandson of admirals, is a prime example of this. He went into the family business, and was guaranteed a good career,virtually no matter what he did good or bad.

It is pretty significant that he did not make Admiral before he retired - with his family background, and his status as a war prisoner it should have been a given.

He seems to have really bad temper and control problems as well as a lack of intelligence that proved too much for even the old boy network.

mark

[nightrain]

35. yes, thanks for that pespective. Military education/career dynamics

are not my forte.

[LWolf]

25. What educational accomplishments does Palin have?

I think she's a bigger threat than McCain, should Democrats lose this one.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

28. see my previous post this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7082593&mesg_id=7093547

[LWolf]

29. The ultimate result of the war on public education waged

for the last decades, allowing anti-intellectualism to flourish, and the "dumbing down" of America to race ahead.

What's next? Some days I expect the Republican Party to resurrect my father from his grave to run for president. A gun-happy sexist racist 8th grade drop-out, coming to the white house in the next few decades.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

31. As someone that works in education policy, let me be the first to say this

It doesn't matter. Not one bit. Sure, it might help if he had a law degree, but postsecondary education is so horribly unaccountable that merely having a degree does not in any way make one more qualified for just about anything outside of a professional degree (eg. law, medicine.) Unless it's a professional degree, you're better off getting field experience.