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Comment by 999900000999 | Hacker News Reader

The obvious solution is to get rid of the idea of prestige.

Why have we never had a president who went to a state school?

In fact, someone who went to a state schools probably more in touch with what normal people go through versus some ivy League elite.

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? The sitting President went to the university of Delaware (state school). Ford went to Michigan, Johnson to Texas State… West Point and the Naval academy both have a few graduates who made it to top office (these are high prestige but they are the only purely public schools in America (all cost paid by the government). William and Mary can also claim a few Presidents…

To be fair, those are a few exceptions that buck a greater trend of Presidents and lawmakers almost universally attending expensive and prestigious undergrad and graduate institutions

Politicians have to be wealthy and connected, so it's not too surprising that they attend elite institutions. I see it as more of a correlation than a requirement.

That's actually a large amount of recent Presidents because Presidents are such a small group. I'm pretty sure Carter went to a state school. Reagan went to a private school that was certainly not an ivy.

We have to dig all the way back to Truman to find a President who never attended to college, so there's definitely "a greater trend of Presidents" to be college-educated.

While I think your point is correct in general, the current sitting president is actually an alum of the University of Delaware.

> The obvious solution is to get rid of the idea of prestige.

All animals are equal...

> Why have we never had a president who went to a state school?

We literally have one right now.

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