Here is a question for you. Does a president of this country need a college degree? Voters will ponder that if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker runs for the White House.

Often the best answer to one question comes when we answer others:

Q. Is formal education the only type of education? Is it the best of the choices? A history course taught from one text may be good. But is it better than a person reading a dozen books on the same subject?

Q. Don’t we know by now many college degrees are shams? History degrees without courses in western civilization and American history. Literature degrees absent courses in Shakespeare. Degree programs empty of courses of substance. And often stuffed with garbage courses on whatever is politically correct at the moment.

Q. How many graduates have you met who need to be taught to tie their shoes?

Q. Don’t we know that much wisdom comes from experience? Don’t we also know much experience in college is nothing more than sitting in classrooms? Not to mention on bar stools?

Q. Don’t we know many of the critical courses at big schools are taught by grad students? Or by adjuncts? While the profs conduct research and write and take sabbaticals.

Q. Don’t we know many college courses are little more than propaganda? How often have you read of idiotic behavior on campuses? By faculty and administration. Squashing of free speech? By faculty. Political correctness to absurd degrees? Universities are not called ivory towers for nuthin’.

Q. What should we look for in a candidate? And how much of what we find can come only from four years on a campus?

Q. Why do you suppose most of our billionaires have no college degree? They had to have much more than a good idea. They thought more clearly than millions of others. They inspired thousands of employees. They mapped intricate strategies. They built huge and complex organizations. How did they manage all this without college degrees?

Q. How much does achievement count? Scott Walker has managed the affairs of a big state. He has fended off vicious assaults from the best of the left. Money poured in from unions everywhere to impeach and defeat him. Against considerable odds, he triumphed. He has reversed some sad situations in his state. Did the absence of a degree slow him down?

Q. How important is it for our leaders to connect with us? In some way? We know we have a mob of elites governing us. Most have never worked outside of government. Most know zero about the private sector – except dealing with Fortune 500 executives. Virtually none have ever run a business.

They do photo-ops drinking beer with regular people during campaigns. But we know it is fakery. Most have not driven a car in years. Most have never stepped foot in a Walmart. None prepare their own taxes. Most never have to squeeze into tiny seats on commercial aircraft. In other words, most are cossetted. From graduation day onward. Does this matter?

Q. And how about Harry Truman? A good many historians praise his presidency. They credit him with wise decisions on the most critical and thorny issues of his day. He knew more history than probably all our presidents combined. His intimate knowledge of history guided his thinking. In that sense he was very like Churchill. Truman never went to college. Churchill was a horrible student. Lincoln dropped out.

Q. Does learned William Buckley’s comment ring bells for you? “I would sooner be governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than by the two thousand members of the faculty of Harvard.” And how about another of his: “The more complicated and powerful the job, the more rudimentary the preparation for it.”

From Tom...as in Morgan.