Qualified?

I read a story on The Resurgent this morning and got a chuckle out of it for professional reasons. A little backstory here: the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR), who is in charge of all things educational in the state of Ohio, has a recent rule that to teach a subject at the college level a college professor or instructor must have 18 graduate hours in the subject. (Does this apply at community colleges?) A Ph.D. is no longer the cover-all, the hours must be specifically "in content." This has become a pejorative in the department I teach in because we have lost a faculty member over this, and I am no longer permitted to teach a non-majors geology (they're not even science majors!) class because I only have 9 graduate hours in geology. Never mind that in my area of research I deal with fossils from time to time and have direct experience with the deep-ocean floor; OBR says no!

The article says that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul will be teaching an english class on dystopian literature at George Washington University this fall. I wonder, does Dr. Paul have 18 graduate hours in english? As an ophthalmologist, I doubt it. Does his status as U.S. Senator make him automatically eligible to teach this class? I hope not. In that case why not have President Trump teach Anatomy and Physiology? He apparently has some hands-on experience with the female anatomy right?

My guess is that this is at the invitation of the university's president and I doubt whatever body oversees education in Washington D.C. would step in the way (principles be damned!). I just think it is funny how, once again, the political elite are afforded privileges the rest of America is not. Am I making too much of this? I probably am. It crossed my mind this morning and I wrote about it.

Strive for greater things my friends!