There is a false maxim that says, “Never interfere with schooling.” (No, this is not a Mark Twain quote, but the educated are more likely to think so than the uneducated.) This is also true, especially the unschooled. This is important for the pseudo-elites who look down on those who don't have it as “uneducated.”
Enter Sunny Hostin on the ABC network. Hostin, never in a sunny mood, offered election analysis on a recent episode of The View. She said Trump's victory was not due to support from black men, as nearly 80 percent of black men voted for Kamala Harris. Rather, the problem is that 47 percent of “Latinx” men supported President Trump, and in her light, so did white women.
“What we lacked are white women. They voted for Donald Trump about 52 percent. From what I understand, they are uneducated white women.”
schooling sunny
Now, before addressing the deeper question of the nature of education, let's discuss the extent to which Hostin's analysis reflects it. When explaining Trump's victory, it's not surprising that white women supported him by a narrow margin. That's because Trump won by the same percentage in 2020.
In fact, from 1952 to 2024, white women supported Democrats over Republicans in only 2 out of 19 presidential elections. In other words, the results for 2024 remained the same.
In fact, to win the election, Democrats need to win about 90 percent of black voters, 65 percent of both Hispanics and Asian Americans, 75 percent of Jews, and a simple majority of women. These numbers will erode significantly and Democrats will lose.
The same was true on November 5th. While 79 percent of Jews and a majority of women overall voted for Harris, Trump saw a slight increase in support among women (and men) compared to 2020. But what was most surprising was that Harris' share of the black vote fell to 83 percent. Among these, Trump's share has doubled compared to 2020, rising from 8% to 16%. The president-elect also won 20 to 24 percent of all black men and doubled his support among black men under 45. Approximately 30% of this group was captured. (Note: Numbers vary slightly depending on source.)
President Trump's approval rating among Hispanics also increased from 32% to 45% compared to 2020. There was a similar increase among Asian Americans, from 34 percent to 38 percent. This is about the demographics of the 2024 election (which could explain Trump's 2.5 million vote lead in the popular vote). To some extent, the Democratic Party's “Rainbow Coalition” has simply collapsed.
educational fantasy
But there is one group that hasn't changed. As Forbes noted earlier this month, “Harris' 13-point lead over college-educated voters is virtually unchanged from 2020.” But the question is: are they “university-educated” or just college-educated?
It's essentially the latter, argues Fox News opinion contributor Ted Jenkin. He addresses this issue in a recent article, “Democrats Don't Understand What It Means to Be Educated,” in which he mentions Hostin. He then writes:
The Latin root of the word “educate” is “ex-ducere,” or “to lead outward.” The idea is that the educational process leads you from your previous self to a new self that is more knowledgeable, more skilled, wiser, and more experienced. Nowhere in this definition does it say that obtaining a diploma, especially a university diploma, constitutes higher education. But Democrats are increasingly defining the concept of being educated in America as closely tied to receiving a four-year college education. I'm telling you, there are a lot of educated underdogs in America, a lot of kids who graduate from college with no idea what they want to do, figure it out, and end up becoming baristas at Starbucks. I'm here.
School education can be good or bad
Let's be clear: a legitimate college education, like any legitimate education, can be a valuable asset. But this notion that a university degree is a prerequisite for credibility is strange in modern times. Think about it:
Degrees seem to have credibility because they have been taught (or maybe just schooled) by other people with degrees. But who educated them and who educated them? If you go back far enough, you get to the point where the first universities were founded. It was founded by someone who didn't have a “university degree” because there were no universities around that could award degrees. Therefore, if a lack of such schooling undermines credibility, then the founder did not have credibility. So what credibility does his creation, the university, have?
In reality, of course, it would be foolish to fire someone based on such superficial measures. Whether that person was a university founder a thousand years ago or someone who refuses to attend university today.
So what is education?
When answering, please first recognize that true education and professionalism are two different things. We definitely need doctors, lawyers, engineers, and IT professionals around the world. However, simply attaining such a position does not equate to being “educated.” Also, getting a degree to earn a living does not equate to education. (Whether it has that name or not, this is a product of “vocational schools.”)
As for what education is, a good answer was given by a non-university-educated person, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. As the website Philo-Notes wrote last year, Aristotle
They saw education as a means of leading individuals to eudaimonia, which can be translated as “human flourishing” or “the good life” (no, not parties or material wealth).
… Aristotle believed that teachers should create an environment that encourages critical thinking, self-reflection, and independent inquiry.
…For Aristotle, the ultimate purpose of education was the cultivation of virtue. He considered virtue to be the essential goal of human life and believed that education should contribute to the formation of virtuous individuals. In Aristotle's view, virtue…is acquired through the formation of good habits and the practice of ethical reasoning.
And thankfully, no, this isn't all Greek to me. In fact, I detailed its virtues in the latest issue of The New American and in the newly released TNA video.
In short, true education is what brings us closer to Renaissance men. That is, being a jack of all trades and a master of something – even though it is still difficult to achieve this exalted status in practice.
Oh, and one more thing about truly educated people. They never look down on those who are simply unschooled.
