Newsgroups: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: William Jefferson Blythe Clinton's education
From: cstone@husc8.harvard.edu (christopher stone)
Date: 26 Jan 93 15:00:14 EST
Organization: Harvard University Science Center
Keywords: 4 names

In article <1993Jan25.163537.27958@dg-rtp.dg.com> crosmun@crosmun.rtp.dg.com (William Crosmun) writes:
>In article <C17C00.KMr@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> kellmeye@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (kellmeyer steven l) writes:
>>kkopp@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (koppenhoefer kyle cramm) writes:
   
>>>   Another question about Bill:  From what I understand, his educational
>>>history is as follows.  Prep School, Georgetown University (undergrad), Yale
>>>(law school).  Is this right?  If so, doesn't sound like a man of the people
>>>to me.
>>
>>I'd like to know when he finished his work.  I've heard Rush say that 
>>there was at least some part of his education that Clinton never finished.
>>What was it, and in what text did Clinton make clear that he didn't 
>>finish it?  As I recall, Rush's assertion was the basis for generating
>>the Hillary Clinton cackle that's played on the radio.  But I don't recall
>>the exact assertion, nor the evidence he gave to support it.  
>>Does anyone have that information?
>
>Between Prep School and Georgetown he was a Rhodes scholar, taking
>classes at Oxford University in England.  He never finished whatever
>degree it is that Rhodes scholars get.  Rush got this from a favorable
>biography of Clinton which quoted him as saying that he regretted
>never having finished the degree, and that his class had the lowest
>graduation rate of any of the Rhodes scholars because so many were
>just there primarily to avoid service in Vietnam.  When the record was
>examined it turned out that the graduation rate for his class was around
>85% which makes it one of the highest.  When Hillary was asked about
>Bill not graduating she claimed that Rush would say anything that was
>controversial because that is his schtick, giggle, giggle giggle.  

With all due respect, you don't know what you're talking about.

First, Bill Clinton *NEVER* went to prep school.  He went to
Hot Springs High School in Arkansas.  Now, I am not saying that
prep schools are bad, or anything like that.  I'm only saying
that the great majority of people who attend our nation's best
universities did not attent Andover, Exeter, or other prep schools.
And no, I didn't either.

Second, people do not earn Rhodes Scholarships between secondary
school and college.  The *do* earn them after college.  Also, strictly
speaking, you generally do not take classes at Oxford, but at the
particular college *within* Oxford with which you are affiliated.
Moreover, you don't listen to lectures so much per se as you work
one-on-one with tutors.

Third, Rhodes Scholarships are very competitive, and by no means
were they awarded frivolously, just to help people avoid the draft.
Now, I don't deny that some of the recipients thought that draft
avoidance was a side benefit of Rhodes Scholarships.  But that was
*not* the reason they were awarded.  Rhodes Scholarships generally
go to people who show outstanding promise in their chosen fields;
many, many straight-A students are rejected.  In fact, I believe
the total number awarded each year is in the double digits only.

Fifth -- and I am less sure about this point, unlike the others, 
so please correct me if I am wrong -- Rhodes scholars don't get
a separate degree for their time at Oxford.  It's kind of like
a two-year (?) long research project.  I have never heard anywhere
that Bill Clinton did not finish whatever it was he was studying,
but on the other hand I have also never heard definitively that
he *did* finish either, so I can't make any final pronouncements on
this one.

Newsgroups: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh