Are presidential nominations for ‘preppies’ only?
Apr 2, 2020, 12:42 PM
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Assuming Joe Biden becomes the Democratic nominee, he’ll fit a well-established but little-noted pattern: 11 of the 12 candidates nominated for president this century graduated from exclusive prep schools, not public high schools — with Hillary Clinton, the lone exception.
Biden, despite claiming blue-collar roots, graduated from one of Delaware’s most elite Catholic academies, Archmere, built on the grounds of a multi-millionaire’s estate.
Barack Obama, Biden’s one-time running mate, attended Punahou — Hawaii’s most elite institution which, like Archmere, today charges more than $25,000 tuition. Al Gore, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Donald Trump also attended posh prep schools, but the Republicans in the group support school choice — offering less privileged families government help to choose private education if they prefer.
For Biden, his opposition to school choice is especially inconsistent — since he chose to send both his boys, Beau and Hunter, to Archmere.