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Republican Dave Spence, the St. Louis businessman now running for governor of Missouri, appeared to have a rather conventional resume.
Flyers produced by his campaign mentioned that “after high school, Dave attended University of Missouri-Columbia School of Business and earned a degree in Economics.”
This was not true. In fact, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, Spence was enrolled in a different school at Mizzou and in 1980 earned a bachelor of science degree in home economics.
Spence, who has since proven his business acumen running several packaging corporations, admits that as a youngster he wasn’t much of a scholar. “I was not the greatest student in the world,” Spence said. “I’ll make fun of myself: I was a 60-watt bulb in a 100-watt society.”
Yea, but I bet he can iron tablecloths like a dream.
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PurrpleGrrl on January 13, 2012 5:39 PM:
While he was clearly fudging, that's some pretty sexist reporting. Do you really think that ironing is all they taught in University level Home Economics?
Wyatt on January 13, 2012 5:46 PM:
@PurpleGrrl
Uh... no. Home Economics is objectively just about the least academically-rigorous degree obtainable. Home Ec as a degree is, I'm sure, pretty sexist, but pointing out that it's a degree more or less exclusively intended to educate a bygone generation of housewives is pretty accurate, I'd say.
Equal Opportunity Cynic on January 13, 2012 6:43 PM:
+1 on calling out the sexism. But what business school grants degrees in economics? They're tangentially related, of course, in that they both deal with money, but most economic theory is pretty far removed from most business and management theory, to my understanding.
Technically i suppose the statement could still be true in various ways. He might have gotten an economics degree then gone on to take business classes, etc.
square1 on January 13, 2012 7:28 PM:
Whoa! How is the reporting sexist? Home Ec is a crap degree. The fact that men now get the same crap degrees and get mocked for it is the opposite of sexist. It is equality.
Phalamir on January 13, 2012 8:13 PM:
So, he went to university and got a MRS degree?
sparky on January 13, 2012 8:29 PM:
Sometimes I think we have a lot of politicians who haven't a clue as to what it takes to run a home. They seem to think that the best cure for higher prices is smaller paychecks. Maybe a few courses in home economics would do those job killing MBAs some good
pluege on January 14, 2012 5:16 AM:
the dim bulb is smart enough to get into US politics where he can make a ton of dough for himself lying to people as a republican.
Neil B. on January 16, 2012 11:49 AM:
PurrpleGrrl, the point is that this guy falsely made it sound as if he had a degree that would give him expertise in what we consider "economics" as a discipline per se.