Wellfleet

Maybe they think this particular kind of debt is acceptable since it can often lead to a nice chunk of wealth at a later point. Unlike renting which - according to every single one of my siblings and in-laws - is just frittering $$ away each month. They cannot believe I've never bought a house or condo. And I tell them, I rent because when something in my apartment breaks, or starts leaking, or stops running, a nice man promptly scurries over, fixes it, and then scurries away again. :>)

He wasn't a genius... :>)

Yet, despite all his "due diligence," he still couldn't make enough to properly support his family - a family he and Me-chelle continued to enlarge.

I've had to inform students of that little fact, from time to time. It's unpleasant at best, heartbreaking at worst. I always wish someone from the unaccredited school was part of the conversation - let them explain why the student wasted his time, effort and money at their school.

Extremely good point. All cult leaders strive to keep their followers uneducated. Also it should be noted - every time - that Gothard's PhD is from the unaccredited Louisiana Baptist University, and although that fact didn't surprise me at all, I was interested to see that his PhD was not earned until 2004, when he was 70 years old.

Sometimes you don't even need grades for grad school, although in that case you better be a rich legacy, and making some serious coin available to the university. During my tenure in a graduate admissions office, we were once basically forced to admit someone to our MBA program who, had she been anyone else, never in a million years would have been accepted. The student, an heiress whose family ran an extremely-prominent and large local business, barely earned a C-average in college. She was a very personable girl. I met her on several occasions and liked her, but she hadn't been, as we liked to say, a serious student. Then suddenly a few years later, she's being primed by her father to assume a much-larger role in the business, which is now bigger. Had she been Nancy NoName and without $$, we would have sent a letter of denial faster than she could spell "MBA." I guess my point is this. Every college admissions office has stories like this. I've met too many people who technically have the credentials, but don't have brains or common sense. Now I'm never impressed by a degree - or the school for that matter. I stand back a while and wait to be impressed, or not, by the person and his/her work. FWIW, the student in question here was conditionally-admitted to our MBA program and actually went on to do well, taking the full seven years to complete the program on a part-time basis while working full-time in her family's organization. I'm betting she wishes she had buckled down more in her undergraduate years however; the required MBA math courses alone were heavy-duty. Mods - maybe this should this be moved to Prayer Closet?

Agree, I have never felt Anna was the least bit competitive with the Duggar girls. I think the males are all competitive with each other however - fathers, sons/brothers, in-laws etc. To a certain extent, it's a guy thing. But I also think Boob would have knocked his own 70-year old father down to win a race.

Well-said. And very, very true. I'm retired now, and the things I still think about and use from college are not from my professional training at all - but from electives and humanities-type coursework. In the broadest sense, those are the courses that teach you how to think, how to perceive the world, how others have perceived the world, how to solve problems etc.

Personally I was much more worried about George W's college transcript than Barack's birth certificate...

Oddly enough, some coursework in poly sci is a trending concentration for business majors at many schools these days - both undergraduate and graduate. It's being looked on as a good investment of time. Similar to what psych courses were in the 60s/70s - and foreign language courses were in the 80s/90s.

My theory is that Josh wasn't paid a whole heck of a lot for managing the car lot. I think Boob retained complete ownership, and that Josh was paid enough to cover their average weekly or monthly living expenses. Hopefully there were increases when Mack, Michael and Marcus came along. Josh may have had access to a dedicated "drawing" account or been issued a paycheck. And while I hope Josh had a savings account, there might not always have been much excess to deposit. Or control-freak Boob made the savings deposits himself as Josh's employer. Since Boob would not be anticipating Josh needing a nice chunk of $$ anytime soon for a down-payment, it may have been a relatively-modest size account at the time Josh got his FRC offer.

Boob brings up Me-chelle's "scandalous" past every chance he gets - it's just one more way for him to feel better about himself. He mentions it up under the guise of teaching a lesson or providing an example of what not to do, but it also conveniently makes him feel superior to Me-chelle. Maybe if he'd been attractive to girls in any way, he'd have a few high school stories of his own to tell. But there don't seem to be any ex-Boob girlfriend stories to be told. If there were, you know we'd be hearing them...

OMG - after seeing this dismally-pathetic display, it's even more incredible that Boob managed to get himself elected to the Arkansas State Senate, or whatever. Maybe he was unopposed? Maybe his opponent was a possum or something?

Answer to this question - the stupid percentage. PS - the bold in hpmec's quote above is my own.

Because he's just such a complete control knob, I can very easily imagine Boob stipulating to TLC that the crew for their show had to consist entirely of Christians - hopefully fundies and oh, yes - no Catholics. The more interesting question is whether TLC would have submitted to such a demand. I'd like to imagine that they told Boob "We run this show, you just get paid to appear..." But who knows?

You have all my sympathy, jc - there's not much that's harder to do in Life than saying goodbye to a beloved pet. For some of us, they are the only "folks" that love us with no strings or baggage attached - whatsoever. I bet your tabby lived those 10 extra days because she simply did not want to leave you. Hope you soon have nothing but happy memories! PS - when my last dog died, my principal gave me a beautiful ash wood picture frame and told me I had to use it for a photo of my dog. On the frame were carved the words: Thanks for everything - I had a wonderful time! It's been 32 years, and I still have the frame, and I love seeing that furry face with those words. Makes me smile every time. :>)

Hopefully Ben's cords indicate some type of academic achievement, but it should be pointed out that many of the honorary societies "award" cords for non-academic reasons as well. We'll probably hear the specifics of Ben's accomplishment, whatever it was. And especially if it was an academic reason. Even though, dontcha know, the Duggars don't place any real value on education...

I congratulate Ben on his associates of whatever - it is very definitely an accomplishment for him. But I can't go much further than that because I don't know what he studied or how well he did. Even kids with C averages pass and earn diplomas, but that's not really cause for sending up balloons. And maybe Arkansas considers a D-average passable - who knows? Also he could have taken basic general ed coursework, which consists of content most traditionally-educated kids get before they finish high school. In that case, Ben worked for two years to take high school in college, and paid for the privilege as well. Unless community college is tuition-free in Arkansas? One thing is certain however. The Duggars, TLC or both will mention the fact that Ben is a "college" graduate ad nauseam. Funny how they will constantly mention something with pride on one day, then claim that very thing is not at all important or of value to them the next. I call that hypocrisy.

JenCarroll is right - those kids ARE lucky to have you. Imagine what their situation would be like otherwise. You're a Hero Mee-Maw!

I think you forgot about Derick - he has a bachelor's in accounting. :>)

PS Boob, Jesus basically wore a dress too, and long hair to boot. Got along fine without hairspray too. So explain yourself, Mister...

Why would Marjorie have to conform to some criteria of Josiah's family - in other words, to what Boob wants? I thought courtship was basically a done deal between two people and breakable only by the girl/her family? If Boob didn't like the jeans, why did he agree to courtship in the first place? As Miss Celie said in The Color Purple - "Confuse..." :>)

Are kids still covered on a parent's ACA policy until age 26 - even if they're married? I've been assuming that like Federal financial aid in college, once an individual is married, he/she is considered in-dee-pend-ent and fully on his own.

I don't know how to feel about that Giant Load-of-Crap Sale. Of course, the Arkansas Children's Hospital did gain $18K or whatever it was. But I wonder if Boob would have taken all the time and trouble to get everything organized for the sale if A - he wasn't getting his warehouses cleared out quite a lot and B - a nice fat tax deduction for himself in the bargain. A deduction paid for with other people's $$. After all, it's not like HE wrote a check to the hospital on his account. And I know many, many people take advantage of tax deductions when donating to charities. It's completely legal and fine and everybody wins - the charity, the taxpayer etc. I guess I'm just waiting to see if the Duggars ever do anything meaningful for others where they don't get anything for themselves as well. They've shown virtually everything else they do. Why would they not show instances where are they being charitable to others? Aren't they supposed to be "encouraging"us heathens to be more God-like?

Yes, for some reason this picky little point really bothers me too. I don't know why - maybe because I just like things to be accurate. But Josh's office is in the only thing that connects Duggars to DC, period. They should be saying "We're on our way back to Maryland now..." or maybe even just "We're on our way home..." Why does the location have to be mentioned each and every time? It's just as goofy as when every segment of every episode was getting that "So, I'm engaged to DerickDillard..." prefix attached to it.