Should the President have an education requirement?

Currently, the only requirements of a president are that he or she is an American born citizen over 35 years old. Every other impactful occupation, such as that of a doctor, requires extensive education.   However, a doctor is only responsible for a few people, while whole country is in the president’s hands. Millions of people require the president to know how to handle their country properly for their and their children’s well-being, and the lack of an education requirement in order to have this important decision simply does not make sense.

Most of the best known presidents have had very high levels of education. For example, Bill Clinton went to Yale Law School and was arguably one of the most active and knowledgeable presidents. Nevertheless, some educated presidents, such as Richard Nixon, have damaged the country. Education does not lower the chances that the president will hurt the country, but an educated president can definitely put more thought into the country’s problems and work harder to fix them than the alternative.

Of course, education does take money and might prevent someone who does not have as much money from becoming president. Yet all other aspects of becoming president already take millions of dollars. Usually, only middle or upper class citizens run for president due to the large amount of money it takes to campaign and gain support. Costs are no excuse against adding a requirement that will ensure the country is in good hands after the president actually gets elected rather than just during the campaign. An education requirement, and therefore an educated president, is imperative in order to ensure the prosperity of the country.