Why is the American public swearing-in officials who have no academic qualifications for the positions they’re running?

Three years ago, Donald J. Trump was elected president with an electoral majority of 304 votes and a 46.1 percent of the popular vote. But what did Trump have to offer with the presidential position?

Trump’s own experience is limited to the business savvy life he’s acquired with his numerous estates, beauty pageants and commercial products through advertisement deals in the 72 years of his life.

However, when it comes to political experience there is none.

Why would a businessman with no experience in politics be elected over Hillary Clinton, a woman’s rights activist, the 42nd First Lady of the United States, the U.S senator of New York and the 67th Secretary of State?

As the president running one of the most powerful nations in the world, we would expect the most capable individual to be selected to take on the torch.

But this is not the only time that less capable individuals were selected for an extremely important job description.

Just last year, May 1, 2018, Austin Beutner was sworn in by the LAUSD school board of education as the new superintendent.

Beutner was the CEO and publisher of The Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune. Clearly, none of these titles actually match his job description.

His overall work background is in business and public policy, not education.

As the superintendent responsible for 600,000 students, Beutner has never even attended public school. Instead, he has made a name for himself as he promotes charter schools and privates–the opposite of those he runs as superintendent.  

His former opponent however, Vivian Ekchian, was the complete opposite.

Not only did she serve alongside Michelle King, the former superintendent, as the Associate Superintendent she began her career as a teacher and slowly made her way up the LAUSD administrative ladder.

This is only the face of the issue.

Barely anyone discusses separate cities that have also chosen school superintendents with little or no educational background over a more qualified participant. For example, Joel Klein, a former federal prosecutor ran New York City public schools and Forrest Claypool, who ran the Chicago Transit Authority ran that same city’s school district.

Neither were experienced nor qualified and yet found their way into powerful positions deciding the fate of hundreds of thousands of students and schools.

This is a problem we are ignoring and if it doesn’t stop soon repercussions will ensue.

Just the start of this year Trump enacted the largest government shutdown in U.S history and the UTLA has waged the first strike against LAUSD in 30 years.

Neither have come to a conclusion and won’t until the American people make a decision: stop electing officials who have no place to be running for those positions.

Simple as that.