Talkin' From The Mountains

Good Luck Nick

I learned over the weekend that my good friend, Nick Clooney is headed for Washington, D.C. to teach Journalism at prestigious American University. I commend the University for asking him to join its faculty. It was a wise decision.

But isn’t it a shame that he was less than an hour away from Morehead State University and he was never asked to bring his vast experience to that campus? The University of Kentucky and

Eastern aren’t that far from Augusta either but Nick, as far as I know, was never asked to teach at those institutions. In UK’s defense, Nick has an honorary doctorate from UK and it did hire the fine CBS journalist, David Dick.

Why has Nick not been asked to join a faculty in Kentucky? I can draw some conclusions from my experience. Nick was probably never considered because his formal education stopped with graduation from High School. There are many at MSU who think no one should be allowed in the classroom unless they have a PhD.

I have heard time and time again from faculty members and administrators that I have no business in the classroom with a mere Masters Degree. I think it is that prejudice that perhaps kept Nick from being asked to bring his incredible experience to any of our state institutions.

Nick Clooney may have stopped his formal education with his high school diploma but his years and years of broadcasting and writing a column for a metropolitan newspaper give him the equivalent of dozens of degrees.

I am not putting down getting a doctorate degree if one wants to teach at a college or a university but I think universities need to have more respect for experience. And I am certainly not discouraging young people from getting degrees. Not everyone is as smart as Nick.

Many years ago I had a neighbor who had a second grade education. His experience out in the world had made him very successful. I was constantly at Donnie’s door pleading, “Donnie, my car won’t start will you take a look at it? Donnie, my furnace is making a funny sound, could you come over? Donnie, my lawnmower won’t start, do you have time to fix it?

Donnie would grab his tool box and pat me on the back and say, “Come on, ole buddy. While you had your nose stuck in those books, I was out in the real world learning how to take care of myself. You keep reading those books and I’ll fix your car, your furnace, your lawnmower and anything else that needs fixing.”

Who was the smartest? I don’t know. Who cares? The important thing to remember is that there are all kinds of intelligence and there are many ways besides school to become educated.

I was on the faculty senate at Morehead State a few years ago when one egghead Professor proposed that no faculty member get credit for professional development unless the class was taught “by a doctor.”

When I inquired why in the world he was proposing such a thing his response was, “What can an individual like me with a doctorate degree learn from someone less educated?”

I asked him to mention all the people with a doctorate degree he could think of who were in the history books. “While you are trying to think of one,” I said, “I’ll mention dozens who don’t have a doctorate.”

I started rattling off names: Lincoln, Marconi, Edison, Hemmingway, Faulkner, a formally uneducated African American by the name of Garret Morgan from Paris, Kentucky who invented the gas mask and the electric stoplight—and on and on and on.

My snooty colleague finally interrupted me by yelling out “Einstein!” I congratulated him on thinking of one.

Nick Clooney is a brilliant man, one of the smartest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He won’t be a good professor. He will be a great professor. While some of his colleagues are talking about the knowledge they have from books, Nick will be telling students about his vast experiences in journalism all over the world.

Nick won’t be just teaching theory. He will relate his personal experiences to teach them how to interview a world leader; how to protect themselves while reporting on the dangerous African continent; how to charm a movie star into giving them a great interview; how to uncover political corruption by knowing their way around City Hall.

Most of all, Nick Clooney will teach the journalism students at American University the lesson that means the most to him. He will teach them to be honest, caring, fair and balanced journalists.

Nick will teach his students the most important lesson in Journalism. Nick will teach them integrity.

Dale Greer is a member of the faculty at Morehead State University. He has an expansive background in media including award winning reporting and stints as a major television anchor and talk show host. He can be reached via email at, ddgreer@roadrunner.com.