I need help in planning my future

[ArcturusMengsk]

First, several personal caveats that are essential to understanding my predicament: I am nineteen-years-old, and I've been out of school for two years now. I was unfortunately unable to complete high school, due to personal reasons that I'd rather not delve into here; suffice it to say that I dropped out due to a combination of problematic psychological and legal issues that have (mostly) been cleared up by now. Furthermore, during my time in school, and as a result of my general apathy towards my life at that time, I failed to apply myself in pursuit of an education, and so I lack a sound base in the sciences or mathematics that would be helpful in a later career. However, I do consider myself intelligent, and rather well-read for my age. What I lack in hard knowledge of the factual sciences I make up for with a familiarity with softer subjects - I'm versed in American politics, psychology and (softer) philosophy, and history. And so the natural course of my attention has turned to the liberal arts. That may not go over well with the engineers and physics majors who frequent this board, but so be it.

During the run-up to the 2008 election, I found myself pouring over details of the general course of American politics, and I think I've found my calling: I should like to become a political campaign manager. I lack the natural charisma to run for office myself, but I do know several individuals my age who do and who are very interested in and knowledgeable about politics, and I believe that if I could gain an education in the field I could help them to implement an agenda that both they and I believe in. The problem, of course, lies in executing that goal - having never had any sort of experience with collegial-level education, I'm not entirely sure where to begin, or even what classes would be most helpful in acquiring the sort of skills necessary towards this end. And understanding that most of the members of this board have far more experience in this area, I thought I'd come before all of you to ask for your advice.

Given the limiting effect of my past scholastic history, I do not expect to be able to enter into any of the most prestigious schools, and would very likely have to start out my career from a community college - though I do understand that most such colleges have a programme permitting for upward transferal if a student proves adept enough at his given subject over a period of time. The problem lies, of course, in selecting a school suitable enough for a serious individual to begin his career from: I have no desire to enroll in a so-called 'diploma mill', only to be handed a worthless degree and find myself unemployed again. Unfortunately, I haven't the slightest as to what to look for in a school, and therein lies my problem. In short - what sort of education should I look to get, and how should I judge my options?

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm not sure, besides a vauge guess that a degree in political science, and perhaps a law degree would be a good idea.

Their are websites that provide information on educational requirements for various jobs; perhaps you could try one of those? Sorry I couldn't be more informative.

[salm]

Can you go back to high school and complete it?

[ArcturusMengsk]

Can you go back to high school and complete it?

I've already gotten my G.E.D., so I don't know how viable an option that would be. It's possible, I assume, but I haven't inquired about it.

[Kanastrous]

Sounds kind of like earning a GED is a prerequisite for doing much of anything else, along the lines you describe.

[Kanastrous]

*edit*

posted the GED comment before you posted that you already had yours.

[salm]

What´s a GED?

[Kanastrous]

What´s a GED?

General Educational Development test.

[ArcturusMengsk]

What´s a GED?

The General Equivalency Diploma (or the General Educational Development test) is essentially a diploma available for those who have not completed secondary education, which tests them on five different subjects (varying by geographical region). They're not as useful as an actual diploma, but they will get you into a community college.

[Maxentius]

I thought it stood for Graduation Equivalent Diploma or some such thing?

Regardless, a GED is a diploma awarded to those whom have not completed the standard high school curriculum, dropped out, etc, that pass a standardized test whose contents run the general gamut of high school scholastics.

edit: Meh, Mengsk got it first.

[salm]

What´s a GED?

The General Equivalency Diploma (or the General Educational Development test) is essentially a diploma available for those who have not completed secondary education, which tests them on five different subjects (varying by geographical region). They're not as useful as an actual diploma, but they will get you into a community college.

So if you had a high school diploma you´d be able to get into better schools? If this is the case, considering this might be not be so bad.
I know a fair share of people who graduated from middle school - highschool is set up like this here low school, middle school, high school. After 4th grade you either go to low, middle, or high, depending on how smart you are - and then after a couple of years in the work force they went back to school upgrading their diploma from middle school to high school. After that they went to some uni and are now studying something or have finished and are in possession of the highest possible education.

[Coyote]

Having been a campaign manager before (albeit briefly) for the 2006 elections, I can point you in a direction that may help.

First of all, pick a Party affiliation-- let's go out on a limb here and say Democratic. Find the local Democratic Party headquarters for your county and learn your district. Go to their offices and introduce yourself. Brush up on all the pett ylocal squabbles that fill a local politician's plate and get immersed in them.

For three reasons, you will have to start out volunteering at the office.
Reason #1: You are unknown to them, so volunteering shows them who you are and that you're motivated enough to show up and do stuff without monetary reward.

Reason #2: We just finished an election and the next one doesn't start for awhile, so right now there is no need for paying too many people for a political staff.

Reason #3: Even in the best of times, political parties (especially at the lowest levels) are loath to give up much of their money to pay some person to answer phones and hand out signs.

The first thing you'll have to reconcile is that your first few months or maybe even first couple of years will involve volunteer work and you'll need a podunk McJob to get by and pay the bills. Maybe use the time wisely for some classes in, say, Human Resources management or something along those lines.

By next election cycle, you'll have met and hopefully clicked with one of your local reps for the State or County offices. Bear in mind that they may already have a colleague in mind for the Campaign Manager job so you may have to slug out a position as a volunteer planting yard signs, updating GOTV lists, manning phones for hitting up donors, arranging for rides for polling places, and the like.

But if you really plug into local issues and attend obscure neighborhood association meetings, and go to those 7pm meetings in the public library where things like public spitting ordinances are argued about, and you're willing to listen to Cat Ladies talk about how their cousin Thelma came from a town that had spitting ordinances, and so on, then you prove to them that you're really into this --more so than the other fly-by-night volunteers that are just there for the free donuts and chance to hook up-- and you'll get picked for campaign staff eventually. As a Campaign Manager you get paid, not much, but in satisfaction and hard work.

As a Campaign Manger you are the Candidate's personal, organic Blackberry. You arrange meetings with the school boards, you remind him it's time to go meet the dogcatcher's union, you have a eager volunteer go pick up some Burger King to go for you and the Candidate so you can eat while on the way to cut the ribbon at the new battered women's shelter, and when all this is done you shove some campaign literature in his hand and tell him to go knock on doors and talk to people. Then you shove literature into the hands of all the other volunteers you can find and have them do the same. Then you drive around in the neighborhoods you're team is canvassing, making sure volunteers are doing this, making sure yard signs are avaialable in your trunk if they are needed, check on past yard signs to make sure they're not vandalised, make sure your volunteers have water and are doing okay.

You have to be willing to crack the whip on the candidate from time to time. They may not feel like going out door-knocking, but you have to get them out there anyway. Nothing is as effective for voters as good old-fashioned out-there face-to-face meetings with the candidate. Rain or shine, ass-deep snow or sweltering heat, you have to get them out there and brook no whimpering about sore feet or weather. YOU run the show, the candidate actually works for you, and a lot of campaigns fail because that relationship gets ignored or turned around by an easily intimidated campaign manager.

So.

Still want the job?

[Coyote]

Can you go back to high school and complete it?

I've already gotten my G.E.D., so I don't know how viable an option that would be. It's possible, I assume, but I haven't inquired about it.

GED is not as problem. You don't need a degree or anything, although they help. It can be a good entry level thing for a motivated, organized person who doesn't mind long hours and delayed sense of payoff when your guy wins after months of late nights and hard work.

Oh, yeah-- the candidate soaks up all the rewards, too. You are the man behind the curtain, at least during the election cycle.

[Mayabird]

During the run-up to the 2008 election, I found myself pouring over details of the general course of American politics, and I think I've found my calling: I should like to become a political campaign manager. I lack the natural charisma to run for office myself, but I do know several individuals my age who do and who are very interested in and knowledgeable about politics, and I believe that if I could gain an education in the field I could help them to implement an agenda that both they and I believe in. The problem, of course, lies in executing that goal - having never had any sort of experience with collegial-level education, I'm not entirely sure where to begin, or even what classes would be most helpful in acquiring the sort of skills necessary towards this end. And understanding that most of the members of this board have far more experience in this area, I thought I'd come before all of you to ask for your advice.

I say this without any knowledge of how it works whatsoever, but I would think that this would be a place that practical experience would be the most important thing with education a close but not as important second. Unfortunately for you we just got through the most recent big election cycle, and I don't know if your area will have any elections (local or otherwise) in 2009 or if you'll have to wait until 2010. Thing is, you don't have to start at the big leagues (which would probably be impossible, anyway). State representatives and county commissioners and town mayors all have to campaign too, and they'd probably be thrilled to have someone who's willing to work for them, even if this person has no idea from the start and needs a lot of training. Local party offices might have openings, too.

Just note that it'll probably be an "internship" that's unpaid or with a skimpy stipend. You're not going to support yourself with it at first, so you might be volunteering with this part-time while working elsewhere for your survival.

But remember, I really have no idea and I might be utterly wrong.

[ArcturusMengsk]

So if you had a high school diploma you´d be able to get into better schools?

Something like that. I've had it explained to me by several of my former teachers who know of my plans that, after a student completes two years at a community college, it's generally possible for him to get a transfer to a state-level university, provided that he shows himself suited to the subject he selects. I'm not entirely sure that that's quite accurate, but that's my understanding.

First of all, pick a Party affiliation-- let's go out on a limb here and say Democratic.

How'd you know?

Find the local Democratic Party headquarters for your county and learn your district. Go to their offices and introduce yourself. Brush up on all the pett ylocal squabbles that fill a local politician's plate and get immersed in them.

That's a good idea. I think the headquarters is actually just a few miles away from where I live, so that'd be no issue at all. I live in Illinois, so I wasn't able to associate with anybody on this side of the river due to the fact that Obama was going to win his home state before he won anything, and hence our efforts were focused on Missouri, but I'll make an effort to link up with the main Party before I do anything else.

By next election cycle, you'll have met and hopefully clicked with one of your local reps for the State or County offices. Bear in mind that they may already have a colleague in mind for the Campaign Manager job so you may have to slug out a position as a volunteer planting yard signs, updating GOTV lists, manning phones for hitting up donors, arranging for rides for polling places, and the like.

I have no qualms at all about doing grunt-work. In fact, I somewhat prefer organizational activities like that to doing other sorts of work, and while I have a few strategic ideas in mind, those would have to wait for people more amenable to them, like one of my friends who intends to run for the State House in a few years. This gives me time to bone up on my game, at least.

But if you really plug into local issues and attend obscure neighborhood association meetings, and go to those 7pm meetings in the public library where things like public spitting ordinances are argued about, and you're willing to listen to Cat Ladies talk about how their cousin Thelma came from a town that had spitting ordinances, and so on, then you prove to them that you're really into this --more so than the other fly-by-night volunteers that are just there for the free donuts and chance to hook up-- and you'll get picked for campaign staff eventually. As a Campaign Manager you get paid, not much, but in satisfaction and hard work.

As a Campaign Manger you are the Candidate's personal, organic Blackberry. You arrange meetings with the school boards, you remind him it's time to go meet the dogcatcher's union, you have a eager volunteer go pick up some Burger King to go for you and the Candidate so you can eat while on the way to cut the ribbon at the new battered women's shelter, and when all this is done you shove some campaign literature in his hand and tell him to go knock on doors and talk to people. Then you shove literature into the hands of all the other volunteers you can find and have them do the same. Then you drive around in the neighborhoods you're team is canvassing, making sure volunteers are doing this, making sure yard signs are avaialable in your trunk if they are needed, check on past yard signs to make sure they're not vandalised, make sure your volunteers have water and are doing okay.

I'm pretty well used to acting as this sort of cat-herder in my personal life anyway, so I think I could make the transfer to a professional job pretty easily. I'm determined to make it, even if it means living hungry for a couple of years. And while I don't have the sort of innate charm that a real politician does, I can be pretty sociable when it requires, in a quirky sort of way. And that's basically half of the battle, being a spokesperson for your candidate on the inter-personal level and getting to know how to gel together coalitions around a particular individual. So I don't mind waiting a bit and studying hard to acquire the sort of intellectual resources necessary towards that end.

You have to be willing to crack the whip on the candidate from time to time. They may not feel like going out door-knocking, but you have to get them out there anyway. Nothing is as effective for voters as good old-fashioned out-there face-to-face meetings with the candidate. Rain or shine, ass-deep snow or sweltering heat, you have to get them out there and brook no whimpering about sore feet or weather. YOU run the show, the candidate actually works for you, and a lot of campaigns fail because that relationship gets ignored or turned around by an easily intimidated campaign manager.

Understood. I have a little experience at phonebanking and GOTV drives thanks to this election, but being that I live in Illinois all of my experience came from the Obama campaign field office in St. Louis (I'm quite happy with the results in Missouri, actually; that state has been trending Republican for years now, and that we essentially tied there proves the validity of our message). I think I'm pretty well suited to this sort of cogs-and-wheels political activity, even though I was just a body on the ground this go-around.

Essentially, right now I'm looking at the mid-terms that are coming up in 2010 to be my first trial by fire. If between then and now I can acquire the skills necessary to make it as a campaign manager on a limited, local level, and make the contacts advantageous to anybody attempting to move up the proverbial ladder, I'd like to continue with it as a full-time career.

[Mayabird]

Ooh, looks like my wild-ass guess (well, guess based on what I thought happened in campaigning) was right.

Anyway, something else: if it clicks and you start working for someone or a party and things are going well, the people who've been working at it for a while can probably point you to any additional education you might need or want. They can say that this community college is better than that one for your purposes or this training class is useful for certain things. After all, they've been through it or known people who've been through it, so they'd be able to give valid advice, better than some random people online.

[ArcturusMengsk]

Anyway, something else: if it clicks and you start working for someone or a party and things are going well, the people who've been working at it for a while can probably point you to any additional education you might need or want. They can say that this community college is better than that one for your purposes or this training class is useful for certain things. After all, they've been through it or known people who've been through it, so they'd be able to give valid advice, better than some random people online.

Great idea. I think I'm going to find the location for the local Democratic headquarters today and I'll show up on Monday, as sharply dressed as I can be, and volunteer to do whatever is needed. I almost never leave my house anyway (I am the very epitome of the unemployed basement dweller meme, minus the basement), and I don't actually pay my own bills anyway, so I can afford to volunteer for free for as long as is necessary to make the right connections and forge a sort of axis with better-connected Democrats. I had always assumed that long-term strategic campaigning really needed someone highly educated at the helm, but since that's not what I'm going to be doing anyway, it can wait awhile, until I find someone to mentor me.

(For the record, if anybody wanted to know, I live in the Illinois 12th District, in St. Clair County; my Representative is Jerry Costello.)

[Coyote]

Sounds like you're already in the right mindset. Good luck-- I hope it works out for you!

[Knife]

Can you go back to high school and complete it?

I've already gotten my G.E.D., so I don't know how viable an option that would be. It's possible, I assume, but I haven't inquired about it.

I'd suggest looking into some local colleges and Jr. Colleges for basement level education. Math, english etc... If you're angeling towards a better school that may be out of your reach at the moment, that'll help after a couple semesters plus it's a bit cheaper than traditional colleges.

[mingo]

Since, as you've correctly surmised, your going to a Community College first, as long as the school is accredited in whatever subject you're taking, it doesn't really matter what school you pick. In spite of what the folks at your local Community College may tell you, there is not a "Harvard of Community Colleges". Community College serves several purposes; 1 It's a cheaper, closer alternative to a 4 year school; 2 It gets mom and dad off your back when they say "You aren't going to lay around here all day. Get a job, go to school, or get out!"; or 3 (the one you're using) It serves as a starting point for people with a spotty academic record.

Now don't think I'm looking down my nose at Community Colleges, I owe my living to my time there, my point is just that it doesn't matter which one.