Portrait of an ‘Educated Idiot’

Every so often seemingly unrelated items in your newspaper can yield an amusing connection. Such was the case with the May 27 edition.

First, on Page B1 there is a good story about a great person--Santa Paula school Supt. Bonnie Bruington. In that story she related about her father warning her against becoming an “educated idiot.”

I remembered my father, also from a small town ( Paso Robles, Calif.), advising me with those same words when I was a teen.

Then, as if to show those of your readers who might not be familiar with that term just what such a person looks like, there, on Page 1 of the Calendar section, is a photograph of a perfect example of an “educated idiot,” Timothy Leary. Pardon my chuckle.

J. RASMUSSEN

Newbury Park