President Obama’s slight towards art-history majors last month didn’t go over well with University of Texas professor Ann Collins Johns, who sent the president a letter defending the degrees. He apologized to her personally in a handwritten letter for his “off-the-cuff” and “glib remark,” saying that art history was one of his favorite subjects in high school.
Obama had made the remarks during a speech in Wisconsin encouraging young people to pursue jobs in “the trades.” “I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art-history degree,” he said.
But the president’s apology drew ire from Senator Marco Rubio. The Florida Republican tweeted that it was “pathetic” for the president to apologize.
Pathetic Obama apology to art history prof. We do need more degrees that lead to #jobs via @POLITICO for iOS http://t.co/dy3OvLhLEc
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 19, 2014
Johns admitted on Facebook that she was surprised to receive a personal letter from President Obama. “What I did NOT expect is that THE MAN HIMSELF would write me an apology. So now I’m totally guilty about wasting his time,” she wrote.