Kids Say 'No Thanks' To Being President

Are today's students smart or what? After watching the bruising presidential campaign and beleaguered President Bush in action over the past year, a majority of them say the job stinks and is not worth having. Scholastic News tells Whispers that its latest poll of 30,000 students in first through eighth grades finds that 55 percent don't want the job. But when the results are broken down by sex, boys overwhelmingly would like to be president, 66 percent saying yes to 34 percent saying no, compared with girls, who reject the post 81 to 19 percent.

It's not all bad news for the future of the nation, however. Just two years ago, 81 percent of the kids polled by Scholastic did not want to be president. Current historical figures might also influence kids. In New York, home to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, 82 percent said they wanted to be president. But in Texas, home to poll cellar-dweller President Bush, only 19 percent want to be president.

By Paul Bedard