Lincoln as a Self-Made Man

I was interested in our discussion the other day about whether Lincoln would have been elected President today, having no formal education. I agree that America would not elect someone without a college education to be President. However, if Lincoln had existed today, I think maybe he would have a college degree. Today, the idea of a "self-made man" often involves working really hard in school to get a scholarship to college. Lincoln probably would have been able to go to college today, maybe through scholarships and loans. I thought Jamie made a good point in class when she said that it was contradictory how although we idealize the "self-made man", we probably wouldn't elect somebody who was self-educated the way Lincoln was. I think we only appreciate self-made men if they follow a certain path. We want self-made men to choose to go to college and get a good job. If somebody else's idea of a self-made man is living off the grid, or working a minimum wage job, we don't celebrate that, even though it may have been "self-made" (they came to it on their own, didn't get help achieving it from anybody else).