Last week, CBC (Goggle
) had a number of articles about various people who had been scammed by non-existing
universities granting graduate degrees. There were two aspect to these stories.
One was that some people have been fooled by people representing themselves as
graduates from some university and have been disappointed, or even shocked that
such a thing could happen. Those people were concerned that they might have
lost money or reputations by hiring people who misrepresented themselves. I
have some empathy for people who accept facts at face value especially as the
falsely qualified individuals had lovely multi-colour diplomas and their fake
universities can be called and the applicants marks etc are confirmed. I have
significantly less empathy for those who appear to be shocked that their advanced
degrees - for which they paid thousands of dollars for, but for which they did
no academic work for - are of no value.
The latter group appear to believe that it is entirely
appropriate and even now normal that advanced degrees are given based on
personal life experiences. They, if one is to believe them, seem to have
assumed that that the world is changing and that one can get the status of a
degree and better employment opportunities (as well as a nice diploma to hang
on the wall) by telephone. At best one
can only describe these misguided people as naive or perhaps extraordinarily unworldly;
at worst they are con artists. Being the cynic that I am, it is far easier for
me the latter possibility is true. It is inconceivable to me that someone could
actually believe that one can get a doctorate in some field without ever
reading a book or writing a single word.
As companies and institutions start to demand ever more
qualified applicants for entry level positions,
the pressure to earn those academic qualifications (whether or not they are of any real value in
the job) easier also increases. It is not surprising that some enterprising con
artists have created a way for people to get those credentials. In fact, it
could be argued that the very existence of such diploma mills are the direct
result of the ever increasing inflationary academic qualifications.
While there is clearly, for some employers, the very real possibility
of being caught up in this con and risking their companies reputation, these
diploma mills pose a much more serious threat to the millions of people who
have gone to graduate school, have read hundreds of books, attended countless
hours of classes and written numerous well researched papers. It is part of a
trend to de-value their hard work. In Canada in the last 10-15 years there has
been steady diminishing of the amount of work required to earn an advance
degree. A number of the more prestigious Canadian universities have reduced the
amount of time and work needed to get a Masters degree - just as seeing it as a
brief way stop on the way to a PhD. By
finding ways to make it easier to get
into a PhD program - universities are reducing the value of other degrees. There
are, as well, an ever increasing number of valid, recognized universities that offer on-line courses. When teaching at a
community college, probably half of my colleagues had a Master's Degree in
Education from an on-line university. I would not argue that such on-line
degrees have no value, but they significantly reduce the value of a Masters
degree.
Education should not be about getting gaining entry into the
work force, but rather about exploring and expanding our interests. It should
be about assisting people to develop into someone who can think critically, who
can debate issues without resorting to mindless rhetoric and who can be an
active citizen in their community. The existence of individuals prepared to
either grant or earn bogus degrees is but one symptom of an education system
who, with the active support of companies and institutions, has the main priority of finding and
retaining consumers (students) for as long as possible.
It is no longer about good education, but rather about
ensuring that there are sufficient students to maintain the institution. That seems backward to me.
