Education Blog

After ripping on many, many schools that are not “accredited”, the book goes on to mention, how you can get a “real” credit by buying a persian rug. Because everyone knows how difficult it is to buy a rug, let alone a Persian one.

Anyway bears lists “accredited schools with degrees entirely by distance learning”

and lists Alberta’s Athabasca U as an “accredited school” = the have been open for a number of years and only in 2005 did the received accreditation- just look it up on their site. So basically if your school is “unaccredited” they you don’t have a real degree, tell that to Royal Roads, UBC, Uvic, Uof Manitoba, and on an on. Because if you read the “university and college act” you will know that you can accredit yourselves, mind you with a bunch of paper work. oh, Devrey accredits themselves, so their degrees are not worth the paper they are printed on.

IF you want to look at the world of education the way the book looks at it, you are limiting yourself. Education should be just that an education, but whether you come out of UBC or Harvard with an undergrad, you basically know nothing. Ever have to write a 500 word essay at your current job? most of you can say no.

I say revamp the system and get to the meat of the degree in 2 years or less- of a a 4 year degree 2-3 years of it is spent entirely on basic courses.

Rating: 3 / 5

I recently bought the new 2001 edition of Bears’ Guide. I got an earlier edition about five years ago, and read it through carefully before deciding to do a Ph.D. with Greenwich University. This was after twelve years of teaching geology at the university level with only a B.S. and M.A. from state schools in Ohio. I had many questions about the three faculty on my committee. Here are two of my questions. Where did they get their doctorates? Where did they subsequently go to teach? The answers may surprise you considering the low tuition at Greenwich: Union Institute–University of Maryland, University of Southern California–Texas A&M, University of California (Davis)–Duke. All have doctorates in fields related to environmental science. Am I satisfied with the school? Absolutely! It has been around for 25 years, has its own building, has a budget of around a million dollars a year, is accredited, and has an excellent faculty. (Look them up on the internet.) Some of the complaints about distance education found below are either misleading or wrong. How well are these degrees accepted? In the journal “Science” we read that, “Several members of the Cambridge University faculty, a conference participant noted, earned their Ph.D.s at the Open University.” (Vol. 277, p. 311) Elsewhere the article notes that degrees from the Open University can cost as little as “one-tenth the traditional price.” Forget the idea that you get what you pay for. I once bought a used Subaru for $2000. It provided reliable, inexpensive transportation for seven years. The high tuition at many traditional schools is going for million-dollar coaches who grab and choke students. Witness the events associated with Indiana basketball. Educated people do not blame children for the imagined sins of their parents. There is nothing wrong with the fact that Norfolk Island was founded by descendants of mutineers from the H.M.S. Bounty. It is true that the island is tiny, as it is only half the size of the smallest republic in Europe. However, the almost 9,000 acres are still a pretty good spread. Besides, when did size determine importance? The buildings that house Amazon.com and Yahoo.com are measured in square feet. Since the Union Institute has taken some hits, it would be well to remember that it was founded in 1964 by the presidents of ten colleges. First on the list is Antioch University, where the original consortium had its offices for many years. If you haven’t heard of Antioch you have probably heard of at least one graduate, Stephen Jay Gould. Other schools included Bard, Goddard, Hofstra, Wayne State, Northeastern Illinois, Sarah Lawrence, Shimer, and Stevens. One small school in Maine, Nasson, went under. The Union Institute is housed in a magnificent building in Cincinnati. It is thriving. Were I the CEO of a company where the personnel officer routinely throws away resumes from schools listed in Bear, I would be alarmed by his prejudice, since Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, University of Colorado, and University of Illinois, among many other excellent schools, are mentioned. If these are not good enough, does he consider where applicants got their other degrees? Null complains that one school was dead last among national universities. Most schools are after the national universities. Would you rather be last at the Indy 500 or first in the village tricycle race? The complaint that Bear will not correct errors is preposterous. The 2001 edition is the fourteenth, and dramatically different from the one I bought a few years ago. This is the wave of the future. Buy it! Read it!
Rating: 5 / 5

This is the one necessary resource for anyone looking to begin or continue education through non-traditional means.
Rating: 5 / 5