Diploma Mills

Yesterday, Amanda the babysitter came by to watch the kids, while I went to a meeting. Afterwards, I paid her, and we chatted for few minutes on the front porch. Part of the rituals of babysitting.

I asked Amanda how classes were going at the community college that she attends. OK, she said. It wasn't too hard. She said that she had no idea what was going to be on her literature midterm, because they hadn't read any books yet. In fact, the teacher hasn't even discussed literature in class. He was obsessed with assisted death, because his wife recently passed away. So, this lit prof. has been giving one class after another on assisted death. They watch movies on the topic for class twice a week.

Another babysitter goes a local four year college. She's about to graduate with a degree in sociology. Theresa has never written a paper longer than five pages, and she's never read a novel. In fact, Theresa is able to get by with a B average without ever completing any of the assigned readings for class.

Even at my school, which has a much better reputation, has a few stinker classes. The students love telling stories about the professor who only held class seven times in one semester or the professor who just showed videos in class. Some hold their finals two weeks early. The requirements and expectations vary greatly amongst the different majors. Thankfully, my department is strong.

The guy who sold me my computer at the Apple store is a history adjunct at a local college. He has a terminal Masters from a very mediocre local college. I can't imagine that he's prepared to teach college-level history.

More students are in college than ever before. But how many of them are getting degrees that mean something? Why aren't they ticked off that they are spending thousands on empty degrees? Why are the colleges not enforcing some rigor?

Comments

[Chris Lawrence]

I think to many kids, college education these days is all about getting the credential, even at good schools (several different departments I interviewed with last year had the same observation, including at some very good schools). The fact that they don't have to work very hard, or the expectations are low, is a feature, not a bug. Coupled with the over-reliance on student evaluations in decisions on faculty retention, tenure, and promotion, the incentive structure for faculty to teach rigorous courses just isn't there.

[Wendy]

I ran across this somewhere, maybe the CHE or IHE? It's an interesting portrait of the student body today.

[Artemisia]

But how many of them are getting degrees that mean something?

Depends on what you mean by "mean something." A degree from a prestigious school means, to an employer, that you are smart and clever enough to get in, even if you learned nothing in college. Your job prospects will be excellent, regardless.

"No degree" these days in the work world means "stupid loser no one would hire for a job that led anywhere, even if he were highly intelligent and hard-working."

A degree from a community college or a non-competitive university, to an employer, means you are not a stupid loser, even if you learned nothing in college. It makes you eligible for a job that might go somewhere.

So in general, employers use it as a proxy for intelligence and work ethic in hiring decisions. Damn expensive method of sorting people, though.

[Malnurtured Snay]

Wow. I wish I'd known where those colleges are so I could've gone there :)

Kidding. I worked my butt off for my degree. Now I just need to find someone to hire me!

[jen]

I must heartily disagree with the idea that "employers use [your college] as a proxy for intelligence and work ethic". As a person who actively interviews people coming out of colleges, there is a great awareness that there is no relationship -- and sometimes even an inverse relationship -- between the prestige of the school and the student's work ethic. There is definitely a relationship between sense of entitlement and prestige of school. (And boy aren't employers always thrilled to see that sense of entitlement crop up in a 22-year-old. NOT.)

Employers do, however, accurately assess that anyone who went to one of these prestigious schools is culturally middle class and will have no trouble in business meetings.

[Amy P]

jen,

Do you watch the American version of "The Office"? Andy went to Cornell (as he will tell you any time you look at him sideways), but has no other redeeming features.

[Wendy]

*ahem* I went to Cornell and haven't mentioned it till now. ;)

Seriously, I don't have much use for status-seeking, and my experience with Cornell alums of my generation (late 80s) is that we're all pretty down to earth people. There are 7 schools at Cornell, including a few "state" schools. There is more of a diversity there than you might think.

And I'd like to point out that 3 of the Office writers are Harvard grads and 1 is from Dartmouth. I personally feel they are just jealous because Cornell has whupped their asses in hockey this past decade. ;)

[Glen S. McGhee]

I have great sympathy for students graduating community colleges and 4 yr colleges ---

Part of the problem (see link) is "Credential inflation" ( the loss of value of degrees over time ), and another part of the problem is the self-regulation of institutions of higher learning in the US. This is supposedly done by "accrediting agencies" (six regionals and many nationals), but it doesn't work because the agencies are made up of college presidents that are afraid to say anything bad about another institution.

Check out my site, if you are interested in learning more about credential inflation and higher ed accreditation.