Comments on: Getting Your Online Degree http://www.kensavage.com/archives/getting-your-online-degree/ Ken Savage Writes About Technology, Music, TV, Movies in Boston Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:24:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: TODD http://www.kensavage.com/archives/getting-your-online-degree/comment-page-1/#comment-7316 TODD Sat, 04 Mar 2006 05:16:27 +0000 http://www.kensavage.com/index.php/archives/getting-your-online-degree/#comment-7316 Pursuing an online degree is a "dumb-man's degree," and I don't mean this sarcastically. If you lack the time in your schedule to meet in an institution one-two nights a week with like-minded people to discuss the readings of that week's course material, then you don't deserve a degree, period. Secondly, do you think you're going to walk away with a quality education via long-distance learning? Please, the "professors" are folks with at best a masters degree and hardly schooled in the art of scholarship. Bad enough colleges today are run like a corporation, where students - the "clients" - 'expect' to receive an "A" grade for submitting consistently mediocre work at best. More and more college students plagiarize and online degrees compel institutions to dumb-down their standards in the name of Profit. Most sad is the scores of graduates with online degrees under the illusion that they actually "earned" their grades and are "worthy" of the "degree," as if grade inflation doesn't exist and they're being held to a real standard. How scandalous! A college education is worth as much today as a high school diploma 10 years ago. In other words, not much. Even a masters degree is inadequate in today's market economy where scores are returning for a 3rd, 4th, even 5th advanced degree, in the name of "updating skills," as if liberal arts is a vocation, like plumbing or electrical work. Interestingly, my friend, a college librarian at a prestigious university, showed me resumes of several job candidates for an ENTRY LEVEL reference librarian vacancy. Many held a Masters in Library Science (MLS), Masters in one social science, a Law Degree (JD) and/or doctorate (Ph.D), with years and years of work experience. My point is, don't expect much obtaining an online degree, besides more debt and an inflated ego that'll get you laughed out of a bar, especially if you happen to run into me and boast about it. If you are passionate to learn, if it's in your bones to be an educated, "enlightened" person, heed the words of Will Hunting said to a pompous ass Harvard student in the movie, Good Will Hunting... Will: "You spent 150 grand on an education you could have got for a buck-fifty in late charges at the public library." Mr. Harvard: "Yeah, but someday you'll be serving fries to me and my kids at a drive-thru on our way back from a ski trip." Will: "Well, maybe...but at least I won't be...unoriginal." Pursuing an online degree is a “dumb-man’s degree,” and I don’t mean this sarcastically. If you lack the time in your schedule to meet in an institution one-two nights a week with like-minded people to discuss the readings of that week’s course material, then you don’t deserve a degree, period. Secondly, do you think you’re going to walk away with a quality education via long-distance learning? Please, the “professors” are folks with at best a masters degree and hardly schooled in the art of scholarship. Bad enough colleges today are run like a corporation, where students – the “clients” – ‘expect’ to receive an “A” grade for submitting consistently mediocre work at best. More and more college students plagiarize and online degrees compel institutions to dumb-down their standards in the name of Profit.
Most sad is the scores of graduates with online degrees under the illusion that they actually “earned” their grades and are “worthy” of the “degree,” as if grade inflation doesn’t exist and they’re being held to a real standard. How scandalous!

A college education is worth as much today as a high school diploma 10 years ago. In other words, not much. Even a masters degree is inadequate in today’s market economy where scores are returning for a 3rd, 4th, even 5th advanced degree, in the name of “updating skills,” as if liberal arts is a vocation, like plumbing or electrical work. Interestingly, my friend, a college librarian at a prestigious university, showed me resumes of several job candidates for an ENTRY LEVEL reference librarian vacancy. Many held a Masters in Library Science (MLS), Masters in one social science, a Law Degree (JD) and/or doctorate (Ph.D), with years and years of work experience. My point is, don’t expect much obtaining an online degree, besides more debt and an inflated ego that’ll get you laughed out of a bar, especially if you happen to run into me and boast about it.

If you are passionate to learn, if it’s in your bones to be an educated, “enlightened” person, heed the words of Will Hunting said to a pompous ass Harvard student in the movie, Good Will Hunting…

Will: “You spent 150 grand on an education you could have got for a buck-fifty in late charges at the public library.”

Mr. Harvard: “Yeah, but someday you’ll be serving fries to me and my kids at a drive-thru on our way back from a ski trip.”

Will: “Well, maybe…but at least I won’t be…unoriginal.”

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