Saturday, March 5, 2011

A Scholar Gets Dissed

I have been reading a blog called "Common Sense Barrage" and find it a really good read. This guy, who refers to himself as "The Grouchy Historian" does not post often (enough), but when he does it is well worth the read. His latest post, just a few minutes ago as a matter of fact, concerns  being denied admission to the Doctoral program at George Mason University (who?). The reason apparently is that his degree is from a "for profit" institution. Now as a graduate of American Public University I can say that I understand where he is coming from. Apparently he also is a graduate of this system. It seems the "professors" at George Mason look down a bit on his degree. Funny thing. He pointed out that many professors working with APU/AMU are published authors and experts in their field. For instance, my major was history and some of those that guided me are career military officers, respected published authors, and civilians with a good deal of expertise. The reason why I chose to finish my studies at the institution is pretty plain. My college credits come from a plethora of sources and most were accepted, and it was convenient to my job schedule. Now I do understand that there is a wide disparity in quality of "for profit" institutions. A good friend of mine got his BBA at a well known "for profit" which may have some quality issues. According to him, it was easier than high school. He did go get his Masters at an old line institution with the majority of his courses being online. I think this may well be the rub. These "old school" institutions are becoming irrelevant to some extent. Those that are being "managed the right way" have seen the online model to be the wave of the future. That future is already here in fact. The author also pointed out that he has never read and doubtfully will ever read, any relevant historical work from any of the profs at GMU. That is likely true. Most I would wager have spent their careers in the "university system" and have very little experience in the real world. You know, the kind of experience a retired military officer or successful business owner may have. Don't know much about GMU - don't think they have a college football team. I could be wrong there. What I do bet however is that some of these silly, arrogant, know nothing, "professors" might not suck a weenie, but would likely hold one in their mouth for a while. Sorry. That had to be said. A bit immature I know, but as I have said before; my immaturity tends to run deep. Anyway if you want to read a darn good blog check out incoming-fireforaffect.blogspot.com. It is well worth the wait between infrequent postings.

2 comments:

Jayhawk said...

State universities have turned into "diploma mills" to a significant degree (pun intended), and don't get me started on the whole "cost of education" thing and the amount of debt that college graduates are saddled with. Don't get me started with Obama's "a chicken in every pot" approach to college education, either. We need steel workers, truck drivers, and the like, and we need them doing it because they consider it to be an avocation not because they got a college degree and could not get a job using that degree.

Bartender Cabbie said...

I agree. I have known college "educated" cab drives, truckers, and bartenders. I find it interesting that perhaps the most useless degree appears to be the MBA. I have known quite a few with Masters of Biz and some I would not put in charge of a sno-cone stand. College is not for everyone and often it does not really pay off anyway. I sometimes think I finally got mine later in life as more of a "ego" thing than for practical purposes. An expensive little project just to satisfy my ego I must admit. Not sure it was worth it.