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Diploma Mill
Jim Sullivan Outrage over diploma mills is a major theme in today's print and TV news editorials, where the pundits rail against the marketing of bogus U.S. college and university degrees to anyone who'll pay for them. Every level of post high school degree, from a Bachelor's degree to a Master's and even up to a Ph.D. is being sold to Americans for a price that is well below that of a regular college degree and with only minor or no classroom study required. Most purchasers of such degrees never set foot inside of an institution of higher learning. Not surprisingly, news editorials cry out, "These bogus credentials are unfair to people who have actually earned, paid dearly for, and still owe on college and university diplomas from accredited schools. And hasn't such immoral and unethical antics as selling spurious degrees cheapened the holders of legitimate credentials and those who paid for them (not always the same person)?" Well, yes and no. When a diploma mill sells a bachelor's degree in, oh, "Post-Industrial Business Management" from, say, Darpnell Southwest National Business Institute and Advanced School of Culinary Arts and Crafts, who really cares? The purchaser has a job credential, phoney though it may be, at low cost, to use to get a position that has a job requirement, phony though it may be, for a formal degree of higher learning. Going to a recognized school might be the best way to become educated1 but it isn't the only way. There are other, perhaps more difficult or less organized and possibly more painful ways of getting educated: self-study, apprenticeship, life experiences to name just a few. The buying and selling of phony degrees has arisen from two negative conditions existing in the U.S. economy. The first is the phony job requirement for a college or university credential. Most jobs and professions have an entrance test anyway. Lawyers must pass a bar exam, physicians have to pass a medical board's test, and accountants are required to pass the CPA examinations. Such written or oral quizzes are usually rigorous and thorough. Few informally educated people could ever pass such exams. Yes, there are the old saws that go, "who wants to be operated on by a surgeon who didn't go to medical school?" or "who wants to be flown by an airline pilot who never went to flight school?" Okay, those and a few others might be exceptions for the informally educated. But most employers could safely waive the formal education requirement. Proof is, no one issued engineering degrees to those who built the pyramids. How about Abe Lincoln who didn't go to college or to law school but who nevertheless became a successful lawyer? Then there was President Harry Truman who didn't get beyond high school. In reality, the list of such people is short. But those informally educated people were more than adequate for the jobs that they performed.2 If, though, human resource (HR) executives, once called personnel managers, know the above but still are in the habit of hiring only on the basis of a diploma, then there must be a reason. Could it be that HR people don't know of a way to determine just how educated an individual really is? That's hardly likely. Well then, is it laziness? Who knows? And another thing. Even legitimate colleges and universities, including the Ivy Leagues, sometimes graduate people who can't read, write, speak, think logically and critically, apply the scientific method, or do math correctly. Only an employment entrance exam will suffice to determine if a college graduate, regardless
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of the school's reputation, or anyone else who
doesn't hold a recognized degree, is capable of doing what's expected for
the job being filled. Degrees can no longer be trusted, if they ever
could be.
The second negative condition that drives the business of the diploma mills is the astronomical cost of obtaining a degree. Phony diplomas are alluring today because the cost of higher education keeps soaring. Students are graduated with thousands of dollars in college debt. What a millstone to put around a young person's neck. If someone, therefore, can become educated in a less costly fashion, isn't that a prudent thing to do? Sure it is. Of course, if fewer people go off to college to get a degree, then college professors' jobs might be jeopardized. No one would want that to happen, would they? And here's another thought. Could this emphasis on employing only college graduates be the dark underbelly and unintended consequence of the highly touted G.I. Bill Program? Perhaps if employers would stop demanding formal educations for their workers and merely secure competent workers by the use of employment entrance exams, this would lower the demand for college degrees, phony or legitimate, and the problem of the diploma mills would dry up. Overcrowding on regular campuses would subside, too. Surely, America should promote education. How that is accomplished, through formal or informal means, however, is immaterial. Request for Help Sam Aurelius Milam III A Summary of My Situation — In spite of the fact that, in the James Majeski Living Trust and by word-of-mouth, James Majeski promised me donated accommodations for the rest of my life, he has recently announced that, starting in January of 2008, he will require me to make rent payments of $250 per month in addition to paying half of the utilities. In addition, he has forced me to vacate my bedroom and find temporary sleeping accommodations elsewhere. In spite of the fact that I've been living in the Trust house for four years and have performed all of the maintenance and repairs on the house for the past two years, he has announced that I must pay a security deposit of $375. For now, I'm continuing to perform most of the duties to which I originally agreed when we made the deal, plus a few additional duties. However, I must find somewhere else to live. I previously had an offer from a concerned family member to buy a house for me in this vicinity. That family member has recently withdrawn the offer. Because of my inability to pay the cost of moving my possessions to a remote location, and for other good reasons, I'd very much like to remain in this local vicinity. The cost of a small mobile home on a small lot in this area begins at about $60,000 and goes up from there. I'm hereby requesting contributions toward the acquisition of such property or the actual acquisition of the property for me. If I'm not able to acquire something appropriate in this local area, then I'll also need contributions to cover the cost of moving to another location. A Summary of My Needs — I'll need at least 700 sq. ft. of floor space plus kitchen, laundry, and bathroom facilities. That's about what's normally provided in a 14x60 single-wide mobile home. I'll need access to the U.S. mail, a telephone line, and the internet. Due to my undocumented status, I'll need for someone else to legally own the place. That being the case, I'll need some kind of an arrangement, such as a trust or a will, whereby I'll be authorized to stay in the place for the rest of my life if the owner dies before I do. Sharing space with another person has always caused problems for me, as in the present situation. Therefore, I don't want to share the space with anybody else. I want to live alone. Please contact me if you can provide such an arrangement or if you can provide contributions toward such an arrangement. Old Timer's Lore
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Acknowledgments My thanks to the following: SantaClara Bob; Lady Jan the Voluptuous; Lord Jeffrey the Studious; my mother; Ernie and Claire, of Show Low, Arizona; Jules, of Tucson, Arizona; and Jim, of South Bend, Indiana. — editor
Changing Times Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by Steve, of Fremont, California. Scenario: Johnny takes apart some firecrackers that were left over from the 4th of July, puts them into a model airplane paint bottle, and blows up a red ant nest. 1956: A few ants die. 2006: The BATF, Homeland Security, and the FBI are called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates Johnny's parents. His siblings are removed from their home and all of the family's computers are confiscated. Johnny's entire family goes onto a terrorist watch list and none of them are ever allowed to ride in an airplane again. Frontiersman Subscriptions and Back Issues — Printed copies of this newsletter, either subscriptions or back issues, are available by application only. Cancellations — If you don't want to keep receiving this newsletter, then print REFUSED, RETURN TO SENDER above your name and address and return the newsletter. When I receive it, I'll terminate your subscription. You can also cancel by letter, e-mail, carrier pigeon, or any other method that gets the message to me. Reprint Policy — Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. Please note that I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other sources. For that permission, you must go to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material. Submissions — I solicit letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece. I give credit for all items printed unless the author specifies otherwise. Payment — This newsletter isn't for sale. If you care to make a voluntary contribution, then I prefer cash or U.S. postage stamps. For checks or money orders please inquire. For PayPal payments, use editor@frontiersman.my3website.net. The continued existence of the newsletter will depend, in part, on such contributions. I don't accept anything that requires me to provide ID to receive it. In case anybody's curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc. — Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor
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