Classmates of Laura Callahan?

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by Bruce, Jun 12, 2003.

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  1. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    It continually amazes me that seemingly smart people will either fall for or go along with a diploma mill scam. These took about 5 seconds to find;

    James G. Looby-Hudson Valley Community College, Department Chair.

    Hugh M. Gravitt-Piedmont Community College, Chemistry Instructor.

    Stephen K. Bottom-University of Missouri-Columbia, Assistant Professor, Trumpet.

    As we've seen so many times before, these people have otherwise fine credentials, and for some reason feel compelled to attach a fake degree on the end and risk ruining their reputations.

    I just don't get it.


    Bruce
     
  2. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    "Brass Pedagogy and Performance Practice" seems perfect.
     
  3. drwetsch

    drwetsch New Member

    One thing I found when looking at Hamilton is that many RA schools have a link to Hamilton University. If you check on it you go to the Hamilton College in NY web site which is a legitimate school. I also found references where folks were using Hamilton University but were referring to the NY school.

    However, I did a quick look at the Hamilton U. (NY) web site and could not find where they are offering graduate degrees. So this defaults to the degree mill HU unless anyone knows of the legit Hamilton offering graduate programs.

    John
     
  4. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I noticed that two of the three are community college instructors, and the third seems to be a music performance teacher. All three of those are positions where doctorates aren't required.

    So these aren't cases of people obtaining positions because of a questionable doctorate. They are people who already qualify for a position deciding to top it all off with a vanity Ph.D.

    I don't know, Bruce. There was a time in my life when I kind of hero-worshipped university faculty. I valued education above everything, and kind of supposed that education could make people better in some fundamental way. So that suggested that those with the most education were the best. A Ph.D. was kind of a higher being.

    But frequent contacts with university faculty and with Ph.D.s have convinced me that many of them are clueless outside their own tiny specialty. Or at any rate, they have no more wisdom than anyone else.

    So, putting the two together:

    I can see the temptation. We see it here on Degreeinfo, with the way that everyone seems fixated on doctoral programs. Being able to be called "doctor". Being automatically assumed to be an authority. Having people defer to you.

    And I can understand that some people, even people in higher education who should know better, don't have a clue about accreditation issues. Or, as we see so often, they are able to generate a rationalization for enrolling in an iffy program sufficient to satisfy themselves at least.

    (And that might not be very hard, given the temptation.)
     
  5. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    In Freudian terms, it's called Ph.D. envy. :D
     

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