K-W degree implodes on educators.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_1diplomajun14,0,553117.story?coll=all-news-hed
Jim Thorpe educators' degrees questioned
Taxpayers subsidized unaccredited Ph.D.s for schools chief, teachers.

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It isn't appropriate to post a full-text article. The link and a comment is.

This article ignores the fact that there are many short- and non-residential degree programs available--one no longer has to turn to unaccredited alternatives. It also smears online schools and programs, quoting a couple of ignorant people.

This article does a good job of presenting what is--and is not--Kennedy-Western.

Finally, I appreciate that it, once again, makes the point that how hard you worked to get a crummy degree is irrelevant, a lesson lost on degree mill advocates.

 

Sorry, I wasn't aware of that. Unfortunately, I can no longer edit the post, so an admin will have to take care of that. As for the article, I certainly don't agree with what was being said, which is why I included the reporters email address. They basically discount online education as a whole in that article, and I think that is a crock. Perhaps a few well placed emails to the paper will let them see that DE is a viable means of education, and for some people the only way of getting one. This story is getting a lot of local print and radio coverage, and I am sure they will be dragging K-W and other similar institutions, accredited or not, through the mud around here...

 

The person claiming that they didn't know that KWU wasn't accredited was probably lying.

 

Possibly, and I am not going to try to argue the worth of a K-W degree. But I just find the disparaging remarks about DL in general disturbing...

 

Kennedy Western and its like are what give distance learning a bad image.

IMO this school is just a few steps ahead of St. Regis and it's siblings.

Unfortunately the only thing that can be done is to educate people about accreditation and valid distance learning.

 

I wonder what the boys & girls over at the K-W Pub have to say about this?

 

KWU ad

On a related note, the newly designed FOX News website opens up with a KWU pop-up ad every once and a while. No spin indeed!

 

Perhaps one of the DegreeInfo regulars would be so kind as to give us a summary? For example

1. Are the moderators deleting posts?
2. Does there seem to be a general agreement that the school district is evil/incompetent/uninformed/part of the RA conspiracy against advanced educational practices, etc?
3. Is it waking anyone up to the dangers of a KWU degree?
4. ?

 

Except for a few die hards the crowd at KWU is plenty scared and pissed off. Most of us knew that KWU was not accredited but I don't think we had a good understanding of what that really meant. I know I thought that a KWU degree would have some utility. I'm out of KWU and off looking for a different choice. Oh, by the way the KWU "PUB" is temporarily down for system upgrades.

 

The K-W degree does have utility, at least in the workplace. But for all the wrong reasons. Such degrees are accepted by employers who don't understand accreditation, much less all of the issues surrounding state licensure of schools. They (mistakenly) put a lot of value in it (state licensure), not knowing what it is. But when they find out, BOOM! Their perception of the degree's acceptability plummets. This contributes to the "time bomb" metaphor we use around here. (Coined by Bear regarding degree mills, he said using a degree from one was like putting a time bomb in your resume.)

Don't expect the Pub to return anytime soon. They'll have to wait out the heat of recent bad "pub"(licity). I'm sure it has nothing to do with upgrading their system (a month?). After all, I'm the one who made them take it private. I was using their public forum to post the truth about Kennedy-Western and taking it private was the only way they could get me to stop. I'm stubborn that way.

 

I agree with Larry.

There are some die-hards that would swear it was raining if KWU was pissing on their leg. But, there have been many lately that have shown a lot of concern and are quite upset. I think the bad press, and the discussions on the pub caused some people to quit, and put pressure on KWU. It would take a fool to think that the Pub is down for a month for upgrades when the BB is powered by InfoPop Ultimate Bulletin Board Systems. http://infopop.com/

They may have made a ton of money in the past, but the way they have handled the most recent situation is equivalent to the way Scott Peterson acted after his wife disappeared. They do what they can to try to ignore the negative, and even ignore students that ask questions, or raise concerns. They just simply ignore it all, even the students that are pro KWU.

I wonder if some of the faculty listed on the website are actually associated with the school.

I wonder if all the companies listed on the website from each state actually know that they are listed as accepting and reimbursing for KWU degrees.

The only contact students have is with their advisors. No way to contact the administration, and if you find a way like I did they just simply ignore you and never answer. Real professional organization huh?

 

I find it very interesting that they've apparently decided to take down the Pub. I guess they decided that the bad side out weighed the good. I wonder if they were perhaps concerned with people getting together for a class action suit or that people were just dropping out of the program early after hearing about the negatives?

 

Fortunately, a student started another forum right before the pub was suddenly shutdown without any notice.

So, around 30 or so students now have banded together on a little forum. If there are any students/alumni that are interested in joining this forum PM me and I will put you in touch with the moderator.

It ain't me!

Another student copied the entire pub for records if needed. So, even if the Pub does not open back up all the archives still exist.

I am sure these upgrades will somehow have to leave off the threads of the past don't you think.