American Universities Expelled.. Dr. Bear's Good Morning America Thread

Good Morning America looking for false degrees of
American Military Leadership.
Maybe we should check the background of the
ABC and Good Morning staff.

Every other day I scan the discussion board here at Degree.net.
Looking at postings more for advice than opinion.
There is a constant debate between RA and Non RA.
Mills and Non Mills. Legit and Non Legit.

Since Good Morning and Mr. Bear had to bring the military
into light. I being a proud enlisted Veteran,
would like to offer the May 2002 American Legion Magazine
topic of America Expelled.
A great read, in my opinion.

One section of the article that struck my cord was the
following paragraph.

A recent survey conducted by The American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that only on in three college seniors can identify George Washington as the American General at Yorktown; fewer than one in four know that James Madison was the " father of the constitution;" only one in five can identify the phrase " government of the people, by the people, for the people: as part of the Gettysburg Address.
Of the 55 top - ranked (RA) universities in the nation, not a single one requires a course in American history, and only three require a course in Western Civilization.

The media has moved swiftly from September 11th flag waiving to
"Let's see what dirt is in the Military" parade again.

From the media to our "so-called" top ranked RA Universities of higher learning our trend is getting quite disturbing.

As the saying goes:

" America must be ready, willing and fully armed to defend itself from without. But it also must be fully equipped to defend itself from the threatening forces within"

Is our Department of Education both Federal and State looking out for the pupil? Does ACE investigate the content within the
University or is it just a special interest for lobbist groups?

Just wondering.

Ready for the darts.

 

To their credit, one of the six phonies that Good Morning America exposed (the "love doctor" with a fake doctorate) was in fact a regular ABC-TV on-the-air "expert".

The anonymous veteran writes, "...Since Good Morning and Mr. Bear had to bring the military into light..."

GMA has done nothing about the military. But another national program (which I had nothing to do with) exposed a two-star General, working at the Pentagon, with a fake Master's and Doctorate in strategic planning. He actually ordered the interviewer and cameraman out of his office, when the subject of his degrees was raised. I wonder how Veteran101 would have felt serving under this man.

Veteran101 writes: "...One section of the article that struck my cord..."

Perhaps you meant "plucked," not "struck."

Veteran101 writes, "The media has moved swiftly from September 11th flag waiving..."

Well actually I think it is those nasty liberals who advocate "flag waiving."

The "knowing facts" issue is an interesting one -- one that has been debated in the world of education literally since the time of Plato. There are those (typefied by the American 'liberal arts' curriculum advocates) who feel that an educated person needs to have the basics of history, music, science, math, religion, literature, etc. And there are those (many British schools, for instance) that believe that a university education should create specialists, and what does it matter if the physics professor does not know who is the father of the Constitution, or the history professor does not know what a quark is (and so on).

This is a great topic for a debate, since there are no right or wrong answers, just different points of view, sometimes vigorously held.

PS: Incidentally, there is no forum at Degree.net I wish there had been, but the publisher that runs it chose not to do so.

 

veteran101 writes: "...One section of the article that struck my cord..."

and Dr. Bear writes:
"Perhaps you meant 'plucked,' not 'struck.'"

I looked this up on Dictionary.com (I know the internet is not the GREATEST source for facts and research, however, I didn't have a dictionary handy.):


"v. struck, (strk) struck, or strick·en (strkn) strik·ing, strikes"

"To produce or play by manipulating strings or keys: strike a B flat; strike w, t, and y on the typewriter"


Noone can be educated to the point that they know EVERYTHING (although some will think otherwise). I feel that KNOWLEDGE is valuable, however, having the ability to pertain certain knowledge at the time of need is priceless.

If you don't know how fix an electrical system at work? Read the schematic and and trace signals. If you do not know how to fill out a DS678500-E14-52.7 form (made that up)? Look it up in the DS678500-E14-52.7 fill-out procedure. If you don't know who the general at Yorktown was George Washington? Look in up in an encyclopedia.


Just a thought guys.

Bill

 

Actually, both struck and pluck in this instance could be correct I think. I mean you can strike a nerve or cord and you can definitely pluck one.

*leaves before he is both struck and plucked*

 

I would have questioned his integrity. Walking around with a fake doctorate leads to a question of whether the guy is deceptive, stupid, or just lacking in person integrity (and working in the Pentagon no less).

North

 

As another proud veteran, I have grave concerns about military leaders using fake credentials. In such sensitive positions, the highest order of integrity must be paramount. If they have the lack of ethics to be truthful about their academic preparation, what else are they willing to lie about? I'm not sure I want to know...



Tom Nixon

 

I believe one might strike a chord on the piano, but pluck a cord (string).

I was trying, gently, to point out that the veteran misspelled the word.

Ditto for "waving flags" and "waiving flags."

 

Are you suggesting that if one obtains and uses a fake doctorate, one is either:

1. Deceptive
2. Stupid
3. Lacking in integrity?

Is it possible that one could buy a Ph.D. (e.g., $199 from American College), use the title professionally/publically, and not be one of the above?

 

Instead of making the officers that hold fake degrees the center of attention, maybe people should focus on the system used to screen these degrees. You need a four year degree from an accredited school to qualify for commisioning in all branches of military right? Do they not CHECK the validity of these degrees? Wouldn't it be as simple as checking the school Joe Shmoe graduated from to see if it is accredited from a national or regional accreditor? Then calling up the school and asking if Joe Shmoe actually graduated? Perhaps an official copy of his transcript? Its seems like it would be a fool proof plan..

What happened here? How did they slip through the cracks?

Regards,
Bill

 

In the Air Force, officers' education records are screened and maintained by the Registrar's Office of the Air Force Institute of Technology. They're the clearinghouse for deciding whether or not a degree qualifies for entry into a commissioning program or onto the officer's record. Properly accredited degrees are the only ones accepted. Official transcripts sent from the school are used as the basis for confirmation.

I met an Army major once who completed an MBA at Pacific Western University. (This was in the late 1970's.) He said he used Army Tuition Assistance, but I have no way of confirming that, or knowing whether or not the officer had the degree placed on his record.

It is important to note that the general officer in question most likely was discovered because he listed his fake degrees in some unofficial way. A resume, a press release, or some other such means. Whether or not they were on his Army record would be a bit difficult to discern, and likely this was not in this case. (They might be there, but I doubt any normal search without authorized access to his records would be the basis of this dust up.)

Do they check? In this case, it doesn't matter, for I'm pretty sure the Army didn't have anything to do with it.

 

false veteran syndrome

Reading about the General with the phony degree reminds me of the folks they catch who claim to be war heros and when you get to the bottom of it,find out they weren't even in the service or were never in war zones.

People who use false credentials have a 'hole' in their psyche they need to fill. I once sat with a friend who was trying to quit smoking and had hired a chiropractor to hypnotize him. The chiropractor was quite proud of his skill and invited me to sit in. From his desk he pulled out a revolving light that looked like a disco ball..he plugged it in and started reading from a booklet the hypnotic suggestion to my friend. As I sat there I realized that the guy had as much training in hypnosis as the ball had significance. It was hard not to laugh. We left,after paying $25 and my friend smoked for another 5 years. The chiropractor felt like he had given an important service and put the magic ball back into its box for another day when he would try again.

Bottom line: if a police officer is found to be lying,he is pulled off the main line because you can't trust them. If a General is using a 'bought degree' he should be pulled also. Do you want him with his hand on the button?