Easiest Masters Degree of Education?

I've been reading posts for two days now. Thanks for all of the advice everyone.
Here's my situation. I need a Masters degree to move over on the salary scale. I'll be honest: With my schedule, and young kids at home, I'm looking for the easiest program out there...as long as the school is accreditated. After days of research, I narrowed my choices down to American Intercontinental University, Jones International, and Capella. AIU appears the easiest. Here is why: Students can complete the Master of Ed in just 10 months. Furthermore, there are only 8 total classes to take...two in each 10 week session. Finally, each course is only 5 weeks long, so a student is only taking one class at a time. All other programs I have studied have students taking two courses at a time, and typically over 12 weeks.

Does anyone have any experience at AIU? I would really appreciate the advice!!! Does anyone know of an easier program?
Thanks in advance, Greg

 

Quite frankly, I’m tired of posts like these. Either choose the program that will prepare you to be the best you can be in your chosen field (within your limitations), or simply step aside and let someone who is willing to make the proper sacrifice of time, money, and effort excel. I am tired of those who feel that any “quick fix” to get ahead and “move over on the salary scale” is acceptable. That’s precisely the philosophy that is holding our country back from achieving even greater heights and successfully competing in what is becoming an increasingly global economy. Damn it; when are some of you going to realize to in order to get, you have to give.

Sorry, nothing personal, Greg, but I've been meaning to get this off my chest for a while.

 

Greg:

Pay no attention to Gus he starts shit with everyone, but it is never personal.

Veteren101 has experience with AIU, and seems to like it well. I looked at the program, and talked AIU. I think the program is fast paced, and accelerated, but not easy at all. I have heard that it is a real commitment to do the program in that amount of time. What area of specialization are you looking at?

Regards,

Scott

 

Gus:

Do you really expect someone to come to a degree information site, and say I am looking for the most difficult, and longest degree program I can find. Could someone help me out?

Scott

 

Right, don't you pay me no never mind. Sumpin', however, has motivated Scott to explore earning legitimate credentials, and I know he, I, and his family will be proud the day he does.

I didn't say easiest, quickest, or cheapest shouldn't be factors to be considered. I just wanted to point out that they should take a back seat to truly meeting what your needs are to excel in your profession. Moreover, if your profession is education, and you are in charge of molding young minds, then double or triple the import of the point I was trying to make.

 

Actually Gus,

My wife wishes I would forget about this. To be a cosmetologist she is a lot smarter at times than me. Her word of wisdom is why put yourself through all of that when you already make more than some college presidents, and you have your own business. My word to her are I do not know, but I keep pursuing it. Heck, she works 1 1/2 days a week, and makes as much as some teachers. Doesn't make sense does it?

 

I meant to say my word to her is I don't know which is usually my response to her. Especially when she wants to know where my keys are.

 

No, it doesn’t make sense, but deep inside, in that tiny hidden place where integrity resides, there is a rumbling. And now that you’ve been bitten by the bug, if you don’t do something, trust me, it’ll eat you up inside. But I know it aint the money; nobody knows that better than me.

In another post, you asked whether to buy a Harley or pursue your education. Tough choice, that: whether to put something exciting between your legs or between your ears. Only you can decide which will be more fun and take you where you really want to go. (Trust me, I can relate. I miss my bike and my boat; I only got to keep the plane because I use it frequently for business.)

Forget the business; forget your customers; even, for the moment, forget your wife. Instead, think of this: when your kids are deciding whether or not to go to college, or which college to attend, they just might ask you where you went to school. What do you want to be able to say?

 

One word of caution - make sure that the program you decide on is approved for licensure/promotion. Although a program is accredited, it may not have been approved by states as meeting their requirements for pay increases and/or promotion to adminstration.

Mary

 

"Either choose the program that will prepare you to be the best you can be in your chosen field (within your limitations), or simply step aside and let someone who is willing to make the proper sacrifice of time, money, and effort excel. "

This is a naive and presumptuous statement. In the real world out there, we all know our education helped us become critical thinkers and well-read scholars, but that has little to do with the day to day tasks assigned on the job. I'm not a better teacher because of endless hours I spent earning a graduate degree; but I'm better paid. I'm a better teacher because of years of experience on the job. Nothing in my academics prepared me to be the best I could be, nor did I expect that it would.
Time to retire the high horse.

 

Keep in mind that quick does not always mean easy. In fact quick can usually mean that the classes are more intense and there is less room for error.

If they are compressing a traditional 14 week class into 5 weeks (and are trying to deliver somewhere near the same level of knowledge) it would make for a very intensive course. In a course like that, it could be very easy to fall behind if the information is coming at you to quickly, and with only 5 weeks, falling even a little bit behind could be unrecoverable.

You said you have kids and other responsibilities at home, talk to some people in that program and ask them how high paced the classes are. It would be better (IMHO) to take a little bit longer to get a degree than to flunk out of a program because it was too intense. Believe me, I know several people who have washed out of graduate programs because they wanted to get it done as quickly as possible and wound up overcommiting themselves.

Jon

 

OK, let me see if I get this straight. Critical thinking and being well-read have nothing to do with your job as an educator. Nothing in academics prepared you to be a better teacher, nor did you expect it would.

Does the term “self-fulfilling prophecy” mean anything to you? If not, how about the term “job burnout?” I’ve had my share of cynical teachers, and I certainly don’t wish them for my kids. What advice would you give to some kids who told you they could make more money after a few years of experience as runners for the local crack dealer rather than staying in school? Their arguments would be the same as yours. They would tell you that, like you, they don’t expect academics to prepare them to be the best that they could be. They would also tell you that it was time to retire the high horse.

You criticize my comments as naive and presumptuous yet you exemplify my point precisely. It seems you chose a program of study more for the salary increase rather than it’s potential to enable you to excel in your chosen profession. Why would you want someone else to make the same mistake?

If you don’t think that your graduate degree made you a better teacher, yet you received a pay raise because of it, show some integrity and refuse the increase. Turn it down until you feel confident that your students are learning more or learning more efficiently and effectively. How’s that for naive and presumptuous?

 

Easy masters reply

Lots of replies...but not much substance. Only Scott came close to actually answering the questions I had. And Gus??? 803 posts!! Boy...You are really committed to informing others of your opinion. I know you mean well Gus, but sadly, our school district, like many, thinks that a person is a better teacher if they a get a masters degree. However, all teachers know that a person's education is just a tiny part of being a teacher. A teacher's personality, their energy level, their classroom management skills, their organizational skills, their time committment, and the actual delivery of knowledge to the students, and a host of other factors are as important, if not more, as a person's education. We also all know that it's not the educational institution that determines what we learn, but it's the individual. I chose to not attend a prestigious University for my Bachelor's degree to be near my girlfriend (now wife) because a teacher once said you can learn anywhere. Best decision of my life. If it were up to me, teacher salary would be based on merit and performance. But I did not make the rules. So...if anyone is up to actually helping me, any thoughts on AIU or any other accredited degree mill?
Signed, your newbie Greg
PS: Gus...Wanna compare credentials?
College Valedictorian: Summa Cum Laude
Student Teacher of the Year
2 time High School Teacher of the Year
County Teacher of the Year
State Finalist Teacher of the Year

"It's not what you know, but how you deliver it!"

 

I'm with Greg.

Having a minimally acceptable degree does not make you a minimally acceptable person.

We all have to make choices about where we spend the energy in our lives. For some people (not teachers, of course), academia is a stupid place to spend it.

If Greg gets a minimally acceptable M.Ed., and puts the rest of his energy into his own classroom, going the extra mile with his pupils, does that make him a better teacher or a worse teacher?

Greg: May I ask why you ruled out Western Governors University?
http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/academics/mat_listing.html
"Competency-based assessments" sound easier than courses (especially for someone who's already of Teacher-of-the-Year calibre); but I have no knowledge in this area and am just guessing.

 

According to this post, http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?threadid=7788&highlight=armywife University of Phoenix master of education degree program is the easiest program around. http://www.onlinemaed.com/

 

They won't allow the extra mile. In NYC they wouldn't allow it back in the 1950s. You teach to the curriculum, period. Egalitarian, baby!

We had one old and old-school teacher who could teach the curricular material in about half the time of the other teachers. She tried to use the remaining time to teach more but that was verboten. She stayed on beyond retirement age and was allowed to only for the baby-boom need for teachers. The powers that were were glad to be rid of their best teacher.

Master's of Education? What difference does it make when the school system is a tragic farce?

I'm not dumping this on you, Mark, but on the thread.

 

Greg wrote:

...sadly, our school district, like many, thinks that a person is a better teacher if they a get a masters degree.>>>>


I don't know that it necessarily makes you a better teacher, but a school district should encourage its teachers to further their education and salary is one of the few perks available.

>>>> However, all teachers know that a person's education is just a tiny part of being a teacher. A teacher's personality, their energy level, their classroom management skills, their organizational skills, their time committment, and the actual delivery of knowledge to the students, and a host of other factors are as important, if not more, as a person's education.>>>


Probably more, I agree with that.

Ben

 

Re: Re: Easiest Masters Degree of Education?

I agree, Gus.

Frankly, I think that this is a bit of trolling, trying to set us up to start dissing a bunch of accredited programs.

This guy's district wants its teachers to have a masters degree for a reason. He may disagree with that reason and argue that the degrees have little to do with his day to day teaching. But I don't think that justifies our helping him try to subvert his district's intent.

What's more, I'm not thrilled with the implication that DL is the place to go to find quick and easy programs that cut corners.

 

If as some of you preach that RA is the standard (and I am not saying that it isn't) then as long as a degree meets that standard then you are not cutting corners are you? I do not think Greg came here with the intent of cutting corners. He did not say he was looking for a M. Ed. where he did not have to do the work. He is looking for the easiest, and best for him in his situation. Just because someone wants the easiest, or best for them does not mean they are trying to get over on the educational system. I do not think someone with a degree mainly by testing is equal to a traditional B & M education, but I do not criticize one with that degree. If it works for them then so be it. I think too many around here have their degree, and now want to be the degree police to make sure nobody gets to their level unless they work at least as hard if not harder.

 

What you have just done is present an argument for eliminating educational incentive pay for teachers.

Given the current state deficits, that might save school districts a lot of money.

Is that what you wanted to argue? If not, how would you avoid that conclusion without conceding Gus' point?