"a farce such as St. Regis"-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

galanga · Apr 22, 2004

Editorial Don't measure teachers by degrees, 04/21/04 Atlanta Journal-Constitution: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0404/22bogus.html

In trying to identify and reward good educators, Georgia relies too much on the number of degrees on a teacher's wall rather than impact on student achievement. As a result, too many Georgia teachers are filling their walls with degrees of little value to their students.

The worst examples are the 10 metro Atlanta educators who bought "advanced degrees" from an online university based in war-ravaged Liberia. St. Regis University defends its online degrees — awarded based on life experience and without requisite course work — by citing its accreditation by the "Higher Education Commission of the Education Ministry of Liberia." Never mind that Liberia's higher education system is in shambles, its campuses looted and destroyed in bloody civil strife, its teaching force untrained and more than half its school-age children now out of school.

To his credit, F.D. Toth, executive secretary of the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, downgraded the teaching certificates of the educators with the worthless degrees and rolled back their automatic pay raises. The commission is investigating whether the scandal warrants additional sanctions against the teachers and expects to issue a report next month.

Yet some Georgia systems are hesitating to take disciplinary action against these educators, saying the teachers were duped and believed their degrees were bona fide.

Well, if college-educated professionals can't tell the difference between a legitimate master's degree program and a farce such as St. Regis, they ought to be removed from the classroom for incompetence if not dishonesty. Furthermore, the state ought to use this embarrassing episode to examine the entire practice of compensating teachers for advanced degrees. Georgia teachers are flocking to out-of-state diploma mills only slightly more reputable than St. Regis, some of which issue a master's degree in education after a month of study...
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

"a farce such as St. Regis"-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

galanga New Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

"a farce such as St. Regis"-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

galanga New Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches