All The Weird Certifications You Can Get Online

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing!

It just seems to me that the 40's (and before) would likely have seen even fewer employers who would actually validate credentials. Then again, perhaps many employers relied more heavily on alumni networks.

Consider the fact that if, today, I claimed an MBA from say, the University of Denver, to the casual observer it wouldn't appear odd. I have a degree from CTU. Denver is also in Colorado. I look like a guy who might very well have an MBA. I work in a job where a person with an MBA might reasonably work. And there are a good number of employers who would never think to check far enough into my background to confirm my education.

Taking it a step further, if I just made up my own university (with a real sounding name) there would likely be equally little attention paid to it. The absence of a website (or one without the .edu extension) would weigh against me.

But in the 40's, how would you check to see if there was really a University of St. Neuhaus in Colorado? Place an expensive phone call? Write a letter? Heck, no time for that, you have too much smoking and wearing a fedora to do!

Consider too that an amateur calligrapher could probably recreate any document necessary to lend legitimacy to their endeavor. I just think it was probably a time when diploma mill scammers likely sit back and reflect nostalgically upon. Ahh, those were the days.

 

Here's a little story about the micro-nation of Sealand

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/08/sealand-outlaw-ocean-tiniest-nation/596074/?utm_source=feed