Exploding the Myths about DETC Accreditation:

Is it a myth that K-12 teachers or CPAs can't use DETC degrees?

Really, the big question is "are there any specific career paths/professions in which the overseer specifically states that non-RA degrees won't suffice?" If so, which ones?

 

You can't use a NA degree for anything in Texas. Heck you can't use a RA degree for your CPA without the college program also having programmatic accreditation as well. A NA degree in Texas is useless! (I can say that now I am in a RA school..lol) There are RA's out there with the same degree programs and better prices then NA schools. What the heck is there to even talk about? I know were some of the DETC people are coming from, as a student I felt I had to try to make excuses as why/how they were the same. But at the end of the day they are not. On the Penn Foster E student forums, DETC gets made fun of by their own students. There is always some student bitching about how they can’t get a state license as a Dental Tech or a Pharmacy Tech because the programs are not RA. I am way better off now than I was at PF, Clovis is RA and less than half the price. I just paid $200 for two classes that start next week. With all the fee's at PF for the payment plan that would have been close to $500 + $200 enrollment fee

 

A fairly recent change in the the Texas story, THECB now recognizes at least CCU. I believe that they'll recognize DETC in general but I could be mistaken on that.

 

You are correct Bill they do, but you can use it for no state licensure. No teaching, no CPA, nothing....

 

This is so true that it needs to be saved and then reposted each time this comes up.

 

Very interesting! So all that such a degree can be used for in Texas is employment outside government and in professions that don't require state licensing?

 

Nice to know but ...

I've always felt that discussions by detractors (and defenders) of any existing standard or accreditation body are eventually moot. It all depends on the functionality required by the specific individual when they pursue a degree from an institution. If the said person would like to work in the corporate or private sector, then in general, an accredited (DETC, RA) degree is a good start. Of course, the applicant will still have to contend with any per-existing bias of HR departments or the interviewer.

On the other hand, if the degree is to be used for specific professions, its best to ensure that the specific degree pursued has the necessary or widest possible programmatic accreditation possible. For example, a would-be psychologist would probably want APA recognition for the degree under pursuit.

If the individual aspires to tenure-track B&M academia, then they should be aware of the additional requirements that are sometimes "unspoken". For example, a candidate with a AACSB degree would probably have an initial advantage when applying for a business position in an old-school, B&M university.

Its in our human nature to take positions that are congruent with our beliefs and investment. A graduate from a DETC school will generally and rightfully be proud of his/her achievement just as an AACSB/APA school graduate will have certain strong opinions about the quality of their programs versus the rest.

I think discussions pitting DETC vs RA or otherwise are generally not productive - even though I guess any constructive debate has its intrinsic value. IMHO, the value of any specific degree lies in its functionality and the corresponding cost-benefit-constraints analysis for specific individuals.

Just my 2 cents and peace to all.

 

And so it goes. The circular debate. Ad infinutum. Ad nauseum. Peace out.

 

Dang... Since I live in Miami and work in the corporate IT sector, what am I going to do with myself since I am unqualified to teach in Texas?!

 

This is (seriously, no sarcasm intended) an excellent point.

Whenever approached by this point by someone I've always asked two questions:

1. Are you sure you're always going to be in the situation you're in right now and you'll never want a change of career?

2. Comparisons aside for a moment because there's always, always a cost-benefit analysis that leaves some rocks unturned, knowing that there are some things that you can't do with your degree once you've earned it, and knowing that you may end up doing just as much work to get that degree or paying just as much...

Wouldn't you rather just get the degree that you know absolutely won't limit you at a very basic options level?

Now if the risk/reward is steeply in favor of the DETC degree, do it. I don't think the point of the site is to discriminate, even though I personally discriminate heavily against DETC, my paradigm is different from yours. That's perfectly cool.

and btw. I work in the corporate IT sector in Boston, I will never teach in TX, but it's nice to know I could if I had to.

Best,
A

 

If one wants to mitigate for any and all potentialities, however remote they may be to that individual, then why would one settle for anything less than a doctorate from one of the Big 3 (and I ain’t referring to EC, TESC or COSC here).

I, for one, would not live in Texas and, as such, this has not entered into my critical analysis. It all gets down to a thoughtful cost/benefit analysis for each individual of which no one else (particularly strangers on an Internet message board) would be qualified to interject their personal preferences.

 

Or at the very least, to throttle this back to a very real potentiality, as opposed to the extreme referenced in my previous post to illustrate my point, one might want to give serious consideration to precluding the pursuit of any DL-based degrees whatsoever, as it’s not at all unreasonable to anticipate that one could easily experience this sort of narrow-mindedness by the more conservative and old-school hiring managers.

You see, in this day and age it really is all about what is “good enough” based on one’s own personal ambitions, constraints and realities. As such, my DETC-accredited degree will suit me just fine, thank you very much...

 

If you want to be an adjunct instructor at DETC-accredited Grantham University, a non-RA degree won't suffice.

Grantham University - Career Opportunities

Click on any of the positions and you'll be presented with:

 

But no one is defending regional accreditation. In fact, some of us who suggest its (obvious) superiority over DETC accreditation have also been some of its most vocal critics. I, for one, romanticize about the halcyon days when California approval mattered and a lot of those schools were getting the shaft from WASC. But no more.

Agreed. But remember Dr. Bear's admonition that one should consider whether the degree in question will meet one's present and future needs. That said, I suspect that people who opt for a degree from a DETC-accredited school largely see their degrees perform well for them.

So true, even of programs offered by RA schools.

Personally, I suspect graduates from schools with DETC accreditation are probably up to snuff, even if their schools aren't ready to take on regional accreditation. I would have no problem hiring someone with a degree from a DETC-accredited school.

Oh, I think they're very constructive. There is a level of delusion/denial out there that is rancid. While individuals' situations most certainly vary, there are clear generalizations that (a) can be made and (b) must guide people in these decisions. Generally speaking, earning a degree from a school accredited by DETC instead of RA presents limitations to the graduate regarding degree acceptance. (I speak from authority on this.) Accepting those limitations and overcoming them is cool. Denying them is stupid.

 

It's only "circular" because there are people with a huge stake in its outcome that won't accept the very documented facts.

 

I would also like to point out that while RA is supposed to provide a baseline of acceptable quality in collegiate education, I am no longer convinced that is always the case.

There have always been cases of questionable schools; 20 years ago, the RA University of the District of Columbia had to expel something like 35% of its student body with a GPA of less than 1.0 under pressure from Middle States. And we've all heard stories about very lax academic standards at some of the larger for-profit schools, or professors reporting failing grades being changed for students who were employees of companies with a cozy educational relationship with the school.

Likewise, if you go to an RA community college in some backwater rural community in a sparsely populated state, you are probably not going to get a very rigorous education, as the students would not be academically prepared for the sort of rigor one would see at a selective school.

By the same token, there are some DETC schools with reputations for academic rigor, and some with embarrassingly bad reputations. Overall, both the RA and DETC networks have some serious clunker schols in them. But DETC, by the nature of its process, and by its admission that it takes on substandard schools to "rehabilitate" them, certainly perpetuates the notion that DETC accreditation is second tier, and while it may have improved considerably, it still has a long way to go before its "baseline" will have the same perceived minimum quality as the RA baselines do.

 

Of course, if you take things to their ultimate end, you're right. From my perspective it's been about ensuring that my eventual terminal degree is from one of those three you're referring to. To be fair, my thoughts on education is that it's lifelong, that the first doctorate is a starter degree and the first opportunity to say you've "finished".

My paradigm isn't most peoples'.. thankfully for the sanity of the species at large and subject to change once I hit that first brick wall. Hasn't happened yet.

 

And I would like to point out that I almost invariably discuss the utility of the degrees DETC-accredited schools issue, not the quality of the educations they provide. While some students/graduates of DETC-accredited schools want to conflate the two (or rebut a comment about utility with a response about quality), they're separate issues. So....

For the sensitive ones, I'm not saying you didn't do a legitimate degree. You just got a less-useful one. It's cool.

 

Yeppers... Incontrovertibly less useful in specific sectors and circumstances... Not in the circles I choose to navigate, however... Outside of my world, potential and/or perceived utility, or lack thereof, is superfluous... And around she goes... Cool beans, though...

 

I have no doubt many (most?) graduates from schools accredited by DETC encounter few or no difficulties. It's the denial--not you, here--of this chasm that is buggy.