Attend class one night a week. Or work online and don't attend class at all.
Enjoy nine-week semesters.
Attend class the same night each week.
Just register once and have your whole program laid out for you.
Finish two years of undergraduate work in six to nine months.
Get a graduate degree in 18, 14, or even 12 months.
And these aren't just degrees from the University of Flagstaff (or whatever). Respectable (and often nationally renowned) universities offer these types of degree programs.
Putting pedagogy aside for a moment, I can't help but wonder how edifying such educational programs are for the students themselves.
Call me a traditionalist, but I'd argue that the value of a degree is (or rather should be) a function of how much sacrifice and work was involved in its attainment. The easier the degree is to get, the less valuable it is (or should be). After all, if a BA could be gotten by putting a quarter in a vending machine, then everyone would have one and it would have no value. It is the scarcity of the resource that makes it valuable. And it is the difficulty of attaining the resource that drives its scarcity.
So is a jiffy pop degree really worth anything? I mean, have you really earned a degree if you haven't had to:
- commit to rearranging your work schedule to attend class, worrying how business travel may screw you to the wall or how a change in a class’ exam schedule might conflict with a big meeting at work
- navigate the campus bookstore and registrar's office every semester, struggling to pick up books and identify in which room your class will meet
- deal with a sixteen-week semester stretching out before you with only three credits waiting at the end
- deal with 20 year old kids schlumping their way through a semester that you’re killing yourself to navigate
- sacrifice big, bloody chunks of your time away from your family. . . away from your life. . . to the gods of education
- work at it all for years (three, four, five or more) before hopefully graduating?
I hold no grudge against those who get their education from accelerated, on-line or non-traditional degree programs. I myself participate in evening school, which is a kind of non-traditional program in and of itself. I wish everyone a degree and a promotion. Two degrees, if it'll help.
I myself am not footing the bill for the lion’s share of my educational expenses, so I am perhaps missing out on the sacrificial benefit to be had from the financial struggle.
But I know that if I ever finish the degree I'm pursuing (which is continually in question), I'll enjoy a tremendous sense of accomplishment, looking back at the countless days, weeks, months and years spent in pursuit. And I'll look back over the likely seven or eight years of toil and struggle as being well worth it. I wonder about the jiffy-pop graduates.
2 comments:
While there are many online and accelerated programs that are only focused on the financial aspects of education and not the quality it provides, there are many schools and programs that are accredited and provide a quality education even if it is completely (or partially) online.
A friend of mine completed her graduate degree in criminal justice entirely online and obtained a job with a local law enforcement agency. I remember her spending countless hours and weekends studying. I also remember some of the stories about the workload she had for her classes. I think the graduates that you refer to as “jiffy pop graduates” also have to manage some of the exact same things you mentioned such as a job and family responsibilities.
I think you can get a good (or bad) education no matter what. The program could be entirely online, accelerated or a hybrid. I think obtaining a good education deals more with the overall structure of the program versus the method of delivery or the time it takes to complete the program.
There are many advantages to achieving an online degree. Some of them are; not having to make your way through a crowded college bookstore, live with multiple people you don't know in a dorm and have five minutes to get from one end of the campus to another in order to be on time for class. Those are just the tip of the iceberg.
I started out in the traditional way; attending a state university as a freshman, just turned 18 years of age. Living in a dorm, rushing from class to class and living and eating with people I had no idea of whom they were. That bought me two years of immature decisions, disgust for the people I HAD to live with and a down hill trend with my grades.
Going back to school as a fully mature 45 year old I see the real need for achieving a college education. It's not an inconvience for me as it was 27 years ago, it's an honor. Making time to study in between helping my autistic son and working full time. Making my way through crowded supermarkets with my grocery list written on the back of an assignment sheet I printed off for class the week before. Surrendering all lunch hours at work to study time. Any quiet time I may have at home is usually late at night when I want to go to bed but I realize studying is much more important.
"Jiffy Pop" graduates are many people who realize their mistakes and are adult enough to rectify them. Granted there are many "universities" that promise great things with their online degrees yet a prospective employer may not take them quite as seriously as one who has their degree from a fully accredited university that offers on campus instruction and online instruction.
Taking advantage of today's technology is what an online degree is. Having the need for an online degree and refusing such makes as much sense as being offered a new cell phone yet refusing it for a rotary dial that remains in your home. It does not make sense.
In my 25 years of job interviews I have not had one prospective employer ask me if I ever lived in a dorm, made my way through a crowded book store or had to dash from one end of the campus to another in order to get to class. They have been interested in my credentials not what my daily life was on campus.
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