WaPo Article Questions Rapid Degree Completion ('Degree Hacking’)

[ss20ts]

I've taken plenty of courses in person for 15 weeks spending 3+ hours a week in a classroom and learned nothing. I took a cake decorating course in culinary school where I was teaching the instructor some decorating tips because I had been decorating cakes for years and taken many classes from a variety of instructors by then. I could make better roses out of icing than the college instructor.

I won't even talk about how many classes I've fallen asleep in.

[SteveFoerster]

Here we go again.

StraighterLine, however, has stuck with remote proctors. “I don’t want to be known as the cheat path for hacking college,” CEO Matt Hulett said.

It’s funny reading the StraighterLine CEO's quote about not wanting to be a "cheat path." By the time you actually get to the proctored final with StraighterLine, you often have such a high grade from the open-book quizzes that you might only need a 20% on the final to pass the course. You could literally take the proctored test blindfolded and still pass. For him to act like a purist compared to other ACE course providers is a bit ridiculous. (Don't get me wrong, StraighterLine is a perfectly fine provider, but the high horse is unnecessary.)

As for the article itself, it isn't a total hit piece since it acknowledges the real benefits of saving time and money. However, it definitely leans that way by heavily relying on extreme edge cases and loaded language to steer the reader.

It leans so far that it falls over. By throwing shade at earning transfer credit quickly without mentioning that CLEP tests have explicitly served this very purpose since 1965 and that AP tests have essentially served it since 1952, Wallack is showing either that he doesn't know his own beat, that he has an axe to grind, or both.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Here we go again.

StraighterLine, however, has stuck with remote proctors. “I don’t want to be known as the cheat path for hacking college,” CEO Matt Hulett said.

It’s funny reading the StraighterLine CEO's quote about not wanting to be a "cheat path." By the time you actually get to the proctored final with StraighterLine, you often have such a high grade from the open-book quizzes that you might only need a 20% on the final to pass the course. You could literally take the proctored test blindfolded and still pass. For him to act like a purist compared to other ACE course providers is a bit ridiculous. (Don't get me wrong, StraighterLine is a perfectly fine provider, but the high horse is unnecessary.)

As for the article itself, it isn't a total hit piece since it acknowledges the real benefits of saving time and money. However, it definitely leans that way by heavily relying on extreme edge cases and loaded language to steer the reader.

"well yes, but actually no"

[SpartacusPM]

If we stop clicking on his articles he will stop writing about this. We are giving him and Wapo the traffic they want, so it keeps them coming back to the well. He is never going to change his opinion since he is not a reasonable person.

[SteveFoerster]

If we stop clicking on his articles he will stop writing about this. We are giving him and Wapo the traffic they want, so it keeps them coming back to the well.

I wish we were so mighty, but I'm pretty sure you're overestimating the economic power of the DegreeForum community.

He is never going to change his opinion since he is not a reasonable person.

Like you I'm not impressed so far, but even I would want to meet him before making that definitive a judgment.

[ss20ts]

Here we go again.

StraighterLine, however, has stuck with remote proctors. “I don’t want to be known as the cheat path for hacking college,” CEO Matt Hulett said.

It’s funny reading the StraighterLine CEO's quote about not wanting to be a "cheat path." By the time you actually get to the proctored final with StraighterLine, you often have such a high grade from the open-book quizzes that you might only need a 20% on the final to pass the course. You could literally take the proctored test blindfolded and still pass. For him to act like a purist compared to other ACE course providers is a bit ridiculous. (Don't get me wrong, StraighterLine is a perfectly fine provider, but the high horse is unnecessary.)

As for the article itself, it isn't a total hit piece since it acknowledges the real benefits of saving time and money. However, it definitely leans that way by heavily relying on extreme edge cases and loaded language to steer the reader.

It leans so far that it falls over. By throwing shade at earning transfer credit quickly without mentioning that CLEP tests have explicitly served this very purpose since 1965 and that AP tests have essentially served it since 1952, Wallack is showing either that he doesn't know his own beat, that he has an axe to grind, or both.

Wannabe influencer to get his 5 minutes of fame?

[SpartacusPM]

If we stop clicking on his articles he will stop writing about this. We are giving him and Wapo the traffic they want, so it keeps them coming back to the well.

I wish we were so mighty, but I'm pretty sure you're overestimating the economic power of the DegreeForum community.

He is never going to change his opinion since he is not a reasonable person.

Like you I'm not impressed so far, but even I would want to meet him before making that definitive a judgment.

I interacted with him on LinkedIn and he had no interest in hearing the other side and already had his mind made up. 
I inter

[SteveFoerster]

Wannabe influencer to get his 5 minutes of fame?

He has a pretty long resume, so I'd think he'd be long past that. I'm only speculating, of course, but I think it's more likely that the social set of a Generation X reporter at the Washington Post and NPR before that probably includes a lot of academics at traditional institutions, and that since he's only covered education since last year, he doesn't know his beat well enough to question the people he relies on for their opinion. I also expect that it doesn't help that anything non-traditional in higher education has become right-coded.

I interacted with him on LinkedIn and he had no interest in hearing the other side and already had his mind made up. 

I see. Yeah, that sort of arrogance is disappointing.

[soba]

So his journalistic conclusions are that you can cheat in school? What a shocking discovery.

[ReyMysterioso]

So his journalistic conclusions are that you can cheat in school? What a shocking discovery.

I know. Really groundbreaking stuff. 

The issue with this piece is an example of the larger problem with legacy media. We now live in the era of the "hot take." Controversy, beefs, wildly inaccurate clickbait headlines, drama, ragebait and innuendo drives engagement, so once-reputable media outlets that used to be informative and cover topics that were useful to readers/viewers have increasingly shifted toward being internet shit-posters.

Substance has given way to spectacle.