Criminal Justice: The Unethical Cash Cow

[rebel100]

I think your concern is well founded, but I suspect the complaint could be lodged against many degree paths. EMS. Art majors, Theatre, veterinary science, there is a huge list of degree programs that the uninformed might be lulled into if they approach their education haphazardly. Hell, I've been guilty of it. We might all be guilty of high expectations and inflated value of the things we find interesting, I can't fault the student for it. On the other hand, as mentioned previously, the school fills the programs demanded by the students. Were I the chancellor of a college with the challenges and financial responsibility of keeping my school in the black I would happily add CJ or shark science, or the proverbial underwater basket weaving degree plans if it filled the seats. If necessary I would justify these programs the same way we justify high school football....it pays for the other programs.

On a personal level I agree with you 100%, just recently I tried to dissuade someone from earning a degree in emergency management right here at IC. EM sounds like an exciting career where you pluck people off flooded roof tops, crawl through rubble to find trapped babies, and rescue kittens from treetops...in reality you sit in endless meetings, write operational plans that may never be read and manage diverse groups. Often these groups include senior management whom you have to educate on just how little they know and why they should do it your way. All that if your fortunate enough to actually land an EM job in what is perhaps the tightest job market in half a century. With all that said, I still think we need some folks who are educated in the latest cutting edge EM principles and practices....but its up to the individual to ferret all this out, not necessarily the school.