Diploma Mills

[jsh1138]

Nobody ever said that. You just choose to take it that way.

The guy said that if you're not going to bother to learn as you take courses you might as well just buy your degree. It was meant as criticism, not as a statement on accreditation.

I made it really clear that I wasn't talking about accreditation, that I was speaking of what a diploma actually represents. I have no idea why this thread was necessary but I guess someone was bothered by the implication that them blowing through classes and learning nothing was a dodge somehow, even though it is. 

I taught martial arts for several years and they have a belt system there obviously, and some people are so obsessed with getting a belt that they stop caring about deserving the belt. Yes, you can skim through everything at Study.com or Straighterline or Shmoop and get a BA, just like you can shop around and find the best place to get a black belt in 2 months but the issue is, after you get that piece of paper that you want, what then?

Do you want to have a BA in history and know nothing about history, because you took the tests 10 at a time with all the browser tabs open? Do you think that impresses anyone? do you think it says anything good about you? Would you rather people be impressed by you or by your degree? If you had 10 black belts but couldn't fight a lick, do you think that impresses anyone? Or do you think that they feel like you must have cheated your way to get them or that all black belts are worthless? That's all I was getting at. 

Btw Joe Manchin's daughter got a degree in WV while he was governor despite not having enough credits to graduate. So you *can* get a degree all kinds of way, even an accredited one from a brick and mortar school. There's no reason to argue that, I was just saying why would you want that kind of degree. It doesn't prove anything or confer anything of honor or value on you. 

Now if your answer is "because i make 20% more at my job with a degree than without" or "because I want to impress girls" or whatever, then fair enough. Obviously people are free to do whatever, and I never said otherwise. I was just suggesting that people think through what they're really getting out of these classes instead of just finding the easiest way to blow through them while retaining nothing. Not that I'm some kind of hero but I take the shmoop and straighterline classes with the book closed and if I pass then its because I actually know the material. I'm still doing 10 classes a month like that, which to me is plenty. If I could do 25 a month and not retain anything I wouldn't do it that way but again, people are free to do whatever. I was just suggesting that if you don't care about retention, why not just buy the degree because they one you're going to get is going to be meaningless anyway.

I don't mean that to down anyone, just suggesting that people think about it for a minute and really ask themselves what they're trying to get out of this process. Wouldn't you rather actually learn something, if you stop to think about it?