I interpret fake diplomas to mean counterfeit ones. Calling other kinds of diplomas fake only calls attention to how many people look for short cuts in exercising any discernment. It is simply allowing complete strangers to vet for people for you, because it is convenient. If you don’t trust the person, you have them vetted by somebody who you do trust. This process makes it an institutional buck-passing that most appear to not think about very much. Credit is a very subjective notion, and letting others make those calls for you gets probably problematic sooner or later. It is an obvious side effect of societies which are designed to not know the difference between mere reputation, and reproducible evidence. So long as reputation is easier and more impressive, there will be a market for bullshit artists and inflated credentials. My experience is that most unfortunately are more easily impressed with who you “are”, rather than what you actually know.
Yes. That’s what the entire article is about.
Not at all, the article appears to deliberately blur the distinction. If I offer a diploma from Harvard University would be counterfeit, because their institution issues its own certificates. Whereas if I offer a diploma from “Popo’s Garage”, it is not counterfeit, it is merely not accredited by any “trusted party” of reputational middle-men.
But a game-able paper trail is a direct result of cultivating a market specifically for diplomas rather than, say, knowledge. The very concept of a “credential” is that one’s own personal discernment has become an institutionalized commodity. Deliberately or not, making higher education into a business actively creates its shadow, an economy of bullshit artists.
Where do I sign up?
So you’re saying it’s the other people’s fault for not doing due diligence in checking whether the institution is accredited or not?
No, I am not saying that it is their “fault”, but it is a responsibility that they find more convenient to pass on. The obvious question to follow up any claim of credit is “credited by whom”? It works the same way as weasel words in journalism. It is not my fault if somebody makes a dubious claim, but would be a lack of critical thought for me to take the claim at face value that “somebody says it’s legit!” What I am pointing out is that it is a weird mindset, and I think it is symptomatic of a larger societal conflict between whether we organize our participation based upon reputation, or evidence. It is of interest to me, but I don’t have any easy answers.
I think the diploma mills are a symptom of having no other realistic option. I’m over 10 years into a successful career and still moving up, but I don’t have a diploma, so a lot of doors are locked. I’d like to get one, but can’t afford to take 4 years off work, not pay bills or support my family, and go $100,000 or more into debt for tuition and books.
Furthermore, a lot of the college classes that do apply to my career are targeted at people with no knowledge or experience, which would be like going through elementary school again, a waste of my time and the professor’s. There are some classes that address concepts not commonly encountered on the job but which can be very valuable in affecting how you think about things on the job. But you can’t get a degree with just those.
There should be a clearer path for people who didn’t or don’t want to major in academia. A combination of work experience and a subset of courses that address topics that require more of a formal education than self-taught learning and on-the-job-experience provide. Something that provides a way for employed professionals to get the equivalent of a bachelors or masters degree.
That’s not to say that classical education shouldn’t be an option. When I was in college, the humanities and elective courses unrelated to my major that were the most valuable. But mixing that with work credentials kind of makes a mess of things. I think there should be separate but smaller/shorter degrees for general education degrees and work credential degrees. Of course, some jobs could require both, but it would give more flexibility and the ability to mix and match.
Misrepresenting an unaccredited degree as an accredited one is a fault, but so is not doing due diligence if you require an accredited one. Like if someone hands you a contract with a clause that screws you over, but you sign without reading it. They’re the bad guy, but you had your chance and screwed it up - or thought it was worth the risk to not bother.
How did we get to this place? Or is this where it was all along?
I can see two problems – students who feel that the certificate (diploma, whatever) is the goal, rather than the learning needed (or sometimes not) to get there. It becomes an end to itself – but it’s necessary because of the second problem: employers who want a quick and easy way (i.e., the certificate) to see whether someone will fit the job they have open. From what I’ve heard, “training on the job” is kind of a lost art; experience (sometimes exact experience) is also needed, like
Clearly that’s ridiculous. In the old days, people got a mentor to apprentice them. But I guess that takes time (= money), and employers aren’t willing to foot the bill anymore.
There used to a path for people like us to an MBA. Where you could use your IRL experience and expertise to parlay into an MBA. But now, almost all MBAs require not only a bachelors, but a bcomm. There are some “executive MBAs” that will take work experience but its a shrinking fucking pool.
Thats called an apprenticeship.
Now that you’re mentioning, it’s also a component of certificates like the PMP, where coursework, am exam, and related experience are all required.
Maybe that’s the real problem – too many jobs are in the coursework-only pigeonhole, when either a mix of either coursework only (+a practicum?) or experience + fewer courses and an exam should get you there.
Right.
No results found for “bachelor’s degree or apprenticeship required”.
But maybe they’ll get some popularity, at least in some areas.
Meanwhile in Canada…
I’m laughing so hard right now.
This dudes self-described titles are amazing!
In his LinkedIn profile, he is described as an "Artificial Intelligence Gamification Patent Inventor, Key Note Speaker, Professor, Author.
So, a fraud is angry that the no-work degree he paid sizable money for was equally fraudulent. Wow.
It is rather laughable that this guy thinks this is legit, but what scared me was the last two paragraphs in the article:
The Marketplace investigation revealed there are more than 800 Canadians who could have fake degrees.
Many Canadians could be putting their health and well-being in the hands of nurses, engineers, counsellors and other professionals with phoney credentials, Marketplace found.
Some Canadians will fall victim to fraud. That’s a fact of life.
The numbers aren’t particularly worrisome: that’s equivalent to a village spread across the country, and chances are that only a small percentage of these people will be able to bullshit their way into official backing. The rest will take up “work” on the fringes pandering to the gullible.
Capitalism and a system that wants results now!!
Gullible people deserve to be safe and healthy too.
Yes, but it’s like the old saw about leading a horse to water: you cannot ensure that they make intelligent decisions; for practical purposes, you cannot shut down all the fraud artists (as long as there is a demand for easy solutions, new ones will pop up daily); and you really can’t take away the right of the gullible to make their own choices, not without creating even larger societal problems than you solve. About the best you can do is come down hard on con artists when they cross the line.
“I thought that was great. They should actually have universities that do that,” he said.
So, how does that work? They get degrees for doing nothing? They don’t even have to prove that their apprenticeship or whatever satisfied certain objectives?
Technically, this is a university that fits in with his, um, unique approach to education. It’s just that the degree is worthless because it can’t not be worthless.
Nixon University
