Comments on: A professor of English describes university life. Aim: To change things. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:07:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Al http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=3986&cpage=1#comment-2633 Al Thu, 22 May 2008 03:51:03 +0000 http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=3986#comment-2633 Dr. Soltan- Is this not an insult to those of you have spent years working on your dissertation and defending it??? Carlton in response to #3 the latter would be correct the boss made "an idiotic hiring decision." Dr. Soltan- Is this not an insult to those of you have spent years working on your dissertation and defending it??? Carlton in response to #3 the latter would be correct the boss made "an idiotic hiring decision."

]]> By: carlton http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=3986&cpage=1#comment-2586 carlton Sun, 18 May 2008 04:18:35 +0000 http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=3986#comment-2586 I'm a Mississippian by birth, and while that doesn't make me an expert in anything, I had the following reactions: 1. Good ol boy network in action. Once you're in the network, you're "good", and it would take more than something written on a piece of paper to change that in the eyes of your pals/cronies. If you aren't in the network, for whatever reason (from far away, the wrong race/gender/ethnicity) it doesn't matter how qualified you are -- you will never be "good." 2. People unused to dealing with academic credentials tend to flatten them out. A Ph.d from LaSalle is the same as one from Harvard or from the University of Alpha Centauri. He checked whatever box that needed to be checked (and got into the network), so who cares? In 'Sippi, where getting your HS diploma or an associates from a junior college is a pretty big achievement, people shrug about these fake doctorates. 3. I may be quoting from UD here, but no one who worked hard for a degree thinks that it's ok to go to a diploma mill. It would be interesting to look into the boss' credentials. Or he may just be defensive about an idiotic hiring decision 4. Disinterest in anything that isn't either immediately material or expressly Christian in nature: pervasive. Bias towards acceptance of status quo: heavy. Resistance to publicity of mistakes by media (esp nonlocal media): high. Would rather let problem situation exist unchecked than let outsiders know about it. I’m a Mississippian by birth, and while that doesn’t make me an expert in anything, I had the following reactions:

1. Good ol boy network in action. Once you’re in the network, you’re "good", and it would take more than something written on a piece of paper to change that in the eyes of your pals/cronies. If you aren’t in the network, for whatever reason (from far away, the wrong race/gender/ethnicity) it doesn’t matter how qualified you are — you will never be "good."

2. People unused to dealing with academic credentials tend to flatten them out. A Ph.d from LaSalle is the same as one from Harvard or from the University of Alpha Centauri. He checked whatever box that needed to be checked (and got into the network), so who cares? In ‘Sippi, where getting your HS diploma or an associates from a junior college is a pretty big achievement, people shrug about these fake doctorates.

3. I may be quoting from UD here, but no one who worked hard for a degree thinks that it’s ok to go to a diploma mill. It would be interesting to look into the boss’ credentials. Or he may just be defensive about an idiotic hiring decision

4. Disinterest in anything that isn’t either immediately material or expressly Christian in nature: pervasive. Bias towards acceptance of status quo: heavy. Resistance to publicity of mistakes by media (esp nonlocal media): high. Would rather let problem situation exist unchecked than let outsiders know about it.

]]> By: Bill R http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=3986&cpage=1#comment-2558 Bill R Fri, 16 May 2008 17:37:14 +0000 http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=3986#comment-2558 It's interesting. No one goes to a diploma mill for flight school, or medical school, or even scuba school. If you look at Flying magazine you'll see a number of flight school ads. All of them emphasize the rigor of the curriculum and the number of flight hours and simulator hours required to graduate. The more the better. On the other hand, teachers who need an advanced degree for promotion or a salary increase invariably shop around for the lowest cost credential the authorities will accept. They're looking for the lowest cost in both dollars and hours. It's worthwhile to think about why this is so. It’s interesting. No one goes to a diploma mill for flight school, or medical school, or even scuba school. If you look at Flying magazine you’ll see a number of flight school ads. All of them emphasize the rigor of the curriculum and the number of flight hours and simulator hours required to graduate. The more the better.

On the other hand, teachers who need an advanced degree for promotion or a salary increase invariably shop around for the lowest cost credential the authorities will accept. They’re looking for the lowest cost in both dollars and hours.

It’s worthwhile to think about why this is so.

]]>