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Friday, October 29, 2004
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UD WEIGHS IN
ON YET ANOTHER DIPLOMA MILL STORY The koala tea of Mercy is not strained, as the old joke has it, and this being the case, UD has happened upon a diploma mill recipient who, she thinks, deserves mercy. Again and again on University Diaries, UD has told America's many diploma mill degree recipients the one cardinal rule they must follow: Never rise high enough in the world to prompt scrutiny. Diploma mill graduates are like royalty: "The light of day," as the British like to say, "should never be allowed to shine in upon them." To take another metaphor, you'll probably get away with having bought your education in a matter of minutes with a credit card if you stay below the radar. Rising from the depths into any sort of notoriety represents an unacceptable risk of exposure. And, once you're exposed, people are liable to be unforgiving, especially if you're in an academic setting. After all, you're in a place where students and faculty have worked hard, or are currently being asked to work hard, over many years, to earn a degree that you've gotten by making a phone call. Appointing as public school superintendent or faculty senate president a person who considers the process of becoming educated a worthless sham would be demoralizing. And yet, and yet, and yet (as Erich Heller, a long-ago professor of UD's used to say), there should on some occasions be a statute of limitations on moronic non-criminal acts, and UD thinks such an occasion may have arisen in the Palmyra-Macedon Central School District near Rochester, New York. FALSE PhD SPURS PALMYRA FUROR, as the local yellow journalism has it. And yes, it turns out that the incoming superintendent of schools, William Nichiporuk, bought his Ph.D. at the notorious Brentwick University diploma mill (the Washington Post featured Brentwick a few years ago in a long story about such places). The district has "egg on its face," says a school board member. And while "furor" is too strong a word, people are upset, and plenty of them are demanding Nichiporuk's resignation. And yet, and yet, and yet. The fellow has apparently worked hard and well for the district for the last twenty years; everyone agrees that he's been a dedicated and even excellent administrator in a variety of positions for a long time. Former school board member David Husk says, "He lives and breathes the Pal-Mac school district. He's embarrassed; he's embarrassed the school district. ...[But] Nichiporuk is the right man for the job." Here's UD's advice to the guy: Do a total mea culpa. On camera. Say you were desperate, stupid, whatever. Say you wake up every morning wishing you hadn't done it. Say you've spent the last two decades trying to make up for what you did. "And finally, let me talk directly to the children of the Pal-Mac district. I did something wrong. Something you should never do. It's caught up with me and harmed me, the schools, and my family. I intend to talk a lot about that sort of wrongdoing if I'm able to become your school superintendent. But I also intend to talk about forgiveness, about overcoming your mistakes, and about the importance of good, honest work. I hope you and your parents will give me the opportunity to do that." |