Are Degree Mills Ethical?

A starting professor makes a lot more than an adjunct.

 

Dr. Bob,

You must have an old map! Chicago has been moved to the Midwest. And California, the home of Stanford University, is now on the West Coast.

http://www.stanford.edu/home/visitors/vicinity.html

P.S. My home in Orange County is still for sale (it's a long drive to Stanford) and I am offering a $100 discount to Baptist Board Members in good standing! To view my home on line go to:

http://realestate.aol.realtor.com/Prop/1041053602?gate=aolrealestate

 

And of course we in the Blue states have much love, compassion, and pity in our hearts and souls for our most unfortunate brothers and sisters in the Red states.

 

So what? TTU, I think, gave John R. Rice's horse an honorary Doctor of Horse Sense. I'd rather like to find a cheap doctorate for my male donkey. Do you know where I could get one? He's got more sense than a lot of people with doctorates.

 

Wonderful, Dr. Rufus! Do you use your Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugaritic, etc. very much in ministry? I'm sure that you're conversant with these, of course.

 

Poor Charles Stanley! His Luther Rice doctorate has really diminished his credibility, hasn't it? </font>[/QUOTE]Yes, along with other things!

 

I have a friend who is a MD and she didn't attend class (i.e. lectures) in med school. She did the practicals and studied for the tests. Do you ever wonder about your doctor?

 

Hey man! This ain't nothing new. The Pharisees were doing it in Biblical times. They loved the appellation of "Rabbi, Rabbi" whereas it is "Doctor, Doctor" now. There's a lot of old Baptist Pharisees out there!

 

This thread is really fun. You can spot the guys with the degree mill rags. Man, it's fun to see them squirm. The ironic part is that the accredited schools have their problems too. It is just that they have the appearance of respectability. It's all a game of one upsmanship. Even the biggies such Harvard (pronounced through the nose with a nasal accent), Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, etc. produce a lot of duds. A degree does not mean that one is necessarily educated, intelligent, or even competent. By the same standard, the lack of a degree does not mean one is less intelligent, educated, or competent. One of the top mathematicians in the USA doesn’t have a degree—not one. Bucky Fuller didn’t have a degree. William Faulkner, whose writings even college professors cannot decipher, did not have a degree. Bill Gates is a college dropout. If memory serves me correctly, Steven Wozniak built the first Apple without benefit of a sheepskin. ad infinitum

For the really intelligent, innovative, and creative person, a college degree is superfluous. Although I am an educator, I do not for one minute believe that education is the beginning and end of all things. Life is education, not a set of artificially contrived experiences. People benefit more or less in varying degrees (no pun) from schooling.

Yep! I’m greatly amused at the posturing and posing of the Baptist intelligentsia. The thing that settles the issue for me regarding these “less than wonderful schools” (John Bear’s term, since some seem to know him) is that I haven’t seen a single original or intelligent thought from one of their alumni. Much like the dull and accredited institutions, it’s the same old pabulum and claptrap that is chewed, swallowed, regurgitated and swallowed again.

As stated elsewhere, my whole problem is the academic inflation factor. So-called Bible schools, actually better named vanity schools, offer a Bible institute level of instruction (nothing wrong in that of itself) and award doctorates. Let’s give the students a ThG instead of a PhD. It is a vanity thing. Everyone is seeking significance. Where is humility? IMHO, humility is a Biblical virtue.
.

 

paidagogos: "TTU, I think, gave John R. Rice's horse an honorary Doctor of Horse Sense."

Correction (to avoid slandering TTU, which is a legitimate and accredited school, some of whose professors I know quite well):

John R. Rice's horse was was awarded the first honorary doctorate under the auspices of Hyles-Anderson College by Jack Hyles himself.

The second recipient of an honorary doctorate by H-A (also presented by Hyles himself) was Gail Riplinger.

Draw your own conclusions.

 

paidagogos,

You bring up some good points. The requirment of a Ph.D. in order to teach these days even in Bible schools is sad. Some of the best professors I've had didn't have Ph.D's. Some of the worst, did.

Secondly, the phony honorary doctorate that so many fundamentalists honor each other with is a joke. If we are to be separate from the world, why do fundamentalists strive so hard to be like the world with their doctorates? But the hypocrisy is that they don't earn them, they give them to each other.

So if honorary doctorates are acceptable, why not degree mills. You won't give me one, so I'll buy one! So there is a place for degree mills. Fundamentalists can buy their doctorate if their school won't give them one!

One more thing. Those who earn their doctorates often go by their first name. Those who buy them or have them given to them often go by Dr. So and So.

Go figure.

 

Ummm, let's see. Daily and weekly television/radio ministry, best-selling author, successful pastor.................'

Yep, the LRS Th.D. has really hurt him.

And let's not forget Spiros Zodhiates, leader of AMG publishers. The guy is a Greek scholar, prolific writer and author of numerous books.

 

Gentlemen, I received the following e-mail message from Lil Nakutis:

Another Baptist Board member who does not wish to come forward sent me in a P.M. what he says are the contents of an e-mail that he received from Lil Nakutis about Trinity College of the Bible and Seminary in Newburgh IN.:

If this quote is genuine, and knowing the party who sent it to me I believe that it is, Trinity has four years to achieve what it does NOT presently have, namely “academic respectability.” Degrees from such an institution are as worthless as a rotten head of lettuce.

I posted above Lil Nakutis’ telephone number and e-mail address. If this issue is of interest to you, I suggest that you verify the quote because I can not guarantee the accuracy of it.

 

Amen!

 

I have certainly found this to be true. The men and woman that I know who have the most privileged educations know that they do and feel no need to impress anyone by calling themselves Dr. So and So, and even feel somewhat insulted when people use their title apart from the academic world where it belongs.

My opinion:

The very moment when Dr. Educated drives out of the faculty parking lot of the college or university where he teaches, he becomes Jim or John. And if his destination is home, the golf course, or a barbecue at his neighbor’s house he is still Jim or John when he arrives. Only if his destination is an academic function where students are preset is it suitable for him or others to use his title, for by doing so, they are suggesting that he is somehow above the others present, bring embarrassment not only to the others present, but also to Jim or John.

I have never addressed a pastor of a church as Dr. Holiness apart from an academic function, and even there very seldom, as I find it to be very inappropriate.

 

Thank you for sharing what is one person's opinion. Of course, everyone doesn't hold this opinion. Cases in point:

1. Most medical doctors are called "Dr." outside their professional practice, except by a core group of friends.

2. Senators (Mayors, Sheriffs, etc) are almost always called by their given title outside their office.

3. Dr. Condaleeza Rice is referred to by the media as "Dr. Rice" on myriad occasions.

4. Ministers are referred to as "Rev." or "Pastor" outside the parameters of the church.

5. And the list goes on..................

So, if a minister has earned a doctorate, uses the title professionally, and is addressed as "Dr. John Doe" by parishioners, nothing is amiss in such a situation.

Of course, I agree that if one has "bought" a degree and demands that everyone address him/her as "Dr.," this is a different matter entirely.