-
Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!
Is TRACS Worth It, Since...
- Thread starter TCGreek
- Start date
mcdirector
Active Member
Is tracs worth is for the school OR for the student looking at a tracs school?
Pastor Shaun
New Member
I have wondered this too. I have looked at Bob Jones, because they have a doctorate program that interests me that I could begin right after a MA. Should TRACS graduates even say that they have an MDIV or DMIN when applying for positions?
TCGreek said:
I think it is good for young schools like Shepherd's seminary in Cary. However older schools should seek regional accreditation as soon as they can. Having said that, however, those are decisions that have to be made by each individual school. Degrees from institutions accredited only by TRACS can be transfered (etc). Seminaries like Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Liberty University, and others will honor those credits/degrees. Therefore schools like Luther Rice, Temple, and Southern Evangelical are very good choices for those who need a degree but can't move to a seminary town. So, to answer your question, it is worth it.
Pastor Shaun said:
==Yes, they should. Name the school, the degree, and when the degree was earned. It is up to the church, school, or other possible places of employment to do their homework. No mention should be made of TRACS nor should any mention be made of oncampus or online. In fact, the latter issue should never matter. If someone asks I suppose you have to answer, but nobody should ask that question. For some reason some seminaries are weird when it comes to online education. Secular universities/colleges are generally ahead of seminaries when it comes to online/distance education. I have to wonder why I can earn graduate degrees online from some of the nation's top secular universities but not through some of the top seminaries (Southern, Trinity Evangelical, Wheaton, etc).
Martin Response
Martin,
I hope you are well. I continue to watch your growth and maturity with a great deal of interest. I do appreciate your love for our Lord Jesus Christ and your pursuit of excellence.
May I offer a couple of observations on the part of your post I quoted:
1. Part of your answer is within your own commentary. These "top seminaries" want to maintain a level of rigor that granting a degree that was done "on line" would not be possible to do. Take an extreme example like one of the Biblical Languages. There is probably not one in a 100 who could do "baby Greek" on line and left to themselves. One could probably do something like "Church Admin," but the really tough courses needs-be done (must be done IMHO) "in class."
2. The "seminary experience" of classes, mentoring, fellowship, "coffee table theology" discussions, prayer, worship, etc. are all what make the seminary days what they need and should be also. Take it from me. I had all of these experience at Mid America. But, I had to commute to finish my MDiv at Southern Seminary. And I really missed this "total seminary experience" for sure. And once it is gone--it is gone!
3. Now, the secular business world is not wanting degrees that have been done "on line" by-and-large. They really prefer, when they hire, that the person have their BA/BS "in residence." Then the person can go on to get an advanced degree from some place like Phoenix or wherever. I know there are variations to this paradigm. There has been and is ongoing research on this very issue/discussion. So the "jury is out" on this one for sure. And I am sure that the dialogue will go on for quite some time.
I learned a couplet from old Dr. Roy Beaman at MABTS when I was there:
"Do not be the first by whom the new is tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
So, I will default to Dr. Beaman's wisdom. I would prefer that someone with an "on line" degree, even though it is from an RA school, have their first degree from an "in class" situation.
FWIW!:laugh:
"That is all!"
Martin said:
Martin,
I hope you are well. I continue to watch your growth and maturity with a great deal of interest. I do appreciate your love for our Lord Jesus Christ and your pursuit of excellence.
May I offer a couple of observations on the part of your post I quoted:
1. Part of your answer is within your own commentary. These "top seminaries" want to maintain a level of rigor that granting a degree that was done "on line" would not be possible to do. Take an extreme example like one of the Biblical Languages. There is probably not one in a 100 who could do "baby Greek" on line and left to themselves. One could probably do something like "Church Admin," but the really tough courses needs-be done (must be done IMHO) "in class."
2. The "seminary experience" of classes, mentoring, fellowship, "coffee table theology" discussions, prayer, worship, etc. are all what make the seminary days what they need and should be also. Take it from me. I had all of these experience at Mid America. But, I had to commute to finish my MDiv at Southern Seminary. And I really missed this "total seminary experience" for sure. And once it is gone--it is gone!
3. Now, the secular business world is not wanting degrees that have been done "on line" by-and-large. They really prefer, when they hire, that the person have their BA/BS "in residence." Then the person can go on to get an advanced degree from some place like Phoenix or wherever. I know there are variations to this paradigm. There has been and is ongoing research on this very issue/discussion. So the "jury is out" on this one for sure. And I am sure that the dialogue will go on for quite some time.
I learned a couplet from old Dr. Roy Beaman at MABTS when I was there:
"Do not be the first by whom the new is tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
So, I will default to Dr. Beaman's wisdom. I would prefer that someone with an "on line" degree, even though it is from an RA school, have their first degree from an "in class" situation.
FWIW!:laugh:
"That is all!"
I think that accreditation, by submitting a school to a critical review by its peers, must surely improve the quality of the education. Schools that do not get an outside review are prone to delude themselves into thinking their education is better than it actually is. Humans and institutions are almost always better when they are accountable.
It's been my impression that the majority of Bible colleges that take a very strong stand against accreditation seem to be the very small local church-related ones.
While it's their right to oppose accreditation, I wonder if their opposition isn't more financially-based rather than what they usually state as the basis of their opposition: "We're not going to have some government agency tell us what we can or cannot teach!" (Or something to that effect?)
Accreditation by a valid accrediting agency (TRACS or RA) is not an inexpensive proposition, especially if a college's student body may be less than 100.
Is this a fairly accurate assessment of why many very small local church-related Bible colleges seem to be so vocal in their opposition to accreditation by a valid accrediting agency?
While it's their right to oppose accreditation, I wonder if their opposition isn't more financially-based rather than what they usually state as the basis of their opposition: "We're not going to have some government agency tell us what we can or cannot teach!" (Or something to that effect?)
Accreditation by a valid accrediting agency (TRACS or RA) is not an inexpensive proposition, especially if a college's student body may be less than 100.
Is this a fairly accurate assessment of why many very small local church-related Bible colleges seem to be so vocal in their opposition to accreditation by a valid accrediting agency?
Mexdeaf said:
Before its TRACS accreditation in 2005, I believe the money argument would not have been a good one against BJU.
Whitefield theological seminary is another one that hasn't sort accreditation but has a solid program and great recognition, at least in the Reformed community.