Is this not superfluous? (sp) I mean come on………We have deadbeat parents failing to pay child support in this state to the tune of $2.2 Billion and we are worried about who “fakes” a diploma? We have a budget deficit of $300 + Million and all Rep. Bartle is worried about is a person who fakes their sheepskin…………

Geeez, nothing like have the priorities straight in Jefferson City!

What about “ticket punch” diplomas? Do they count as much as the kind you really earn. Specifically, there is something known as a Masters degree in Public Administration that only public employees can get into the program. Also, about 100% who attend the classes get the degree. Show up and get your ticket punched. I don’t think these degrees actually compare to other master degrees. Also, I believe degrees are highly over rated as there is a huge difference between degrees from the likes of Washington U, St. Louis U, U of Missouri, etc. and those awarded from lesser area colleges. If you can do the work, you should get the job. Try giving post SAT or ACT tests to degreed persons from Lindenwood and other area community colleges, and Harris-Stowe. They’ll make lower scores than high school graduates from some of our better high schools. Get real Matt, and get some legislation passed that contributes to the good of the State and doesn’t perpetuate another degree factory. Stop paying for degrees and start paying for production.

What’s wrong with Lindenwood?

Well - all I can say is:

Thank God the government has solved all of the problems facing our state, and is taking on the really big issues facins us all.

What a clown.

Lee’s Summit - does he really represent you all?

Ouch, you wrote “What’s wrong with Lindenwood?”

I can tell ya, watching my XH go through their M.Ed program, I agree completely that it’s a ticket-punch. He couldn’t keep a job in his field so yes, he went into teaching. He chose Lindenwood because they required significantly fewer credit hours than any other university in the area (first ticket punch), got his certification without doing a single hour of student teaching (second ticket punch), blew off his last handful of classes (third ticket punch), never saw him do homework (fourth ticket punch), AND his last homework assignment was sent in TWO YEARS after he supposedly ‘earned’ his Masters (fifth ticket punch).

He taught for three years on a provisional license, and only completed the other requirements and turned in the last homework assignment (which, BTW, was fabricated vs. actual observation) because the district he was in finally leaned on him HARD.

He’s not the only one who skated through - I could give you a dozen other examples. Definite ticket-punch, and yet another reason why I think the teacher tenure program needs to be re-evaluated.

I agree with the State Senator, but it should be a felony, as in “Stealing over $500″ and I would include diploma mills operating in Missouri.

I have two college degrees, both earned with lots of hard work, sweat, eight years of effort (while working) and not a few tears of frustration along the way. (If you don’t think education can be frustrating, try college calculus when it is required, and you aren’t a math wiz, you have to have it for the degree, and knowing, even if you get a job in that field, that you will never use it again.)

It angers me beyond words when diploma mill “graduates” can get off scot-free, even when they are discovered. It cheapens the value of an actual education, paid for and earned by time in class, lab and doing the work (even if it is interning), but with the student left to pass or fail, according to their efforts.

I agree with Mr. Yates– the person who can do the work should get the job, degree or no degree. That’s the whole point behind performance testing and interning–not to mention apprenticeships.

As far as what school–it may come as a surprise to some, but not all folks can afford Wash U., SLU, Mizzou, much less Harvard or MIT, even with scholarships, grants and part-time work, and, quite frankly, I learned much more about some subjects (and life) at Jefferson College and Meramec CC than I did at MSU, UMSL or Mizzou– simply because, being smaller schools, the teachers had more time for you, and weren’t out chasing grant money for the department and overseeing lecture halls the size of some small Missouri towns, with tests scored by Scantron.

I personally think neither MS.Ed or MBA degrees should be available to anyone without at least 5 years on the job post-bachelors. I don’t think either degree should be a ‘golden ticket’ to tenure or a cushy job. Now, a Ph. D. in a hard science, with research and field or lab work– that’s another animal, just as an MFA in art history or literary criticism is miles away from a competent artistic draftsperson, artist, or writer good enough to create and make a living in the open marketplace. (Not from scoring “grants.”)

Being that as it may, ANY school where attendance and satisfactory completion of assigments is 1000% better than a situation where it is all “distance learning” or out and out fraud. I fully back his bill, on the basis that the 7th Commandment says Thou Shalt not Steal, and the 8th says, Thou Shalt not Lie.”

Well said Missouri Mom. Unfortunately, Lindenwood is not the only program that has such poor standards. And these folks are the ones “teaching” K-12. And we wonder why K-12 is in such a mess? It ALL goes back to foundation - if you (the college student) do not learn, study, and work for your degree, how in the world can we expect you to teach children. The answer is, you cannot.

I guess this law degree I just paid 300 bucks for is no good. Damn It!!! I was going to run for Congress with that sucka.