Compare the evolution of "university" to the evolution of the Ford trademark "Fairlane." It's common marketing to associate a word suggesting "most desirable" with an ordinary product. After the Viet Nam war, very serious people argued that colleges should be run like businesses, and marketing the word "university" into the ground is just business. Now we have administrators as business owners, teachers as knowledge installers, and students as customers. The slogan, "The customer is always right" has evolved to mean, "If we convinced you that you bought a university education, then you did."
2
Just proves once more that Trump is a egocentric phony who thinks his name is something special and likes to see it on everything he can think of: buildings, golf courses, steak, water, wine, maybe toilet paper.
And he doesn't do very well with any of them.
Just the kind of person we would want for president.
And he doesn't do very well with any of them.
Just the kind of person we would want for president.
3
Like a dinosaur kicked in the rump, the body politic can take an awful long time to register that it is under assault. While political correctness has run rampant for years, a scam has been building that may yet cause an economic crisis as a debt mountain collapses. And populist politicians have done nothing but make it worse, because what is more popular than making sure that everyone gets something they think is valuable handed to them with minimal effort?
1
The proliferation of "universities" is matched by the explosion in the number of "doctorates' granted each year. Is there anyone left besides me who is not possessed of the credentials "Ph.D" or "Doctor of ..." They're even prominent in some obituaries, as if being a "doctor' somehow validates a life.
In the interest of full disclosure, I possess a Master of Arts AND a Master of Science degrees, but, like Howard Wolowitz on The Big Bang Theory, I don't get no respect. Perhaps I'll soon return to what passes for today's academe and hope no one notices that I'm the same person I was before I could legitimately insist that I be called "Doctor!" Oh, the self esteem I will generate.
In the interest of full disclosure, I possess a Master of Arts AND a Master of Science degrees, but, like Howard Wolowitz on The Big Bang Theory, I don't get no respect. Perhaps I'll soon return to what passes for today's academe and hope no one notices that I'm the same person I was before I could legitimately insist that I be called "Doctor!" Oh, the self esteem I will generate.
2
Its the same thing with job titles now too. Take a job title from 20 years ago, add a few jazzy adjectives in front, and presto! I honestly have no idea what any of my contacts on linkedin do, though I think they all are executives of something or other.
3
No matter what, picking out a school, a car, a love connection, WHATEVER! If it sounds too good to be true? It typically is. Caveat Emptor everyone.
Do your homework. Ask around. Have someone sew your hands into your pockets, so when someone asks, "Can I help you," you'll mean it when you say, "Thanks, I'm only looking."
Do your homework. Ask around. Have someone sew your hands into your pockets, so when someone asks, "Can I help you," you'll mean it when you say, "Thanks, I'm only looking."
I think this is part of the larger issue of people seeking validation through their education and their work. It's declasse to go to trade school and to have a "job"; it's prestigious to have a university degree and a "profession."
Truth is you can be a good person with a GED, and you can be an awful person with a Ph.D.
Truth is you can be a good person with a GED, and you can be an awful person with a Ph.D.
12
Yeah, but try using a GED to make someone feel inadequate to cover up your own insecurities. P, h, and D are much better letters for that.
1
If a school is not made up of at least several semi-autonomous colleges, it should not be allowed to call itself a university.
5
I think the criteria of multiple schools/colleges under one roof is a good starting point to define what is a university, but please do not demean branches of large university systems (formerly normal schools). Cal State U Channel Islands, with only a few thousand students, cannot compare by itself to SDSU (with approx. 30,000), but both are part of a single state university system that performs significant amounts of research and advanced instruction, available to all students either at their own campus or simply by transferring to another branch. Nothing about a university says it has to occupy but a single location.
7
Yes, I agree with the article. There is a small college not far from where I live, that was originally called a Teacher's College. Well, now it is a University with the city name affixed to it. It is like all the colleges around here. Gobbling up land and property thereby taking it off the tax rolls, endlessly building, building and charging more and more, meanwhile not even having enough parking space due to all the building, so the students have a choice of parking illegally or parking miles away. If these schools would worry less about making money and more about enhancing the educational experience, we would all be better off.
3
Consider Boston College, a prestigious Jesuit UNIVERSITY, remains with the name it first chose at its founding in 1863. It clearly qualifies as a university, but just 5 miles away is Boston University, also a qualified university and one founded some years before Boston College. The best way to know they are different is when their quality hockey teams battle each other on ice a few times each year.
9
It's true that there are some scams out there, and it certainly sounds like Trump's organization was one. But this article goes too far by tarring perfectly legitimate institutions with the same brush. There's only one thing wrong with for-profit institutions and smaller institutions with low enrollment graduate programs referring to themselves as universities, and that's that they don't satisfy Mr. Carey's sense of elitism.
5
Theres also the issue of job placement after graduation, and the staggering student debt that people are encouraged to run up to fund these "degrees." I don't think theres any elitism in this article, just honesty. Dartmouth is a tremendous school, theres a reason its not so easy to get into. DeVry, on the other hand...
3
The same name inflation exists on the college level. For-profit "colleges", are not really colleges, just glorified trade schools.
6
...but you can get a good job after finishing your training in a trade or vocational school. Graduates of for-profit "universities" often are left with useless degrees and overwhelming student debt.
3
Doesn't seem like "that hard" a sham to "un-wind!"
Yes, there'd be plenty of lobbying and a campaign contribution or 50, but given that higher ed does - to some extent - self-regulate, all you'd have to do is deny govt. benefits to the likes of Strayer U., unless it reverts to Strayer College, for example.
The author makes light of this or that student's being gulled by the word in connection with the choice between GWU "versus" "neighboring" "Univ. of California." This isn't lipstick on a big - or not JUST that - it's false advertising, and I thought it WAS the business of gov't to curb some of those excesses - ESPECIALLY where it's very much a part of their economics.
Yes, there'd be plenty of lobbying and a campaign contribution or 50, but given that higher ed does - to some extent - self-regulate, all you'd have to do is deny govt. benefits to the likes of Strayer U., unless it reverts to Strayer College, for example.
The author makes light of this or that student's being gulled by the word in connection with the choice between GWU "versus" "neighboring" "Univ. of California." This isn't lipstick on a big - or not JUST that - it's false advertising, and I thought it WAS the business of gov't to curb some of those excesses - ESPECIALLY where it's very much a part of their economics.
I have always thought that the definition of an university was the ability to grant Phds in various disciplines and any institution that cannot do that legitimately is not an university.
7
Ahh, legitimacy is the key idea there. Business in the modern USA is about making a buck, not being honest. And education is nothing but a business. I will defer to the following linked article from a year ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/education/edlife/how-to-raise-a-univer...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/education/edlife/how-to-raise-a-univer...
1
The gulf between Trump University and a state university is huge. I agree that name inflation has occurred along with grade inflation in academia but the term Trump University is an oxymoron (as is many of the others). Having both received degrees and taught upper division and graduate classes, there are still rigorous university STEM programs with undergraduate and graduate programs and their reputation remains intact. Students should seek them out. I know of no faux PhD's (and in fact about twenty percent never received their PhD). When I was on hiring committees and reviewing applications, most of us knew the quality and reputation of a school's graduates. It was not rocket science.
3
I work in STEM at a major university in California, and I am less than impressed by some of the PhD candidates I have met. Departments are encouraged to make sure they graduate their students at some point, regardless of the quality of their research and the thesis they present. Grant money for PIs also dictates quite a bit of PhD programs. Maybe I have high standards, but it seems to me some PhDs are just handed out so as to avoid the trouble of just letting less than stellar students drift off, unsuccessful.
Sometimes I think that more then the designation is meant to deceive. There is a "Keller" school of business offering MBAs on TV. Is that really just someone's name or is it meant to confuse with "Kellogg," which is the business school of Northwestern University? Who knows!
It truly is "buyer beware," which strikes me every time I see an anti-Trump ad. In the ad, a retirement aged guy complains that he spent $30,000+ on Trump classes, but never got the opportunity to buy real estate from Trump. I don't know if that is promised, but every time I hear it I am reminded of P. T. Barnum's statement that there is a sucker born every 15 minutes. There are two issues here 1) the easy deception (by Trump & others) of young people from less educated and less savvy families, who may be deceived into wasting precious resources on worthless "education;" 2) even if some % of the students are suckers who should have known better, do we really want a president who has such shady practices attached to his name?
It truly is "buyer beware," which strikes me every time I see an anti-Trump ad. In the ad, a retirement aged guy complains that he spent $30,000+ on Trump classes, but never got the opportunity to buy real estate from Trump. I don't know if that is promised, but every time I hear it I am reminded of P. T. Barnum's statement that there is a sucker born every 15 minutes. There are two issues here 1) the easy deception (by Trump & others) of young people from less educated and less savvy families, who may be deceived into wasting precious resources on worthless "education;" 2) even if some % of the students are suckers who should have known better, do we really want a president who has such shady practices attached to his name?
8
DeVry was not DeVry Technical Institute, EVER. It was DeVry Institution of Technology. You don't have to get everything right every time, but in an article about the names of schools is it too much to expect that you would get the name of a school correct?
7
Why are for profit 'universities' and 'colleges' allows to exist at all? Much less receive financial aid, which is an absolute outrage. Every for profit education institution is nothing more than legalized fraud. There is absolutely no reason to allow these scams to continue to deceive and defraud people who are not educated enough to understand the difference between a real, regulated educational institution with real, honest-to-God professors, and one that essentially provides nothing and 'teaches' with what are the equivalent of paid actors, or more realistically, con-men.
29
Your nickname is "Truth Teller", yet just about everything you said here is false. Yes, there are a few publicly traded for-profit schools that have engaged in unethical behavior to maximize their revenue from the federal student loan system -- and they've rightfully suffered for it. But most of them are full of hard working students who put in a lot of effort and learn because of it, and academically qualified instructors with graduate degrees who share their professional experience.
Moreover, *all* of them are regulated, as there is no state where a license is not required for a college or university to operate, and all of the ones that participate in federal financial aid are accredited, because that's a requirement for participation in that system.
Moreover, *all* of them are regulated, as there is no state where a license is not required for a college or university to operate, and all of the ones that participate in federal financial aid are accredited, because that's a requirement for participation in that system.
3
I take it you are in on the scam, but I'll play along. So, "most" of these "institutions" are "filled" with instructors that have "graduate degrees", you say! I am duly impressed! Let me spell it out for you, friend: at ANY real university, and I don't mean Harvard or anything here, but at ANY public university, any non-for-profit private university, no matter how non-selective or lower tier, the faculty will nearly all have achieved the highest degree in their discipline, the Ph.D. What, pray tell, could "professional experience" have to do with anything here when we are speaking about teaching, and academic field, where the relevant experience, even in highly applied disciplines like Business or Management, is experience teaching it and a record of at least some scholarly achievement in the field. To be ripping off poor hard working young men and women, by putting on your professor suit and calling your school a university, when it is little better than a pyramid scheme, is an outrage. If these people truly understood what was going on they would revolt. In truth, they are not attending a university, but only the careful facsimile of one, with pseudo-professors playing a carefully staged part, garnishing professional "credentials" in lieu of substantive experience in the field of knowledge they are supposed to be teaching, and stating as if it is impressive that they are "filled" with "professors" with "graduate degrees" (as if an MBA qualifies you to teach these days)
4
Sisyphus worked pretty damn hard too. Didn't get him anywhere.
1
The saddest story in academia is the once-respected university becoming only a liberal indoctrination center as it also develops a ridiculous attitude toward male students. The social-engineering garbage my children heard from liberal-progressive teachers made us fear for the next generation.
Good luck raising alumni donations in thirty years from schoolteachers.
Good luck raising alumni donations in thirty years from schoolteachers.
4
This article seems to imply that if an education institution evolves from a normal school to a teacher's college to a university, then it is "exploiting" the word "University". The truth is that many of those schools have changed over time and no longer primarily educate teachers. Higher educational institutions have grown as the U.S. population has grown and as a greater percentage of the population goes to college and grad school.
SUNY Albany, for example, started as a normal school with only 29 students. It had 590 students when it became a teacher's college. Today, with 17,500 students, it is a true university. One quarter of all its students are graduate students.
SUNY Albany, for example, started as a normal school with only 29 students. It had 590 students when it became a teacher's college. Today, with 17,500 students, it is a true university. One quarter of all its students are graduate students.
28
This reminds me of a quip by the late, great Paul Fussell, to be found in his _Class_: "France has one university. England has two. Ohio has one hundred and forty-seven."
20
Dartmouth "College" is technically a university. It has the Tuck School of Business, Thayer School of Engineering, Geisel School of Medicine, and a school for graduate studies (in addition to its college for undergrads).
It has retained the "College" title to preserve tradition (and likely tout the fact it won the Supreme Court case that establishes precedent for the sanctity of contracts -- Dartmouth College vs Woodward). It has not "resisted the temptation to be known as what it is not." If anything, Dartmouth has made a conscious decision to inaccurately mislabel itself.
It has retained the "College" title to preserve tradition (and likely tout the fact it won the Supreme Court case that establishes precedent for the sanctity of contracts -- Dartmouth College vs Woodward). It has not "resisted the temptation to be known as what it is not." If anything, Dartmouth has made a conscious decision to inaccurately mislabel itself.
10
Buyer beware. No matter what society does to point out the deficiencies of a great number of 'universities' in America, students will continue to enroll.
A small group can not act as the common-sense meter for all of America.
A small group can not act as the common-sense meter for all of America.
1
Totally false. We no longer allow any old charlatan without a legitimate medical education from a proper medical school and real doctors, and an adequate medical residency at a hospital afterwards to represent themselves as doctors, and kill people with their worthless medical advice, do we? Just the same here, there is no reason to not shut down every last one of these crooked for-profit-schools-- starting with "Phoenix University" and moving on from them there. If you like, you can simply deny them federal financial aid, and they will probably shrivel up and die of natural causes on their own and you won't even need to shut them down, but I think they should just be immediately taken out of existence. Everyone benefits: most of all the students, who unbeknownst to them were not attending a real university because they are young and not sufficiently well-informed to know the difference between a fake and the genuine article, especially if their parents did not attend university so they have no one to point this out to them, This is why it is all the more outrageous that these slick actors playing the part of professors, like a man who puts on a stethoscope and prints out a diploma from an online university and calls himself doctor, who reassure these poor people that they are really receiving an education. The sad part about it too is that community colleges do not reject anyone and provide a perfectly legitimate education at almost no cost, so this is just tragic.
5
I thought that "university" had a simple definition - a post-high school educational institution composed of multiple colleges under one administrative umbrella. The implication being that to move from an English major to a agriculture major you had to apply to the College of Agriculture. If all you had to do was see an advisor, decide you want to switch, then start taking classes (no new application/acceptance), then you were at a college.
Of course its pretty much important only to academic elitists like the author as so few remain "educational" but have just become "diploma producers."
Of course its pretty much important only to academic elitists like the author as so few remain "educational" but have just become "diploma producers."
1
Having been in academia at a State U for 26 years I have seen a rapid proliferation of for profit Colleges and Universities. Why? They are great moneymakers. From technical schools where the government bears some of the burden and the students the rest (with abysmal graduation rates), to online Universities where degrees are essentially bought, to for-profit country clubs masquerading as Universities.
It's all a joke, but perhaps something useful will come out of Trump University after all; people will begin to wake up to this and investigate a College/University and choose it for its outcomes.
It's all a joke, but perhaps something useful will come out of Trump University after all; people will begin to wake up to this and investigate a College/University and choose it for its outcomes.
12
Hmm. Are these two organizations analogous? Does a small college "exploit the word university" the same way Trump University does? One is an (admittedly dubious) attempt to elevate a college's prestige and the other is a predatory bait-and-switch (a la aggressive mimicry). While "normal schools" do weaken the esteem the word "university" holds, I would say their aim is far more benign than the parasitic actions of Trump's scam-of-the-week club.
7
It always surprises me that in this day and age, with easy access to vast resources on the WWW, people don't routinely use on-line searches to discover the wealth of information the Web offers, and to do their "due diligence" research. Whether seeking an education or a warranty for automobile engine repair, it is not difficult to tell the scams from the genuine.
12
The people who are applying to these 'universities' (especially the for-profit versions) are not the type of people who are renowned for their research aptitude.
For example, I had a cousin whom, after completely slacking off in HS, realized the only 'university' that would take him was the University of Phoenix. Now, he thought University of Phoenix sounded much more impressive than LocalCounty Community College, so he enrolled without seeking advice (which, as a legal adult at 18, was completely within his rights). But now, of course, he has student debt for a unaccredited degree he never finished that nobody would have accepted anyways.
These institutions prey on the young and the ignorant, and allowing them to misrepresent themselves does not help the situation.
For example, I had a cousin whom, after completely slacking off in HS, realized the only 'university' that would take him was the University of Phoenix. Now, he thought University of Phoenix sounded much more impressive than LocalCounty Community College, so he enrolled without seeking advice (which, as a legal adult at 18, was completely within his rights). But now, of course, he has student debt for a unaccredited degree he never finished that nobody would have accepted anyways.
These institutions prey on the young and the ignorant, and allowing them to misrepresent themselves does not help the situation.
16
First, a correction: Dartmouth is a university, appellation notwithstanding. For example, their engineering PhD degree is highly respected: http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/academics/graduate/phd/. As a Harvard engineering graduate you can take my word for it - we usually don't extol other Ivys' virtues.
But the tenor of the article is spot-on. One time a DeVry "University" graduate with their 4-yr. "BS" degree came to us wanting an engineering job. We told him he was a technician. He was apparently told the same everywhere else he interviewed because he accepted our offer. He was a lousy technician BTW.
But the tenor of the article is spot-on. One time a DeVry "University" graduate with their 4-yr. "BS" degree came to us wanting an engineering job. We told him he was a technician. He was apparently told the same everywhere else he interviewed because he accepted our offer. He was a lousy technician BTW.
11
I asked, in a comment to a recent article about Trump U., what its minimum SAT or ACT score for admission was. Oh, and who was the accrediting agency?
I'm surprised Trump hasn't piggy-backed onto the "flip this house" genre of shows so prolific now on HGTV. He could call it The Trump Casino Crash: Be the Next Sheldon Adelson!
I'm surprised Trump hasn't piggy-backed onto the "flip this house" genre of shows so prolific now on HGTV. He could call it The Trump Casino Crash: Be the Next Sheldon Adelson!
3
Mr. Carey has nailed it when it comes to how some institutions exploit the public trust, but he missed the most important institutions. Let me explain.
I spent three decades teaching at "universities"; first at`..State University at Anytown..', then at an elite research "university" (Wash. U. in St Louis). In my opinion, neither was a university.
Mr. Carey has explained why "State" is not a university. It wasn't even an institution of higher education, at least not when I was there. Here is an example.
A math "Professor" explained why she was glad that someone else took over her lower level course: after 5 years, she could finally tell WHEN homework was wrong but she still wasn't always sure WHAT was wrong. (She was one among many. See my blog inside-higher-ed for others.)
Many high school teachers count on places like "State" for their education. They don't have a chance with these "professors" "teaching" them. Neither do their high school students.
That's State.
At Wash. U., I taught a course critical to engineers. I was told by my chair to make it a "cookbook" course. That's because the engineering school was complaining, and he wasn't going to let them "wrest" the course from Math. (After I told the Dean of Eng. Academic INTEGRITY that students who cheated on homework did poorly on the test, he wrote that they needed retention in engineering.)
On my blog, you can also read about how top universities graduate faux-PhDs. (Someone has to teach at "State".)
I spent three decades teaching at "universities"; first at`..State University at Anytown..', then at an elite research "university" (Wash. U. in St Louis). In my opinion, neither was a university.
Mr. Carey has explained why "State" is not a university. It wasn't even an institution of higher education, at least not when I was there. Here is an example.
A math "Professor" explained why she was glad that someone else took over her lower level course: after 5 years, she could finally tell WHEN homework was wrong but she still wasn't always sure WHAT was wrong. (She was one among many. See my blog inside-higher-ed for others.)
Many high school teachers count on places like "State" for their education. They don't have a chance with these "professors" "teaching" them. Neither do their high school students.
That's State.
At Wash. U., I taught a course critical to engineers. I was told by my chair to make it a "cookbook" course. That's because the engineering school was complaining, and he wasn't going to let them "wrest" the course from Math. (After I told the Dean of Eng. Academic INTEGRITY that students who cheated on homework did poorly on the test, he wrote that they needed retention in engineering.)
On my blog, you can also read about how top universities graduate faux-PhDs. (Someone has to teach at "State".)
6
Academic inflation is US is unbelievable.
Nurses getting PHDs online by submitting text from a textbook, slightly changed, as their thesis.
So they can be called Dr.
So called universities are involved
Nurses getting PHDs online by submitting text from a textbook, slightly changed, as their thesis.
So they can be called Dr.
So called universities are involved
4
My understanding is that you can cross-register for classes at the School of Hard Knocks. You’re certainly welcome to audit.
9
Great exposé by Kevin Carey. As this nation touts the necessity of the education that purportedly enables one to thrive in the new economy, there arise hawkers to promise ill-informed clients a qualified learning experience.
It's too bad, because education is that last place where one is able to learn to think, to reason in as unbiased an environment as possible. Education is that idealism that teaches us to be critical, thereby bettering ourselves. Many people do not understand this role of education in our culture.
That being said, look who Republicans are putting up for presidential nomination this year. One has two cum laude degrees from Ivy League universities, yet behaves with an unreasonable irresponsibility. The other touts a good education but behaves equally irresponsibly.
The question for clients of these questionable schools is, how do they get a good education when they don't know how to go about getting a good education? Many didn't have guidance councillors in their secondary schools, or didn't make use of them. But certainly, in these days of the World Wide Web, one should be able to obtain reasonable advice. But, again, if one doesn't know how to go about doing that (does not have a basic education that enables him or her to scrutinize educational options) they are eligible to be victims of these unscrupulous enterprises.
It says that we must encourage good secondary education in this nation.
It's too bad, because education is that last place where one is able to learn to think, to reason in as unbiased an environment as possible. Education is that idealism that teaches us to be critical, thereby bettering ourselves. Many people do not understand this role of education in our culture.
That being said, look who Republicans are putting up for presidential nomination this year. One has two cum laude degrees from Ivy League universities, yet behaves with an unreasonable irresponsibility. The other touts a good education but behaves equally irresponsibly.
The question for clients of these questionable schools is, how do they get a good education when they don't know how to go about getting a good education? Many didn't have guidance councillors in their secondary schools, or didn't make use of them. But certainly, in these days of the World Wide Web, one should be able to obtain reasonable advice. But, again, if one doesn't know how to go about doing that (does not have a basic education that enables him or her to scrutinize educational options) they are eligible to be victims of these unscrupulous enterprises.
It says that we must encourage good secondary education in this nation.
5
i think Troy University is actually a legit university, at least in the sense that it is not-for-profit research university. They probably don't deserve to be lumped in with all of the for-profits mentioned in the same sentence.
Not sure about that. Just because you're a nonprofit doesn't mean you don't make a "profit," even if it's in the form of overpaid administrators.
Something needs to be done about this. Where are the accreditation agencies?
Something needs to be done about this. Where are the accreditation agencies?
2
do not fret ; as soon as Donald Trump is elected president he will forbid the practice?since he will no longer be a business- man
You forgot to mention that with Google ads, you run advertising for these "universities."
12
Mr. Trump may have a lot of company, but one can hardly call it "good" company.
2
More to the point is what the name of this country will change to if Trump becomes President. Trump's United States, or Trump USA. After all he puts his name on everything!
5
United States of Drumpf.
2
Good company? As far as the for-profits are concerned, he is in the right cluster.
1
Thank you for a very informative article in clarifying Trump's business and showing us that it's not an uncommon scam. Didn't know this, very good to know.
The Donald may indeed be in good company, but to my knowledge he is the only US presidential candidate ever to embrace this scam. Yes, it is true; nearly every state college in the country seeks the "university" moniker without actually changing anything substantive in academic make-up.
It's absurd, but it's the sine-qua-non of almost any college presidential candidate's promise and vision to be hired. Note that the truly prestigious liberal arts colleges are perfectly happy to be called what they are. Dartmouth (which is, in fact, a university) isn't alone.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
It's absurd, but it's the sine-qua-non of almost any college presidential candidate's promise and vision to be hired. Note that the truly prestigious liberal arts colleges are perfectly happy to be called what they are. Dartmouth (which is, in fact, a university) isn't alone.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
1
By misusing the word "university" Donald Trump is in "good company."
More accurate to say he in very ordinary company.
More accurate to say he in very ordinary company.
5
are any of these schools anything like "Full Sail University", a school that Mitt Rodney claimed would revolutionize higher education in terms of quality provided at a low cost?
5
Believing in the unbelievable, believe in yourself, the siren call....hope, prayer, fodder
Happened in the UK too, but it is far more difficult...
However, colleges abound - mostly as a way to game the visa system.
However, colleges abound - mostly as a way to game the visa system.
2
I knew the jig was up a number of years back when all the little state colleges around Pennsylvania (originally either teacher's or agricultural schools) suddenly became universities. Kutztown University? Millersville University? The accrediting agencies look like they are the ones who dropped the ball here, because they would be in a position to object to the name change. But why do they not object? Is it because there actually isn't a more restricted definition of "university" that is widely accepted enough for the accrediting agencies to enforce? Or is something else going on here?
4
Although he is the only one running for President of the United States who exploited the word "University."
It's marketing, and as we all know, marketing can be deceptive.
It's marketing, and as we all know, marketing can be deceptive.
1) It seems that you need to provide a technical definition of "university." Yes, "university" covers a broad array of institutions. No, it's not really a problem, except maybe for academic elitists, of which the author seems to want to be. Schools everywhere offer quality education as long as students put in the effort.
2) Just because somewhere started as a normal school and got upgraded doesn't preclude it from being a university. For example, UCLA was once a normal school. But then, it's also a "public university with a compass point or city designation in its name," thereby being illegitimate by the author's arbitrary standards.
2) Just because somewhere started as a normal school and got upgraded doesn't preclude it from being a university. For example, UCLA was once a normal school. But then, it's also a "public university with a compass point or city designation in its name," thereby being illegitimate by the author's arbitrary standards.
18
"Schools everywhere offer quality education as long as students put in the effort." No, no really. After teaching at six sizable public university in my life, I can tell you that some students are really losers when it comes to a second rate school. They don't get the interaction from motivated peers; they don't have teaching professionals who do a great job; and they don't have quality support systems. In short, schools everywhere don't offer a quality education whether or not the students put in the effort.
In short, the 'if it isn't Harvard, it is fine for most students' doesn't really play out. Some of the 'not-Harvard' are excellent, some are awful--just take your money and let you get what you can out of it.
In short, the 'if it isn't Harvard, it is fine for most students' doesn't really play out. Some of the 'not-Harvard' are excellent, some are awful--just take your money and let you get what you can out of it.
5
Ah, marketing, the making of something into something it is not to exploit a few more customers. Here in Massachusetts we have a number of former state colleges that are now laughingly designated Universities. But should we be surprised? It goes hand in hand with the now expected grade inflation, the superabundance of Administrators at the expense of classroom teachers and the concurrent increase in adjuncts filling teaching roles. Make every learning institution and fly by night course a University! will anyone notice ...
3
This is a gratuitous cheap shot at "normal schools", evidently because they taught women. Harvard and Yale were formed to teach clergymen, so they get to be "universities." Normal schools are, in Carey's argument, lesser institutions because they taught women and taught them more than bible studies. I attended a State College that was not ashamed that it had originally been a normal school. Carey's implication that State Colleges are, somehow, no more than Trump's "University" is insulting and absolutely false.
28
Good point! The article does seem to have an unspoken gender bias as a normal school or teaching college for the most part served women, whereas the divinity schools and polytechnics or engineering schools served men. Who's to say that becoming a teacher, responsible for educating the next generation is less important than becoming a minister?
Most of the colleges and universities in the US had their start as normal or teacher's colleges, divinity schools, agricultural schools, mechanics schools or polytechnics. Over time they have evolved to expand their course offerings, academic departments, majors, graduate degrees, etc. and have changed their name to reflect that. Princeton was originally called the College of New Jersey and Yale University was called Collegiate School. It's perfectly fine to undergo a name makeover, as long as these schools are non-profit institutions of higher learning conferring Bachelor's and graduate degrees, offering a wide range of course studies and engaging in academic research. There's no reason why these institutions should not be able to rename to reflect their expanded offerings and student body.
Most of the colleges and universities in the US had their start as normal or teacher's colleges, divinity schools, agricultural schools, mechanics schools or polytechnics. Over time they have evolved to expand their course offerings, academic departments, majors, graduate degrees, etc. and have changed their name to reflect that. Princeton was originally called the College of New Jersey and Yale University was called Collegiate School. It's perfectly fine to undergo a name makeover, as long as these schools are non-profit institutions of higher learning conferring Bachelor's and graduate degrees, offering a wide range of course studies and engaging in academic research. There's no reason why these institutions should not be able to rename to reflect their expanded offerings and student body.
5
While I do agree with your point, you are arguing a bit of a strawman. I don't believe Mr. Carey argues "normal schools are ... lesser institutions because they taught women." He provides his own definition of a "university" (agreeable or not) that includes: "multiple schools and departments with a heavy focus on research, scholarship and training new Ph.Ds."
A school is certainly no less valuable simply because it has different aims (outlined above), but does that entitle it to the appellation "University"? How much must we protect this honorific? I do not ask rhetorically; I think these are important considerations to the debate.
A school is certainly no less valuable simply because it has different aims (outlined above), but does that entitle it to the appellation "University"? How much must we protect this honorific? I do not ask rhetorically; I think these are important considerations to the debate.
4
One motive behind the naming upgrades is to attract international students from countries where a college is a secondary, or even middle, school. Some of those former normal schools really are universities, too. Pennsylvania has former normal schools called California University (of Pennsylvania) and Indiana University (of Pennsylvania). California is marginally a university and Indiana actually is university with a range of doctoral programs, though it is far from the equal of the other Indiana University.
My favorite name change is here in Maine, when Washington Normal School, founded in 1909, evolved in the 50s, 60s, and 70s into Washington State Teachers College, then Washington State College, then The University of Maine at Machias. It has a little over 1,000 students today. Back in the 60s, when it had 200-300 students, students got to say they were going to Washington State.
My favorite name change is here in Maine, when Washington Normal School, founded in 1909, evolved in the 50s, 60s, and 70s into Washington State Teachers College, then Washington State College, then The University of Maine at Machias. It has a little over 1,000 students today. Back in the 60s, when it had 200-300 students, students got to say they were going to Washington State.
3
If I understand correctly, in Canada only universities issue baccalaureates. Prior to attending university, colleges instruct students in grades 12 and 13 and issue diplomas, allowing students to earn the baccalaureate in three years.
Actually, by the standards set for a university in this article, it seems Dartmouth College actually is a university.
Apparently there is some cache in the word University left over from Jolly old England and the Universities there.
I believe this is why accrediting organizations exist so that a University truly is such a beast and not just a trade school playing dress up.
I believe this is why accrediting organizations exist so that a University truly is such a beast and not just a trade school playing dress up.
1
Mr. Carey, Thank you for the update on the ongoing un-necessary upgrading of schools of higher learning. One might ask why it happens? One of the answers is money for administrators.
There is a direct correlation between title and pay. One of the largest community colleges in Texas and hence the nation started with a president, an academic dean, and a few chairpersons. With student numbers increasing the president became "the Chancellor," the academic dean became "one of many presidents" of branches of the "system," and the chairpersons morphed into "Deans and Vice-Deans."
All of the above titles included an over burden of salary increases with little evidence such title creep helped the student body.
As a final note, even those with no salary increases at this Lone Star community college infected with title creep even saw "chairs and associate chair" titles created for aspirants to administrative knighthood and hefty salary increases. Such is the nature of academic grandeur and increasing cost to the poor taxpayer of higher and even lower-higher education!!!
There is a direct correlation between title and pay. One of the largest community colleges in Texas and hence the nation started with a president, an academic dean, and a few chairpersons. With student numbers increasing the president became "the Chancellor," the academic dean became "one of many presidents" of branches of the "system," and the chairpersons morphed into "Deans and Vice-Deans."
All of the above titles included an over burden of salary increases with little evidence such title creep helped the student body.
As a final note, even those with no salary increases at this Lone Star community college infected with title creep even saw "chairs and associate chair" titles created for aspirants to administrative knighthood and hefty salary increases. Such is the nature of academic grandeur and increasing cost to the poor taxpayer of higher and even lower-higher education!!!
3
Only in America!
18
Not for long. The British government is in the process of opening up the "university" sector to a bunch of for-profit operations.
Unfortunately the for-profit rip-off operations are aimed at people who are least likely to end up attending a real university - the low information consumer who doesn't really know what a university is.
Unfortunately the for-profit rip-off operations are aimed at people who are least likely to end up attending a real university - the low information consumer who doesn't really know what a university is.
At least Trump wasn't ripping of the the VA with the veteran loan programs as the business schools did.... Buying ones way into an exclusive alumni association is what it's all about, right?
This scam runs every weekend in hotels across the country. The pitch is identical without the name of the GOP front-runner.