So the problem here is degree inflation. 20 years ago when I was getting my first master’s degree it was a 5 years of in person classes. In the meantime degrees became required for lots of positions. Teachers need to get additional degrees to get promotions, you need a degree to apply for a job in the public sector and so on. So what used to be a proof of your qualifications became just a certificate you need to get. Now I’m getting my second master’s degree and it’s a year of online classes, without any in person evaluation. We will either start distinguishing between bullshit degrees from online universities and real ones or all of them will lose any value.
I work in higher education at legitimate public colleges, and increasingly, many degrees feel like little more than credentials sold for tuition. Instructors may never meet their students, courses often consist of recycled online content and multiple-choice quizzes, and students commonly rely on ChatGPT.
The quality of instruction can be equally troubling. I have seen someone earn a cybersecurity certificate and begin teaching the subject the following semester, while another instructor requires programming assignments to be printed on paper. After working at two reputable colleges within a large public system, and seeing the poor quality of my wife’s recent master’s program, it is difficult not to view much of higher education as a sham.
It’s been a sham for a long time now. I would argue it’s basically always been a sham, little more than a way for the upper class to mingle and gain connections.
It had a short run of time where it had a general use case for your avg person, but that in the grand scheme of things was the expection not the rule. It has just gone back to being a sham entirely.
I saw rants very much like yours 30 years ago - before you first masters…
A masters has always to my knowledge been one additional year after you have a 4 year degree. So that they only require 1 year for the second degree is expected - you already have a 4 year degree, a masters is one additional year of advance study on top of it.
Yes, degree inflation is nothing new. I remember my uncle telling me how difficult his high school graduation exams were and how easy they got later.
We already had private school giving diplomas to politicians without attending any classes (I know about such instances in Spain and Poland). With AI getting some type of a degree will be just a formality for most people. No idea if it’s an issue or not. If employers want to use degree as a proof for anything they will have to verify which ones mean something. If they don’t care then I guess no one will.
Depends. 1 for many vocational degrees, 2 for most academic or engineering. Also usually only the 1s accommodate completion by working professionals. 2s tend to assume full-time study.
So the problem here is degree inflation. 20 years ago when I was getting my first master’s degree it was a 5 years of in person classes. In the meantime degrees became required for lots of positions. Teachers need to get additional degrees to get promotions, you need a degree to apply for a job in the public sector and so on. So what used to be a proof of your qualifications became just a certificate you need to get. Now I’m getting my second master’s degree and it’s a year of online classes, without any in person evaluation. We will either start distinguishing between bullshit degrees from online universities and real ones or all of them will lose any value.
I work in higher education at legitimate public colleges, and increasingly, many degrees feel like little more than credentials sold for tuition. Instructors may never meet their students, courses often consist of recycled online content and multiple-choice quizzes, and students commonly rely on ChatGPT.
The quality of instruction can be equally troubling. I have seen someone earn a cybersecurity certificate and begin teaching the subject the following semester, while another instructor requires programming assignments to be printed on paper. After working at two reputable colleges within a large public system, and seeing the poor quality of my wife’s recent master’s program, it is difficult not to view much of higher education as a sham.
It’s been a sham for a long time now. I would argue it’s basically always been a sham, little more than a way for the upper class to mingle and gain connections.
It had a short run of time where it had a general use case for your avg person, but that in the grand scheme of things was the expection not the rule. It has just gone back to being a sham entirely.
I saw rants very much like yours 30 years ago - before you first masters…
A masters has always to my knowledge been one additional year after you have a 4 year degree. So that they only require 1 year for the second degree is expected - you already have a 4 year degree, a masters is one additional year of advance study on top of it.
Yes, degree inflation is nothing new. I remember my uncle telling me how difficult his high school graduation exams were and how easy they got later.
We already had private school giving diplomas to politicians without attending any classes (I know about such instances in Spain and Poland). With AI getting some type of a degree will be just a formality for most people. No idea if it’s an issue or not. If employers want to use degree as a proof for anything they will have to verify which ones mean something. If they don’t care then I guess no one will.
Depends. 1 for many vocational degrees, 2 for most academic or engineering. Also usually only the 1s accommodate completion by working professionals. 2s tend to assume full-time study.