[GRLUG] Is ITT Tech a Good School?

[Bob Kline]

There was a fine system of two-year
schools in MI 50 years ago. At Ferris
you could learn anything from refrigeration
to auto mechanics to welding

In the 1960s the push was on to make
those schools four year schools.  That
meant padding them out with lots of
humanities courses and other cultural
icons, thus forcing those who wanted
to learn a trade and then go out and get
a good job be there longer, and spend
more.

A racket to be sure, it's well to keep
in mind that schools are businesses
just like any other.  Schools are forced
to get accreditation in order grant valid
degrees.  In oder to do this, someone
else decides what constitutes an
education.  And in the real world that's
more than just being competent at
something, which should be enough.
Employers reinforce this by requiring a
diploma saying you know something,
because most "managers" today don't
have the moxy to properly interview
someone.  And would probably get
sued in this PC correct world if they
tried.

Face it folks, the US was a more
practical country 50 years ago, and
got things done.  But as Donald Trump
recently said "We just don't have it any
more as a country."  Which I mostly
take as too much gov't involvement,
and too little common sense all around.

    -- Bob


On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 2:15 PM, Mike Williams <knightperson at zuzax.com>wrote:

> I did the college thing for a few years right out of highschool, but wasn't
> ready for it at the time. After 10-15 years of muddling around without a
> degree I went back, and I will graduate with a Bachelors in IT
> (specialization in security) in about 2 months. I chose University of
> Phoenix's online program for the flexible scheduling, because they've been
> doing online longer than most other schools, and because their program is
> aimed at teaching adults. My experience has been generally positive,
> although marred by technical issues early on and a curriculum dispute more
> recently.
>
> In my opinion, higher education does not so much "teach" as "certify that
> you learned." In a traditional liberal arts program teaching 20 year old
> students that might be less true, but the responsibility for learning falls
> on the student not the university.
>
> When choosing a school that you will be giving a pile of money to, ask some
> very good questions about accreditation. There are national and regional
> accreditations, and if a school doesn't have both then look elsewhere. U of
> P has both and is still looked down on by many organizations, and a degree
> from a school that doesn't have its accreditation is basically useless.
> Years ago, ITT was in that "unaccredited and useless" category, but I don't
> know if that has changed. To those who say bad things about U of P, I admit
> that they practice open admission (basically, they'll take anybody as a
> student) but they don't give out good grades just for showing up.
>
> --
> This message has been scanned for viruses and
> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> believed to be clean.
>
> _______________________________________________
> grlug mailing list
> grlug at grlug.org
> http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug
>

-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://shinobu.grlug.org/pipermail/grlug/attachments/20110222/19f43cc5/attachment-0001.html>