Moral Decay in Higher Education

Moral Decay is a frequently sited contributing cause of societal collapse.  What is Rome without Nero fiddling.  The 666 noted in Revelations is likely Nero-whose name numorologically adds up to (you guessed it) 666.

The falseness of the diplomacy mills that our higher education facilities have become is rather obvious.  Granted, you get out of school what you put into it, but at some point their should be a little more substance than this.

From the Ed Dante, The Shadow Scholar , Chronicle of Higher Education

A big hat tip to Marginal Revolution.

And to think I felt a little guilty, in pre-destop pc days, about having someone typ up the papers I had written myself.

to What Purpose?

I do a lot of work for seminary students. I like seminary students. They seem so blissfully unaware of the inherent contradiction in paying somebody to help them cheat in courses that are largely about walking in the light of God and providing an ethical model for others to follow. I have been commissioned to write many a passionate condemnation of America's moral decay as exemplified by abortion, gay marriage, or the teaching of evolution. All in all, we may presume that clerical authorities see these as a greater threat than the plagiarism committed by the future frocked.

With respect to America's nurses, fear not. Our lives are in capable hands­—just hands that can't write a lick. Nursing students account for one of my company's biggest customer bases. I've written case-management plans, reports on nursing ethics, and essays on why nurse practitioners are lighting the way to the future of medicine. I've even written pharmaceutical-treatment courses, for patients who I hope were hypothetical.

I, who have no name, no opinions, and no style, have written so many papers at this point, including legal briefs, military-strategy assessments, poems, lab reports, and, yes, even papers on academic integrity, that it's hard to determine which course of study is most infested with cheating. But I'd say education is the worst. I've written papers for students in elementary-education programs, special-education majors, and ESL-training courses. I've written lesson plans for aspiring high-school teachers, and I've synthesized reports from notes that customers have taken during classroom observations. I've written essays for those studying to become school administrators, and I've completed theses for those on course to become principals. In the enormous conspiracy that is student cheating, the frontline intelligence community is infiltrated by double agents. (Future educators of America, I know who you are.)

Credentialling Crises Continue

I have made reference at times to the credentialing crises.  A term popularized by  Jack Goldstone This crises has been a recurring one at times of economic stress when the upper and middle portions of society are finding fewer opportunities and thus begin fighting for the societal positions available.  These battles are a recurring part of price cycle caused by population expansion, and were particularly notable in pre-industrial societies.

However, these credentialing crises are still occurring today.

The following quotes are from:

 Randall Collins , FUNCTIONAL AND CONFLICT THEORIES OF EDUCATIONAL STRATIFICATION

American Sociological Review 1971, Vol. 36 (December):1002-1019

IMO the teaching of status, culture, etc. within schools is one of the overt goals of our education system.  However, one of the other primary goals is as a signaling tool.  It signals a certain competency level, but it also signals a willingness to participate within the system: to become part of the club.   Much as hazing rituals are part of the socializing process of fraternities and sororities.  Business and Law schools become part of the hazing process for entry within those societies.

Educational requirements for employment have become increasingly widespread, not only in elite occupations but also at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy…. In a 1967 survey of the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose areas (Collins, 1969), 17% of the employers surveyed required at least a high school diploma for employment in even unskilled positions; a national survey (Bell, 1940) in 1937-1938 found a comparable figure of 1%.

At the same time, educational requirements appear to have become more specialized, with 38% of the organizations in the 1967 survey which required college degrees of managers preferring business administration training, and an additional 15% preferring engineering training; such requirements appear to have been virtually unknown in the 1920s (Pierson, 1959:34-54).

The main activity of schools is to teach particular status cultures, both in and outside the classroom.  In this light, any failure of schools to impart technical knowledge (although it may also be successful in this) is not important; schools primarily teach vocabulary and inflection, styles of dress, aesthetic tastes, values and manners.

People who go to these go to Law or Business schools are well reminded that their primary importance is as networking tools.  It is often very difficult to show that there much relevance of what they teach to the actual practice of their profession.  There is a whole blog  that discusses  the  "Law School Scam".   So getting a law degree is no longer even a sufficient (necessary- yes, sufficient- no) condition for starting a law career.