Fake Degrees:
Caveat Emptor

..... ..........U N I V E R S I T Y ..D I P L O M A S
"Obtain a prosperous future, money earning power, and the admiration of all. Diplomas from prestigious non-accredited universities based on your present knowledge and life experience. No required tests, classes, books, or interviews. Bachelors, masters, MBA, and doctorate (PhD) diplomas available in the field of your choice. No one is turned down. Confidentiality assured. CALL NOW to receive your diploma within days!!! "

This is an advertisement Gibbs receives regularly. Many people are receiving this advertisement for fake degrees that can be obtained without the work legitimate degrees require. What good are these degrees?

There is a general feeling of getting something for nothing or getting something for less the price than others pay. Everyone likes a bargain; it is the way of the world in shopping, but the Dotcom era may have left us with more than a few bankrupt millionaires and companies. It may have left us with the idea that one can actually get something without paying for it.

A very recognized aspect in many Black churches is that there is a plethora of doctorate degrees vaunted among Black ministers. Everyone, educated or not, who is a pastor seemingly has a doctorate degree nowadays. Most are unearned and that becomes apparent as soon as the sermon is announced and given. Yet, many ministers seem to have such a need for credibility that they buy into the advertisement above.

In academia, as in life, there is no free ride. You get what you pay for. And if you do not pay for it, you don't get it. This is generally the rule--there are a few rich and cheating students who cheat to get by, who pay to get by, who steal to get by. These are crooks, the same kind who, like Nixon, deny that they are crooks, but they are crooks nevertheless. And their untoward behavior will eventually show up and identify them. But more than that, their failure to know what they represent themselves as knowing may harm many, as others rely on them.

An honorary degree is understood by all educated individuals to only be an honorary degree--a matter of honor bestowed upon someone highly respected. And it is usually given as a doctorate degree, never any lower. The doctorate degree is the highest degree given by an institution. The honorary degree has more prestige than a paid for degrees, but it does not indicate academic work done at the university issuing it.

Anyone can buy a $25 degree, but that is all they are worth. The above advertisement offers degrees as a way to success and get a better job. Don't believe them. There is a big book listing all colleges and universities that are accredited by legitimate and recognized accrediting agencies.

It takes more than a state to sanction a degree-awarding agency to get into that book--and all schools and large employers have a copy of that book. You can go to a large school library and see if your school is listed. Schools offering cheap degrees are not in that book, and if your school is not in that book of recognized accrediting agencies, you are just out of $25.

Schools value being listed therein because just as a student must work his/her way through many intellectual challenges and growth processes, so must a school go through many challenges accrediting agencies take them through, making sure they measure up to the same standards all other accredited schools measure up to. A president or head of a school can have his/her employment quickly terminated for losing a school's accreditation.

Without a school being accredited by one of the major accrediting agencies, people in the know will laugh at a degree from something like the Good Times University, School of God, or whatever name used. You might as well print your own degree out on a printer for the value these unaccredited degrees have.

Is it fair to one person to struggle doing research, writing papers, learning hard theories, complex languages, deciphering difficult to understand concepts, manipulating obscure mathematical formulas, mastering quantum physics, or literally and figuratively pull his/her hair out for long hours and years of solitude to earn a degree and another can waltz in and get a degree of equal merit and worth simply by paying a small sum or doing a small portion of work? If your answer is yes, you probably have purchased one of the fake degrees and are trying to argue its legitimacy. Such an attempt has standing only among your peers. But there is a broader world in which such unfairness will not be allowed to stand.

There is an old Black expression: "Yous pays your money, and yous gets what yous pay for." A $25 degree isn't really worth the $25 you pay for it. You have been robbed even of that small amount. Remember Caveat Emptor, let the buyer be aware. []

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