subject: Students Need to be Aware of the Reputations of Online Schools [print this page] Author: Laffedy Author: Laffedy
I saw a very funny but rude YouTube video the other day mocking the University of Phoenix. The video featured a few college-aged kids and the slogan observed over and over again was "Do you have a credit card? Get your degree in three easy steps: 1) Enter your name 2)Enter your credit card and 3) print your degree" The video would also show rising text and shout "Feenex Online!" (or any equally mispelled word). This part of the video was obviously a parallel to both commercialism and the reputation of the school for poor spelling and grammar. It was understandable that the University of Phoenix students watching the video responded by saying they found the video tasteless. They said that these kids were just being very rude and ignorant. Unfortunately, as discussed on http://onlineschoolmyths.blogspot.comthis opinion seems to match the majority of the population. Students from online schools want to believe that their school is well respected. Perhaps they are proud of what they accomplished, and they may have every right to be so. Or perhaps they simply want to kid themselves into believing that they are getting a good education because it was simply the only option they had available. Unfortunately, these students do not seem to be willing to accept the fact that their education is typically not well-regarded among the rest of the population. I personally cannot attest to the quality of any of these online schools since I was never a student nor an employee at any of them. However, any time a school like the University of Phoenix is mentioned, almost everyone around me laughs at it. I personally wonder if those schools that actually provide a good education will ever be recognized as such. For the time being, graduates of these institutions are going to have to contend with these issues. They want to believe that their school is well respected but they are going to be in a shock unless they already happen to have a job. If they don't believe this, they should listen to a report by a faculty member from the University of Phoenix stating that 25% of employers find online degrees unacceptable and 50% find an online degree to be inferior to other schools. Of course, this says nothing for the schools with really bad reputations. So those students who think that they will have the same opportunities as everyone else are being very naive and unrealistic. Students attending any college should first stop and ask themselves what they want from their education and how their education will contribute to their success. Unfortunately, some schools will not help them get there, which is something they need to be realistic about.About the Author:
