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Article - Universities Recognize the Value of Life Experience
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Life experience may be worth a lot more than you think. Consider this: many institutions of higher learning provide college or graduate degree programs by verifying and validating the invaluable experience students obtain through military service or in the workplace. Degrees may also be granted to students demonstrating competency in a field by a combination of life experience and transferring credits earned from other colleges. And, in keeping with the explosion of distance learning, degrees can be earned on-line.
Of course, not everyone, especially traditional colleges, are in step with these forward-thinking universities. After all, they've invested millions in "bricks and mortar". So it's no surprise they want to cram students into classrooms-even if it means attending classes on subjects a student already possesses great expertise in. And, if you hold down a full-time job, there's a limit to how many classes may be offered evenings and weekends. At a "university without walls," that's not an issue.
Vested Interests
Some observers, many with vested interests in various accreditation boards, have dubbed these institutions "diploma mills". But to qualify for credits, the vast majority of on-line colleges require students to demonstrate competence through actual experience gained on the job. "Some people think you just buy a degree-but that's not how it works," says one distance-learning expert. "You've got to have the school approve skills gained in the workplace or through volunteer work. No one gets a free pass. You earn it through experience gained in the 'school of hard knocks'. That's the big difference between distance learning and so-called diploma mills."
The government is also slow to recognize the educational concept of distance learning combined with life experience. They, too, have a vested interest in the status quo-in this case the national accreditation organizations.
The Other Side
To combat such attitudes, many of these on-line, life experience oriented universities are beginning to fight back. For example, one administrator points out, "a Life Experience school may not be accredited in the United States-but neither is Cambridge."
Then there's the spiraling cost of higher education. Even tuition at state supported colleges is no longer within reach of many middle class families. Squeezed by medical expenses, the high cost of drugs and general inflation, upward mobility is often denied just because a worker lacks a "sheep-skin". No wonder going the life experience for college credits route is the only option for many. www.degreeadvice.com
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