Creationists: How to boost credentials without working!

I got this email this morning that looks perfect for future candidates of ARN or Patriot University professors...you can make your unsupported assertions seem credible with a worthless degree from a degree mill!Academic Qualifications available from prestigious NONACCREDITTED universities.Do you have the knowledge and the experience but lack the qualifications?Are you getting turned down time and time again for the job of your dreams because you just don't have the right lettersafter your name?Get the prestige that you deserve today!Move ahead in your career today!Bachelors, Masters and PhD's available in your field!No examinations! No classes! No textbooks!Call to register and receive your qualifications within days!24 hours a day 7 days a week!Confidentiality assured![This message has been edited by Mammuthus, 09-25-2003]

So I could have saved myself seven years of uni work!I was going to say that these credentials wouldnt be recognised by employers, but there seems to be so many gullible people out there that this might just work.However, I cannot see Oxford, Glasgow or St. Andrews allowing someone with a masters from Patriot uni study for a Phd at any of their departments.I suppose it would impress people who are not very knowledgeable about the world's academia.Brian.

quote:

---

I suppose it would impress people who are not very knowledgeable about the world's academia.

---

Exactly, creationists Just think of the weight unsupported assertions would have coming from such an esteemed academic as sayDr. Wise, Ph.D.
Department of Frivolity
The Universitiy of Ad Hominem Attacks
P.O. Box xxxx
Cayman Islands

In all my years of professional life, no one has ever asked to see my diplomas, which were lost in a move years ago. (Right! We've all heard that one before!)What I have found is that the degree gets you your first set of interviews after college, but since the prospective employers usually make contact with you through your college placement office, which also makes your records available, there is no doubt in the employers' minds that you went to that college. The interviews usually take place senior year before you have your degree, and when you show up to work after graduation they simply assume you have your degree. They never ask to see it, they never contact the college to verify graduation.After you've been working for a little while it's your last job or two, or maybe three, that prospective employers look at. They assume you couldn't have gotten your first jobs without a degree, so they don't ask to see the diplomas either.I don't know if my field is like other more scientific fields, but computer science seems to attract a number of savants. It isn't unusual to find yourself working with undegreed people who really know they're stuff - and sometimes they're your boss!I'm curious if other people attach any importance to the letters after a person's name. Unless I'm in a hospital trying to make sure I'm talking to a doctor and not the janitor I pay them no attention at all. I don't even notice them in technical articles.While I really liked Tranquility Base's calm demeanor and appreciated his well-reasoned arguments, one thing that really put me off about him, at least in his early days, was his constant trumpeting about his PhD. As soon as someone starts talking about their credentials instead of the topic at hand my hackles go up and I begin viewing what they say with much greater suspicion.--Percy

In the U.S. I do not remember the actual degree i.e. the piece of paper being much use as anything other than something my mother might like to hang on the wall to look at and hope it meant that I had not turned out to be a complete failure or as a table mat. In Germany you actually have to produce copies of all your degrees when you apply for a job so they are pretty specific about it...even high school diplomas etc.In practice a title associated with a name i.e. Ph.D. or Dr. tells me if the person is a postdoc or professor versus a student or tech. Otherwise not much else.While many creationists show a profound disdain for science and scientists some (not all) try to associate themselves with academia by boasting of academic credentials some of which are meaningless i.e. Kent Hovind.But I'm with you, if someone claims that they should be believed because they have a degree (ten-sai comes to mind with his ranting about his law degree) one should immediately be even more skeptical of anything they say.

Hi PercyI had an e-mail discussion with a creationist who apparently has two phd's. I actually didn't believe him, there were just too many basics that he didn't know about (the josephus testimonium for example), he never revealed where he studied for his phd's, but any reputable university would require a candidate to first have already completed agood quality degree in a related subject and I would be surprised if he had that.Most uni's in scotland now require you to have an honours degree with a pass of upper second or more and a masters degree before you could attempt a phd there (in my subject anyway).I don't think you need higher degree or a phd to be knowledgeable about a subject, but you can normally tell if someone has studied at a quality university by the way the conversation goes.On that note, what puzzles me is that some creationists do have good quality degrees, even if it is in another subject, but how can they acheive this excellent standard of knowledge and then attempt to defend something as blatantly ridiculous as a 6000 year old earth and the Flood?I have many Christian frinds with degrees, and NONE of them believe in a young earth, they usually just laugh and say that it is an american thing.Brian.

Oh yes, Oxford, Glasgow and St. Andrews the Ivy league of the British Isles. Did you just pick these three out of a hat or do they represent your career trajectory?

I'm suddenly get a need to sign my posts as follows:Mr Jack, MMath(Warwick), MCP(x3), TMSc, MAi[This message has been edited by Mr Jack, 09-25-2003]This message has been edited by Mr Jack, 07-28-2004 05:02 AM

I have no degrees. Do anyone think it would be acceptable to convert my one national diploma and many courses (mostly computer/programming) related into fancy looking titles?Grant Armstrong, ELCP, ACPFC, IAP, LFW, FDC.Looks good, but will it impress anyone?------------------
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Let's see:MMath(Warwick) - That's valid; Master of Mathematics, but the (Warwick) is a bit pretentious.
MCP - Microsoft Certified Professional (maybe).
TMSc - 10 metre Swimming Certificate...
MAi - Member of Amnesty International...Yeah, you can put your courses down.[This message has been edited by Mr Jack, 09-25-2003]

Wounded King, BSc Hons (St. Andrews), AGG, MT, MT, MT

Ooo, that's a good point:Mr Jack, MMath Hons (Warwick), MCP(x3), TMSc, MAi.This message has been edited by Mr Jack, 07-28-2004 05:02 AM

Hi WK,I am at Glasgow now, having studied at Stirling previously.The other two were off the top of my head yes.I am doing some p/t teaching assitant work this year at Glasgow and I hope that this may well lead to a career in a university somewhere.Brian.

None of you guys has a degree from Patriot U...losers!

Patriot rejected my research proposal!I think I made a mistake when I mentioned 'Archaeology' and 'Evidence'.I think we should all apply to Patriot LOL and see how far we get, wouldn't it be so funny if every member of EVC had a Phd from Patriot!We could plagarise the ass out of our dissertions, and they wouldn't have a clue that we just copied someone else's work.Brian.