Unfortunate Example

If you plan on working in the secular world, an accredited degree is a must. There are too many organizations that simply will not recognize unaccredited degrees.

Some church circles may be OK with an unaccredited degree, but IMO there are too many accredited options out there to take the risk.

 

Yes, that is unfortunate. That's why people need to carefully consider their college choices and ask a lot of questions. Didn't she know they weren't accredited? Of course they aren't going to advertise the fact that if you get a teaching degree there you won't be able to teach in public schools. Don't even get me started on that "college."

 

Unfortunately, most high school students looking at colleges don't consider accreditation. They don't even know what it is and what the ramifications are. This is why teachers and counselors and parents (though many parents, too, are unaware) need to step in and give more information for the student to consider.

Unfortunately, many pastors are culpable. They tell the querying youngster that accreditation doesn't matter---"only the godless and compromising schools are accredited." Their church may even have a Christian school where the teachers make subsistance wages (yes, I taught in one and know about many) while the pastor lives on double or triple that amount.

Bill

 

I agree with you, Broadus. Accredidation is important, and nothing is worse than when you start pushing some of these people, you get "How DARE you question us! We're not conforming to the evil world!"

I believe the very roots of "college" is in religious training.

 

There may be more to this story. A great number of school districts will hire teaching graduates from BJU though of course BJU is well recognized for their excellence in teaching.

It is hard to tell exactly what happened.

 

I don't know about Pensacola, but many church-related Christian colleges, I'm thinking about those under an independent Baptist church, would find such accommodation as BJU makes to be something akin to consorting with the devil. I know that would be Hyles-Anderson's view, and I have an M.Ed. from there.

BTW, I think there's much wisdom in what BJU has done.

Bill

 

I have a friend who graduated from BJ in the 80's (Secondary Ed./English) who cannot teach in a public school in WV due to the fact that they were not accredited at the time.

My daughter is just beginning her college education and wants to teach high school English. She will probably teach in a Christian school but we have advised her that since you never know what could happen in your life she should get her degree from an accredited school.

 

Some Christian schools require licensure, too.

 

Many require it.

 

ours does, yet many people erroneously believe that we are not accredited. Many of our teachers have Master's degrees as well. It is so important to consider those things when looking for a school, for study or teaching

 

Yes, I am aware of that. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Christian schools do not require it. I realize that many do.

 

Exactly the same situation as the Southern Baptist school where I taught.

 

Since we've already steered off topic . . .

One teacher board I used to post on -- when someone had a hard time finding a job, somone would always say -- go to the local Christian school, everyone knows they'll hire anyone.

I'd have to jump in and say, Did you know that in addition to state licensure, that I also have to have licensure for ACSI which requires work above and beyond what I do for the state. Did you know that while you sign a one page contract (that's all mine ever was), my contract is pages long and laboriously constucted and that I am expected to live-up to and fulfill every line of obligation in it. AND did you know that when I taught in public school even as a new teacher I only had to have my lesson plans available to observing supervisers, but in Christian school, I have to turn in all my lesson plans with objectives and biblical integrations and an annual syllabus.

Now I sound kind of smart alecky here I'm sure. I do say it nice and edit it for the situation (and I do explain that it was the difference between MY experiences in Public and Christian teaching), but the fact is they don't know and they are surprised. Because more people than I'm comfortable with think that Christian schools take and old non-degreed person waving a Bible.

 

Amen, Bitsy! And then they complain about tuition rates for Christian schools and expect those teachers to earn starvation wages.

 

"lucky" me I did an unaccredited BA in Bible, took 45 more semester units at an accredited school in English and Educatio n to earn a teaching credential good for life (had these in Calif then)and then taught public secondary school in two states and in four districts over a period of 35 years, 1969-2004.

But I agree that the safest thing to do in many circumstances may be to get an accredited BA.

 

I'm glad to hear about your situation, and I am aware of a growing number of such situations. Unfortunately, though, there are innumerable situations in which Christian schools, with the best of intentions, have teachers without proper training. In a Christian school in which I taught in south Georgia, the first grade teacher had not completed college, and what she did finally receive was a degree from a distance education school which would have been incapable of achieving accreditation.

There are also some Christian schools, primarily in cities, which pay their teachers a decent salary with benefits such as insurance and retirement. Many schools, though, pay so poorly that the only folks who can afford to work there are retired public school teachers or women whose husbands make an adequate income or a husband and wife whose combined salaries enable them to get by. I have seen many such schools who have only one or two men on the faculty because a man could not make enough to support his family. The children suffer for a lack of male role models, IMO.

And, as someone posted, parents complain about the high tuition while teachers earn what those same parents would not work for.

I'm glad to hear of places where that is not the case.

Bill

 

You are right Bill, they do exist. Some of us have to carry the torch

This is one of the reasons I annually (or almost annually - and a few years, it's been twice) serve on an accreditation team. I am committed to QUALITY Christian education. Not the other stuff of which nightmares are made.