Certificate Plus Advanced Degrees? Needed?

Rhetorician:
You and I have not talked much on this board, but I have read many of your posts. I attended a "liberal" seminary where Bioethics was taught in the ethics course, and I can understand your disdain for it. However, I do not think this certification will provide you a lot of help. It seems you already have some doors, and God has blessed you to utilize those doors. However, I do not know what other doors you want open. For what it is worth, the professor at my seminary had a Ph.D. in ethics and theology from Duke. I just do not know how this certification will help you considering all the work and credentials you already have. This however is my two cents and only my opinion.

Michael Bowe

 

Rhet,

The answers to your questions are obviously no, no, no, no, and yes! We've gotten this education thing backwards and focus on degrees and certifications too much. It matters more what you can do! You are past the formal education stage (this is why I think honorary doctorates are justified), which provides the knowledge, skills, and tools to do productive work. Schooling is for entry level. If you are functioning at a level of teaching and doing worthwhile work in the field, go for it and forget the certification.

 

That right there should answer your question imho. Never, never do a degree that doesn't add to your life and experience.

I can't say heads or tails what another person should do with their life...well I try not to do this.

Honestly, how many years are you anticipating teaching? Are you planning on moving institutions? Will the year or two of work add to five plus years of influence?

This is how I'd manage a certification. They're great if someone is in the secular arena and needs a non-degree specialization to add to their resume. For instance I have a friend who has no desire to pay out $50k for an MBA and decided to add a non-profit graduate certification to her resume and found great work in her field.

I don't know how many people in academics benefit from them. If you've got your PhD and its in an ethics specialization than you should be set. Now if you've been assigned other classes outside of your area maybe just using the time to brush up on a reading list is more appropriate.

If it were me, in similar shoes, I wouldn't do it. The cost, $7k, is prohibitive and that money could be used to attend some professional conferences, buy books in the area, and attend a post-graduate seminar in the field. I'd get the reading lists off the syllabi, get the texts through inter-library loan, and spend $2.75 in late fees to get the knowledge without the paper.

Just me though....