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Degree Mills: The Billion Dollar Industry That Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas
BY ALLEN EZELL AND JOHN BEAR, PROMETHEUS BOOKS, AMHERST, NY. (2005). PAPERBACK: 318 PP.
While academia focuses on the great problems of the world and prepares students to address them, Alien Ezell and John Bear argue passionately, if not convincingly that the integrity of these noble efforts is being seriously undermined by a scourge they refer to as "degree mills." They contend that over the past decade the sale of fake degrees has become a billion dollar industry. With an average cost of $1,000 each, a million individuals could be falsely touting their educational credentials. These estimates should not be viewed as mere hyperbole; the authors speak from knowledge and experience. Alien Ezell is a retired FBI agent who specialized in degree fraud for a great part of his law enforcement career and continues to provide consulting services on this issue. John Bear is a well known educational consultant and author of books on higher education. He has also been an expert witness in degree fraud litigation.
In fact, Ezell and Bear suggest they might be understating the breadth of the problem because of the conservative approach they take in defining what they consider degree mills. They clearly and repeatedly acknowledge that evaluating educational programs is fraught with difficulties and complexities and they ultimately leave it to the reader's discretion to determine whether a school is a degree mill, an innovative educational institution, or something in between. However, even without the existence of any universally accepted definition for a degree mill, they do not shy away from offering their opinion in this respect. They describe a degree mill as an entity in which:
* Degree granting authority does not come from a generally accepted government agency;
* Procedures for granting credit for prior learning, and...