Tom Joyner Slams online learning

The following is a letter I send to Tom Joyner: Please comment, respond and re-post.

Dear Mr. Joyner

I listened to an interview you participated in during an afternoon television news program last on MSNBC week where you were promoting your involvement with Historically Black Universities in their endeavor to create module based online learning programs. While I support your efforts in this area, I was dismayed that you had some less than flattering things about other module based learning models.

You pointed out in the interview that one third of enrollees at the University of Phoenix are African-American. You later pointed out that there is a major need in the African-American community as well as across all demographics for flexible learning models that allow adults to work and complete rigorous academic programs at the same time. You then explained that the offering you were endorsing was unique in that it combines flexible learning models with the “nurturing” and tradition of Historically Black Schools. Up to that point in the interview, I was very pleased, you had earned my full-throated support, and I was eager to tell other learners about this opportunity.

The interviewer then asked if you degrees from places like the University of Phoenix were less valuable then degrees from other institutions. While the question was slanted, you agreed with the notion that degrees from this type of university were less valuable saying: “they are flooding the market with online degrees.” This angered me and compelled me to contact you

Consider that the State University of New York has more enrollees than the University of Phoenix. I have not heard any education expert say that SUNY is flooding the market with New York Degrees. Furthermore, the University of Phoenix and similar Universities offer module based learning. It is misleading to your audience to say that these types of Universities are flooding the market with online degrees. Many learners earn their degrees at a campus attending lectures similar to learners at traditional universities across the world.

If listeners consider your presentation of facts during the interview: 500,000 learners are enrolled at the University of Phoenix, one third or 165,000 are black. You essentially told your listeners that their education was worth less than the population that was educated elsewhere. I found this to be untrue and very hurtful.

I started my education at SUNY Albany my GPA was 3.6. My former wife fell ill while she was carrying our first child and I had to drop out of school to work. A few years later, my wife left me. I still had to work to support my child as single parent but had no upward mobility in my career due to a lack of education and experience. The University of Phoenix allowed me to continue to collect work experience, earn my degree, and increase my income at the same time. I continued my education by earning an MBA through Phoenix.

At the end of the process, my salary has more than doubled; I have a position with a better company in a more prominent role. I will enroll in a different University in the fall to earn a PhD in leadership. I would not be afforded any of the opportunities if module based learning were not available at the time and accessible to me. Over the past few years, I met many talented African-American entrepreneurs and business people.

As African-American men and women, we already have a hard time in the business world because of institutional and individual prejudice. When you go on national television and agree that we are worth less than our counterparts because of where we went to school you do us no favors. An example, Sarah Palin has a degree from a brick and mortar university. She does not know who Paul Revere was, what tools he used, and whom he tried to warn. I have two degrees from the University of Phoenix, I know who Paul Revere was and can posit a cogent thought. By your arguments, a HR manager should interview her over me for a position at first blush because her education was more rigorous by default (ignoring her gubernatorial experience and notoriety).

It is because of this type of academic muscle flexing that the country has academic accrediting bodies. They make sure that basic minimum standards of research, competency, and academic rigor are in place for a degree granting body. It is quite unfair for you to assert that I am worth less than any other person is (academically) when I have attained the same level of academic achievement.

I wish you could meet some of my classmates. We have spent 72 weeks together. We are all African American. One gentleman earned a promotion in a fortune 500 financial services firm because of his education with phoenix. Three others started businesses or consult with African American Job creators. One actually collaborates with Historically Black Schools to bring jobs to the campus. We learn from the same textbooks taught at any other university and from educators that have terminal degrees. We are “real students” at a “real University” contrary to your statements on MSNBC last week.

In conclusion, the program you are endorsing is terrific and I wish you, the educators the students and all other stakeholders and interested parties much success. As a prominent African-American personality, I think you made an egregious error when you said that the market was being flooded with less than full value degrees. You should be proud that African Americans are graduating school at higher rates and attaining higher levels of academic achievement. Finally, perhaps your presentation during the interview was inconsistent; when you first assert that the programs you endorse emulate other module based learning programs because there is a need and in the next breath say that learners who have already completed coursework in this type of program are somehow less than adequate. I hope you found this essay informative and reconsider your stated opinions.

(Note I will include this essay on by blog).

Regards,

Curtis A. Robertson