Life Experience Degree

[Basslifeform]

I've been teaching here for a while now, and having discovered how much I enjoy teaching have decided to get the relevant qualifications. Yes, I am, shall we say under qualified, and no this is something I decided to do before the new crackdowns. But saying that it's going to take a few years before I complete my degree, so I was wondering if a life ex. degree will keep me covered until then? Any one out there using a life ex. degree or knows about them any advice you have would be gratefuly recieved.

[trt]

I've been teaching here for a while now, and having discovered how much I enjoy teaching have decided to get the relevant qualifications. Yes, I am, shall we say under qualified, and no this is something I decided to do before the new crackdowns. But saying that it's going to take a few years before I complete my degree, so I was wondering if a life ex. degree will keep me covered until then? Any one out there using a life ex. degree or knows about them any advice you have would be gratefuly recieved.

Look on the net or go to Kao San Rd.. sure you can buy one there.. maybe you could even pick up an honorary doctorate from Oxford based on your life experiences teaching in Thailand

[mr_hippo]

Any one out there using a life ex. degree or knows about them any advice you have would be gratefuly recieved.

There may be some but I don't think anyone will publicly announce the fact!

[garro]

I've been teaching here for a while now, and having discovered how much I enjoy teaching have decided to get the relevant qualifications. Yes, I am, shall we say under qualified, and no this is something I decided to do before the new crackdowns. But saying that it's going to take a few years before I complete my degree, so I was wondering if a life ex. degree will keep me covered until then? Any one out there using a life ex. degree or knows about them any advice you have would be gratefuly recieved.

Personally I think a lifetime experience degree is a bit of a waste of money. I don't think many people take them seriously, but maybe the Ministry of Education will except one but I somehow doubt it. Maybe you should save your money and focus on completing your proper degree.

[PeaceBlondie]

People are tempted to think that a 'real degree' - the traditional kind that you earn by attending classes for 3 or 4 years on a brick-and-mortar campus - is worthless, until they really want or need such a degree. Then they discover it's darn hard to get, and 'life experience' or 'online' or 'mail order' degrees aren't quite as acceptable as the real thing.

I quit work when I had a wife and kid, and went back to university to earn a degree the old-fashioned way. I worked part time and full time, quit and returned two or three times. I was still going to night school when we had six kids and I had a professional job. My two oldest kids got all four of their degrees when they were parents. You can do the real thing, but if it's worthwhile, it will be difficult. Good luck.

[markg]

I quit work when I had a wife and kid, and went back to university to earn a degree the old-fashioned way. I worked part time and full time, quit and returned two or three times. I was still going to night school when we had six kids and I had a professional job. My two oldest kids got all four of their degrees when they were parents. You can do the real thing, but if it's worthwhile, it will be difficult. Good luck.

K'in Ell PB. You ever thought of writing a book?

[aussiestyle1983]

There is nothing wrong with doing a proper degree online, like through distance education or through an open university. These degrees are just as real as the ones you would get if you attended campus, but they are designed more for the full time worker who may not have time to attend campus.

As for the life experience degree, it is not a degree, it is just a peice of paper that says degree, but it is really not worth the paper its on. Most people wont accept them and most of the places that offer them will offer them to anyone (not because of your experience, but because you have a credit card to pay for it)

The MOE here would most likely accept becuase here if it looks good, then it must be good, but to the rest of the world it is really just a waste of money.

[richard10365]

In the USA, I have read on the internet that people who applied for jobs with a life experience degree, we fired after the degree was researched. I think it is in the same category as Khao Sarn Road degrees.

[PeaceBlondie]

I quit work when I had a wife and kid, and went back to university to earn a degree the old-fashioned way. I worked part time and full time, quit and returned two or three times. I was still going to night school when we had six kids and I had a professional job. My two oldest kids got all four of their degrees when they were parents. You can do the real thing, but if it's worthwhile, it will be difficult. Good luck.

K'in Ell PB. You ever thought of writing a book?

I just wrote two books, but in order to make them seem halfway realistic, the main character is a gay man who only has three children!

Back on topic: in spite of its drawbacks, the classical classroom with teacher holding forth, is probably still the most effective way to learn lots of stuff in a short time. We think the internet has totally changed the world and all truth, but the world is still run by folks who went to classrooms to get their learning.

I was trained to interpret tax law, make determinations based on documentation and testimony, etc., but I can't imagine how difficult it would be for some trained academic evaluator to place value on 'life experience.' Bruce Springsteen may have said, "We learned more from a three minute song than we did in the classroom," but how can you evaluate the worth of memorizing the lyrics to "Another Brick in the Wall"?

[mbkudu]

In the USA, I have read on the internet that people who applied for jobs with a life experience degree, we fired after the degree was researched. I think it is in the same category as Khao Sarn Road degrees.

If they had done the research first, they wouldn't have had to fire him.

[Khutan]

I think the problem also would be a "Life Experience" degree cannot come with a results transcript, something most companies want if you are offering a degree.

[Ijustwannateach]

I doubt that a life experience degree would be sufficient for any school for which proper proof of qualifications actually makes a difference. I have heard of certain "proper" colleges/universities for which some life experience can be graded for some college credits, but it wouldn't cover a full degree and you'd still be taking courses and paying substantial fees- that's probably as good as you can get and still be considered to have a "real" degree. Good luck.

[richard10365]

I think the problem also would be a "Life Experience" degree cannot come with a results transcript, something most companies want if you are offering a degree.

They do offer transcripts.

[Khutan]

They do offer transcripts.

Ok, you have me interested, but I can't imagine what the transcripts would be of as there are no examinations....... or are there ?

[richard10365]

They do offer transcripts.

Ok, you have me interested, but I can't imagine what the transcripts would be of as there are no examinations....... or are there ?

There are no examinations. You just apply, pay your money and you get transcripts and a diploma. Some of them even have phone support in case someone calls to check up on the degree.

With that said, I still believe life experience degrees hold no value. They are worthless.

[gummy]

Thinking back to the UK many Indians came to the UK in the 50's and 60's on the back of University of Bombay degree. Very few were found out much to the annoyance of those of us who did it the "hard way".

However with the benefit of time and mellowness that comes with age I have to ask myself who was wrong. The individuals who for whatever reason adopted this approach or the authorities and companies who usually turned a blind eye as quite often these people actually knew their subject well enough to survive.

Edited February 18, 2007 by gummy

[Khutan]

...With that said, I still believe life experience degrees hold no value. They are worthless.

Agreed, there is a huge difference between Life Experience and Advance Standing.

[Xangsamhua]

My colleague, who checks applicants' quals all the time told me the other day that the MoE will no longer accept life experience degrees (if they can recognise them).

As I understand it, though worthless in terms of any kind of credential, they are legal in that they are not a forged document and don't actually pretend to be an academic degree. In fact, I was told of one that had the words on it, in Latin (!), to the effect that "this is not an academic degree".

It would be very unwise to go to Khao San Road and get a fake degree. Apart from the ethics of it, the police have ways of tracking these things now and recently caught 65 people working in schools with fake degrees. Two of them are in gaol now.

Better to find out what qualification is actually required and then go and get a real one.

[mopenyang]

If they are not pretending to be evidence of a degree, why are they being offered?

[PeaceBlondie]

mopenyang, good point. If you get a piece of paper that says it is an academic degree, even "Bachelor of Arts of Serendipity" from the University of MoPenYang, Yalta Extension, you can say, "I have a degree." If you present that paper as proof of what you have, without saying it's worthless or was purchased for a price without attendance, are you even lying? Speaking of Latin words, caveat emptor applies to the schools, too. If they can't tell a real degree from a fake one, that's their fault, too.

[Ijustwannateach]

^Yup. It's why, eventually, they will need to have a big office with lists of all the "acceptable" schools from the English-speaking countries (the Philippines, India, Myanmar, and Pakistan, too, if they want to pretend to be consistent about it) and know what they are doing with regard to accreditation, etc. Japan manages it somehow; so can Thailand if they really want to.

[jasreeve17]

People are tempted to think that a 'real degree' - the traditional kind that you earn by attending classes for 3 or 4 years on a brick-and-mortar campus - is worthless, until they really want or need such a degree. Then they discover it's darn hard to get, and 'life experience' or 'online' or 'mail order' degrees aren't quite as acceptable as the real thing.

I quit work when I had a wife and kid, and went back to university to earn a degree the old-fashioned way. I worked part time and full time, quit and returned two or three times. I was still going to night school when we had six kids and I had a professional job. My two oldest kids got all four of their degrees when they were parents. You can do the real thing, but if it's worthwhile, it will be difficult. Good luck.

PeaceBlondie, I rarely agree with anything you write, but I must say that I've a lot of respect for somebody that goes back to school, with a family and working part-time. Very hard to do. Well done Sir, and more power to you. A good (and inspirational) example to many.

[PeaceBlondie]

^Yup. It's why, eventually, they will need to have a big office with lists of all the "acceptable" schools from the English-speaking countries (the Philippines, India, Myanmar, and Pakistan, too, if they want to pretend to be consistent about it) and know what they are doing with regard to accreditation, etc. Japan manages it somehow; so can Thailand if they really want to.

They don't really want to. It wouldn't be impossible. Pick five Thai administrators from around the country that are really fluent, give them 2 or 3 staff assistants who can be trained to make phone calls and search the internet and send and receive letters, learn the difference between each of the farang countries.....central clearinghouse. If they could be efficient and effective, they could have the entire farang population of 'techurs' fixed up within two years. But they won't. They simply won't. Somewhere along the way, that plan would interfere with their perception of "Thainess."

[Xangsamhua]

If they are not pretending to be evidence of a degree, why are they being offered?

Good question. Even if the document itself is not illegal because it doesn't claim to be other than what it is: a "life experience degree", the act of offering it with a view to deceive could be. I haven't really thought it through. I'd never heard of these things till I came to Thailand

[mbkudu]

If they are not pretending to be evidence of a degree, why are they being offered?

Good question. Even if the document itself is not illegal because it doesn't claim to be other than what it is: a "life experience degree", the act of offering it with a view to deceive could be. I haven't really thought it through. I'd never heard of these things till I came to Thailand

They are being offered because there are people who will foolishly hand over $80.00 to $100.00 for one.

They are totally worthless. Kind of like the Nigerian scam. After enough people fall for it, it dies and they think up something else.

[Norrad]

They are not accepted. I tried it.

I have a real BSC Degree from UPE in South Africa and managed to get my work permit on that for teaching in a government school.

I went for an interview and landed a job at a private school here in Bangkok, but when they applied for my work permit and needed to get my teachers license. The MOE said that I needed a BED degree, so I bought a Life Experience degree using my teaching experience and submitted that. No go, they flatly refused to accept it.

It's a complete waste of money...

[mopenyang]

Interesting. Did this happen recently?

[Norrad]

It happened in mid January. The "University" I got the degree from was Belford university.

So I decided to stay at the government school, I am at, where no teachers license is necessary.

[RedQualia]

So what's the REAL goal here, na? Do you want to stay in Thailand? Or do you want to teach? Or do you want both?

A legitimate option is to apply for admission to Assumption University in Bangkok. YES, you'll have to pay money. And attend classes. And be accepted to boot, of course. BUT -- you get a student visa classification. So you can stay in Thailand. And you get to pay a pretty reasonable tuition. It's cheap! And many/most of the classes will be in English. And you can study Thai as well, and get credit for doing so. And you SHOULD (might?) be able to get a teaching permit by virtue of being a student in BKK. And finally, of course, you'll get a degree, sooner or later. Why not be legit?

Food for thought...

[Ijustwannateach]

^Actually, there's nothing about being a student in Thailand that counts as a qualifier either for getting a teacher's license or for getting a work permit. In fact, being a student may disqualify you for certain types of work (as student visas often do in many countries). Getting a teacher's license is an increasingly difficult chore which AFAIK is moving from requiring a degree to requiring a degree in education specifically.

"Steven"