Master in food fighting arts

Blogging is slow right now because of the Christmas rush.

However, a friend sent me a link to a bizarre story about a teacher accused of assaulting a McDonald’s manager with food. The headline is

Hash Browns Rage! Teacher Arrested For Pelting McDonald’s Worker With Food At Drive-Thru Window

Teachers didn’t act that way when I was a kid. And it turns out that this teacher has a, a, Master’s degree! In Education! (Or was that a “Master” Degree? Read on….)

A Florida middle school teacher is facing a battery charge after she threw an assortment of food items back through a drive-thru window following a dispute with a McDonald’s employee, according to cops.

[…]

Paolercio has worked as a teacher in Polk County since 2004, according to a school web page. The geography instructor has a history degree from the University of South of Florida “and a Master Degree In Education” from American InterContinental University. In a Facebook posting yesterday, Paolercio’s husband threatened legal action over his wife’s collar. “I will never step foot in a McDonald’s again,” wrote Chris Paolercio, a long-haul trucker. “A lawsuit will be coming for what they did…..”

Intrigued, I checked out the web page. Something about seeing “Master Degree” in quotes made off my hypersensitive blogger antennae go up.

World Geography- Mrs. Paolercio
I have been a teacher in Polk County since 2004. I spent my first years as a 7th grade geography teacher.

I am excited about the change to 6th grade. I hold a BA-Degree in History from the University of South of Florida, and a Master Degree In Education from AIU.

I hate to sound like a snob, but neither the behavior at McDonald’s nor the web site looks like what I associate with the holder of a graduate degree. So I Googled AIU, and soon learned that it is an online university, and sure enough, they do offer a Master of Education degree:

This Master of Education (M.Ed.) degree program with a specialization in Curriculum and Instruction for Educators gives students the opportunity to learn how to use appropriate techniques to motivate and engage learners. Coursework is structured to assist students in the development of their goals as they acquire industry-current knowledge and skills common to educators specializing in curriculum and instruction.

One might hold a Master of Education degree, just as one might hold a Bachelor of Arts degree, but the degree would be called a Master’s degree or a Bachelor’s Degree. I have never heard of anyone saying he had a “Bachelor Degree.”

And what’s with getting a Master’s degree online? I didn’t know they did that, at least not accredited universities.

It turns out that American InterContinental University has serious and ongoing problems with their accreditation:

OIG report regarding NCA-HLC accreditation

On May 15, 2009, AIU received initial approval for accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools-The Higher Learning Commission and is now listed as an accredited institution by NCA-HLC rather than SACS.^[32]

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General questioned the Higher Learning Commission’s decision to approve accreditation of American InterContinental University based on the examination of the commission’s standards for measuring credit hours and program length. An assistant inspector general stated in the report, “This action by HLC is not in the best interest of students, and calls into question whether the accrediting decisions made by HLC should be relied upon by the Department of Education when assisting students to obtain quality education through the Title IV programs.” NCA-HLC president Sylvia Manning responded that this accusation was “flimsy” because it focused on a single accreditation issue involving a single school. SACS president Belle Wheelan sided with NCA-HLC, calling the OIG report “scary” and emphasizing that American InterContinental University’s accreditation under SACS had been in “good standing.”^[33]

[edit] QAA audit

In June 2008, The Quality Assurance Agency closed an audit ^[34] published in May 2005 based on an examination of the London Campus in 2004. This report had noted that at the date of the Agency’s review in 2004, there were “fundamental concerns regarding the academic standards being achieved.”^[34] Following successful efforts on the London campus to remedy deficiencies, the QAA noted that, “Since the audit QAA has been provided with information that indicates that appropriate action has been taken by the American InterContinental University in response to the findings of this report. As a result the audit was signed off in June 2008.”^[34]

[edit] Enrollment policies

AIU’s critics have scrutinized the university’s student recruiting practices. One anonymous professor told The Chronicle of Higher Education: “If you can breathe and walk, you can get into the school.”^[28] In July 2008, former employees filed a lawsuit alleging that the school’s admissions practices defrauded federal grant and loan programs.^[35]

If that is true, it’s an outrage. (And it didn’t take long for me to learn that there are innumerable complaints about AIU.)

If online diploma mills are cranking out phony Master’s degrees with the support of tax dollars, that’s a much bigger story than whether a “Master degree” holder assaulted a McDonald’s manager with food.

I’m glad I’m not a parent.