Tuesday, May 23, 2006
ABET
What is ABET ? This is the accreditation system used for our colleges and universities. People from all the educational schools take turns looking over other schools , to check on their compliance to meet ABET standards. These checks occur regularly , and if the check is really good , you can go 7 years until ABET comes around again. Here's what you don't know. ABET does'nt work. Acually , it can't work. Here's why.
Let's keep this simple. ABC college is up for inspection. A person from CBA College is on the ABET committee.
Now , the CBA person finds something wrong at ABC. Not a problem , since ABC already knows that CBA is next on the inspection list. ABC and CBA agree not to disclose any problems , and they each get a clean bill of health.
How bad is this practice ? While I was there , ABET inspected Vanderbilt's Civil Engineering Department. This inspection took place in an expensive hotel , with expensive food , drink , ect. Examples of student reports were looked over. These examples are 15 + years old. Only the name was changed to show a currently enrolled student. No one on the ABET team set foot on the Vanderbilt campus. No need to. The Civil Department got a clean bill of health and no inspection for 7 years. How 'bout that ? Now have you learned anything about education ? It's all about the politics.
Let's keep this simple. ABC college is up for inspection. A person from CBA College is on the ABET committee.
Now , the CBA person finds something wrong at ABC. Not a problem , since ABC already knows that CBA is next on the inspection list. ABC and CBA agree not to disclose any problems , and they each get a clean bill of health.
How bad is this practice ? While I was there , ABET inspected Vanderbilt's Civil Engineering Department. This inspection took place in an expensive hotel , with expensive food , drink , ect. Examples of student reports were looked over. These examples are 15 + years old. Only the name was changed to show a currently enrolled student. No one on the ABET team set foot on the Vanderbilt campus. No need to. The Civil Department got a clean bill of health and no inspection for 7 years. How 'bout that ? Now have you learned anything about education ? It's all about the politics.
