Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over A Million Fake Diplomas - Softcover

Ezell, Allen; Bear, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 159102238X ISBN 13: 9781591022381

Publisher: Prometheus Books, 2005

Synopsis

Do you know where your doctor, lawyer, or clergyman earned his or her degree? In 1986, a congressional committee report concluded that "more than 500,000 working Americans have a fraudulent degree." The media hardly noticed. The public yawned. The academic world buried its head in the sand. And things have gotten much, much worse since then.

Fueled by the Internet, more than 300 active degree mills are selling thousands of fake degrees each week, including medical and law degrees. Their total sales exceed $500 million a year, yet the damage that their "customers" do is immeasurable. In a recent case, a man with a fake medical degree was put on trial for manslaughter after a patient died from incorrect medication. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Allen Ezell, who specialized in degree fraud during his 35 years with the FBI, and John Bear, prolific author and expert witness on the subject in federal and state courts, reveal the shocking dimensions of this growing scam in this thoroughly researched exposé. They show how degree mills operate, offer detailed warning signs that a school might be fake, tell how to check up on anyone’s degree, and what to do when a fake degree is discovered. Also provided are information and links to useful lists of bad and fake schools.
This is an invaluable reference book for personnel departments in business and academia, as well as for the average consumer.

The authors have made more than 200 television appearances on the subject, including on Good Morning America, 60 Minutes, and The Today Show. As the foremost experts on degree mills, Bear and Ezell have been interviewed on the radio and in magazines and newspapers worldwide.

About this title

About the Author

Allen Ezell was the founder and head of the FBI’s "DipScam" diploma mill task force. He is also the author of Counterfeit Diplomas and Transcripts and Accreditation Mills.

John Bear, PhD, former head of new business development for Pearson’s educational division, is author of the bestselling Bears’ Guide series of educational books, plus numerous books on consumerism, computers, and other topics.

Review

"Allen Ezell and John Bear have done consumers, students, and employers a huge service in this superb overview of society’s problem with fake degrees and degree suppliers. Degree Mills is the best book on the subject and is required reading for anyone who cares about educational credentials. Whether you are thinking of getting an online degree, hiring someone who has such a degree, or rooting out someone with a fake degree, Ezell and Bear’s Degree Mills is the gold standard, your first and best source."
—ALAN CONTRERAS, OREGON STUDENT ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

"This is the peerless guide to diploma scams. This well-documented study is in the same league as other famous exposés such as Jessica Mitford’s The American Way of Death."
—BIMONTHLY REVIEW OF LAW BOOKS

"There’s an investigative vibe underpinning the book . . . [containing] unforgettable characters and the narrative pace of a thriller. [Provides] consumers and employers with a bevy of research tools to spot fake degrees. . . . Ezell and Bear’s investigative strengths shine a particularly bright and effective spotlight on a problem that has serious—and dangerous—repercussions."
—CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"This well-written and disturbing book reveals just how easy it is to become a ‘college graduate.’ . . . Read it if you have an interest in genuine education."
—STATESMAN JOURNAL

About this edition

• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 159102238X
• ISBN 13: 9781591022381
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 318