They should just teach. Other institutions should uniformly credential.

Granted there is a practical simplicity and logic to teaching a unit of material and then immediately testing for degree of mastery, and this system grew out of historic necessity. But there are excellent compelling reasons to separate the teaching from the accreditation.

Teaching:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in the U.S. there are roughly 5,800,000 teachers. Now, having millions of individuals and thousands of institutions with their various techniques and strategies seems to me to be a good thing. Different students have different learning rates and styles and strengths and weaknesses. This pool of diversity provides the possibility of superior pairing of students to teachers, or lessons, or learning environments, or learning institutions.

Accreditation:
Having 6 million different standards however, seems to me to be a pretty bad thing for obvious reasons: there is a lack of uniformity, there is a lack of accountability, there is conflict of interest. It is also often a waste of a teacher's training to be administering tests. And it also feels unfair. A degree from (expensive) Harvard is considered more prestigious than a degree from (inexpensive) Snodhopper College, but in reality, there is very little we can know about the difference. Granted Harvard has some very well regarded professors, but shouldn't the superior training these superior teachers instill be somehow testable? Or let's say it is not testable. Fine. Allow a brilliant student to get a less prestigious degree through self learning or whatever means, without spending four years in a classroom.

Like the separation of church and state, the separation of teaching and accreditation is an attainable and worthy goal. It levels the playing field, improves accountability, and wastes less time and money.

Steps in the right direction:
Khan Academy - thousands of high quality free video lessons
Stanford online Intro to Artificial Intelligence experiment - 30,000 students taking the same material as the campus course
Western Governors University- relatively inexpensive university that charges you for the time you need their services, and fully credits you for what you already know

Use:

I said "Now.".
I said "Now?".
I said "Now!".
I said "green".
Did you say "Now."?
Did you say "Now?"?
Did you say "Now!"?
Did you say "green"?
"Now.", I said.

Thank you for your support.

Cut pork into pieces, removing any large sections of fat.
Put in crock pot with enough sauce to almost cover.
Cook on high for about 5 hours or low for about 8 hours till the pork pulls apart easily with two forks.
Continue separating the pork till it is shredded, discarding bones and fat.
Add more sauce and optional brown sugar to taste.
 

Preheat broiler.
Coat skinless side of salmon with seasoning.
Place in broiler on aluminum foil skin side up.
Cook two or three minutes, till the you can easily pull the skin away with a fork.
Remove skin and scrape the blood line and possibly some of the dark meat off with a fork onto the foil.
Cook two more minutes. Flip the fish over.
Cook five more minutes or so till the top is slightly dried out.
 

Bring stock to boil. Add pasta.
Boil for 4 minutes. Serve in bowls.
Top with optional parmesan cheese.
 

“

”

“

From San Francisco, CA, 10/12/2010

Since taxes as a share of GDP are at their lowest level in 59 years, we can probably bare higher taxes. But instead of increasing taxes on buying or working, I propose a VNAT Tax and an EI Tax as palatable rational responsible new taxes.

VNAT: That's a Value NOT Added Tax. The “taxable events” would be any time value is transferred inequitably. Some examples: You charge $6 for a bucket of popcorn at your movie theater; it costs you $1 to produce. That is probably a smart business move. You are required to pay a VNAT tax of $1 which is 20% of the ($6-$1). You buy a million marbles for $10000 and then sell them for $25000. Good for you! But the $15000 profit is subject to income tax AND a VNAT.

EI Tax: That's an Ecologic Impact Tax. Some examples: That box of 100 Styrofoam coffee cups costs $4; each will be used for 5 minutes and then be waste for 500 years. (They are handy, though.) The box is EI Taxed $1. You buy a $10 box of disposable AA batteries for the Wii remotes, because the rechargeable ones are a pain in the neck. I agree. The box is EI Taxed $1.

”