It’s probably worth pointing out here that any school can get “accredited” – the real trick is getting accreditation that is recognized by anyone important. As an ex-university admissions person, I can tell you that there are a lot of dodgy accrediting bodies out there who put their stamp on those borderline institutions who can’t gain any other sort of “official” status.
What really surprised me was that the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology is recognized at all – yet they appear on the US Department of Education site. Startling. And apparently, you can get student aid to attend ACCSCT-accredited schools.
So what sort of company does this put our astrological academy in? A look at some of the other schools on the list reveals a variety of diploma and certificate programs in subjects such as “Medical Billing”, “Diesel Technician”, “Barber/Hairstylist” and “Massage Therapy” (I particularly liked the Diploma in Nail Technology). In short, the sort of schools that advertise on late-night TV, featuring Sally Struthers.
So while they are legit, I wouldn’t expect to see much in the way of credit transfer should a graduate decide to pursue a BA program at a proper university.
Legally, there’s a big difference between this Astrology school and the Seminary. The Seminary claims to be a religion, Astrology claims to be a science. Those are two different things. Religions aren’t required to back up their claims with solid evidence, but sciences are.
That’s always been the conundrum of the kook arts - they want to be treated like sciences, but they don’t want to have to play by the rules of science, they want to play by the rules of religion.
However, the two have this in common - neither claims that with a degree form them you will become a happy successful person. What they both claim to do is teach you how to try to help others be happy and successful. The seminary does so through a religious base, but it suppliments its teaching of the contents of the Bible (or whatever text that religion uses) and history of the religion with courses on psychology, counseling, and so forth. I don’t know what the astrology college offers along with making star charts or whatever it is that they do. Perhaps they also teach psychology and sociology - I sure would, if I were starting any kind of fortune-telling school. They may even teach statistics.
Wait a minute. I didn’t think you were an astrologer. I thought you saw the future by staring in to little bowls of water. Maybe they’d let you teach a class in little-bowl-of water-staring.
I’d hope so. I don’t hold much with this new-fangled university as-tra-lo-gee. Reading bird entrails was good enough for my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, and it’s good enough for me.
This is the dawning of the Age of the Nefarious. . .
I’ll bet my Doctorate in Babe-ology from Whassamata U. will make me much more marketable now. I gotta go find that baseball hat with the boobs on it now.
Back in the day (freshman year of college) I was an Astronomy major (really!) with asperations to be involved with cosmology. I still remember wincing at the sound of my grandmother informing distant family members that I would be studying astrology and wanted to get into cosmetology…
Astrology is a business. It may be viewed as an entertainment business but it is still a business nonetheless. Just because you don’t agree with an astrologers business practices doesn’t mean they should be condemned to unemployment. There is an astrology column in practically every newspaper in the US that I have seen (even in the weeklies) and also a sizeable astrology section in 90% of the bookstores and public libraries around. There are also practicing astrologers based out of storefronts in and out of business districts as well as home based astrologers. There are astrologers out to make a living at it and those who make a hobby out of it.
European and Asian astrology respectively, both offer their independent and mostly consistent views of how the stars effect people. Sure, this can be total bunk. It doesn’t matter. Think of it as a hobby. It is like baking cookies. You gather the ingredients, mix them all up, and voila you get a short story about what your life is to be… The proverbial cookie. To me it is entertainment, a lot cheaper than taking that world cruise, and isn’t harmful if not taken seriously.
The next question that logically comes up is, “isn’t it a scam?” To answer simply, no. You payed for the entertainment of following X ritual/X process to get to the outcome that tells a story that is typically general enough to relate to you (or anybody). There are many thousands of little stories that this can come out to with rules leading them there and learning them is very time consuming because they are so complex. (What is that rule about the simplest solution being the best one?) It isn’t likely that it will be a guiding beacon, if it is the receiver of that type of information probably shouldn’t operate heavy machinery. The only time that it is a scam is when you are pressured to return for future revalations and/or you hear that you are in for “misfortune X” and that returning to the astrologer will circumvent that.
You pay the astrologer for the information that was deduced by following complicated formulas with no intrinsic meaning but eventually write a general, short, life appropriate synopsis. Also, there are legitimate jobs out there for astrologers. It is like a person who starts a hobby train/rocket/antique store. A person can make a living at a hobby, just because you wouldn’t choose to do it, doesn’t make it wrong even if you find the principles behind the idea. Personally, I have found that most antique stores sell overpriced junk (the antiquers I knew found “deals” at flea markets, good will, and thrift stores) but they don’t have the type of bad press that astrologers get.
So, in essence, most of the people responding would rather not have the professional astrologer potentially making a living doing something they enjoy that is peaceful. Get over it. I would rather not have my tax money go to fund chemical warfare, guns, nuclear bomb technology, or that idiotic missile defense system. But you know what, it happens anyway. Astrology is a legitamate business that gives a product though not necessarily a very valuable one nor a very accurate one.
This totally misrepresents what has been said. What people have said is that they object to something being taught as a science when it manifestly is not. It is the difference between saying “we’re going to teach you how to entertain people by telling fortunes” and “we’re going to teach you how to forecast the future by reading the stars.” The former is possible, the latter is not – and demonstrably not. The argument is that institutions of learning should have no business “teaching” the demonstrably impossible – because that is itself antithetical to learning. This has nothing to do with disliking astronomers, wishing them to be unemployed, or commenting on the “peacefulness” of their trade.
Where did they ever say it was a science? As it currently stands I would not consider it a science since astrology is completely subjective. I would be hard pressed to say that the school would try to pass itself off as a science and still pass the state accreditation as well. If however they passed themselves off as a trade school (hairdressing, diesel mechanics, truckdriving, stenography, bartending etc) then there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to take in federal financial aid. I am sure they can place their graduates since that is typically a part of an accreditation process (I can look up the regulation but don’t feel that this debate needs to take up that much energy). It is simply a trade in an entertainment field not unlike bartending. Neither really have any big social value no matter how much people enjoy them. Get over it and off the soap box. Show me exactly where they try to pass themselves off a science or go home.
HUGS!
Sqrl
PS. hehehe, I like trying to be mean, it never comes off quite right. I guess I should take some lessons from some of the regular pit trolsl. (Trolls is intentionally mispelled so the grammar nazis will have something to complain about.)
Well, phlebotomy’s a perfectly respectable profession - I see job adverts for phlebotomists all the time. (Seriously. Blood banks, blood screening units, that sort of thing. Of course, I’m spending a lot of time reading job adverts at the moment…)
Mind you, I wouldn’t like to meet a phlebotomist who was too involved with his work… “Gosh, Steve, you’re looking a bit flushed today…” (fondles fleam) “…let me, uh, help you out…”
Really? I’ve always thought of myself as more melancholic… or occasionally choleric.
There’s a thought. Do you think these highly qualified astrologers would be able to get my humours balanced? You know, eat plenty of liver while Mars is in Scorpio to strengthen the blood, that sort of thing? Would a board-certified astrologer be allowed to do this, or would they need to take advanced courses in, I dunno, Paranormal Nutrition or something?
Oh wait, isn’t Cosmetology the study of the origin and structure of the Universe?
It killed me when the president of this astrology school was intervied on NPR yesterday, and said that 600 years ago (sic!) Galileo was put under house arrest for asserting that the world was round instead of flat, and that it revolved around the sun! Moreover, she said that the Queen (WTF!)
had only pardoned Galileo posthumously a few years ago. It’s true in a way. I remember hearing that he was pardoned about 10 years ago, but I think it was by the Curia of the Vatican. I didn’t think Galileo’s case ever came under the jurisdiction of the House Of Windsor. Or maybe the woman thought the cardinals are all “queens” because they go around in robes.
I’ve always liked the quote (not sure of the actual phrase or who said it originally, but this is a paraphrase):
In order to inherit the mantle of Galileo, it is not sufficient that you be persecuted for views that are different from those in authority. You also have to be right.
You know, every single dollar spent by folks who pay astrologers, phrenologists, dowsers, and Make a Million in Real Estate programs is fine with me. Those millions of dollars are not out there competing with my dollars for food, fine wine, digital equipment, and other things I value highly. I think being a credulous fool ought to be expensive, and getting nothing of real value for your money is a good step in that direction.
I don’t feel sorry for people who find out the “Psychic Advisor” they consulted gave them made up crap for predictions. They paid for Psychic Advice. They got Psychic Advice. They should have knows it was gonna be crap, and if they had tuned their auras to the vibrations of the outer planes they would have noticed that it was all a load of crap, and always had been. The fact that it is overpriced crap just makes it more valuable.
So, what price beauty school astrology degrees now, Eh, scientist?
I think we should establish very strict standards for professorships, and Endowed Chairs at all our major universities. This crap could make more money than Football!
Which, as we know is certainly a science, and the most important work of every major educational institution in the US.
Tris
“The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer.” ~ Victor Borge ~
The only time that it is a scam is when you are pressured to return for future revalations and/or you hear that you are in for “misfortune X” and that returning to the astrologer will circumvent that.
I guess I should take some lessons from some of the regular pit trolsl. (Trolls is intentionally mispelled so the grammar nazis will have something to complain about.)