A College Degree in Numismatics

Adelphi college has been offering courses since
at least the 70's but I don't think any of it leads/led
to a degree. Not sure if they still do. First Coinvestors
and Walter Breen, both defunct, were big there.
http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n48a15.html

 

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My take on it, you would do much better to get a degree in business and learn the coin stuff from OJT, lots of researching and reading, etc. etc. Like it or not, most people in the coin industry are businessmen.

 

I agree, and, I'm sure businesswomen too.

 

YES. THIS!

If you want to be a coin dealer, business school is absolutely the way to go. Far too many coin dealers can't write a business plan.

 

This topic has been discussed on other boards quite thoroughly and, if I recall correctly, the Kagin PhD was not from an accredited university. Therefore, for those of us who have actually earned a PhD from an accredited university, this degree would likely be viewed as less than legitimate.

 

Why would a coin dealer need a college degree in
anything? They have books in libraries too. Knowledge
is one the most inexpensive commodities on the planet.
Unless you get it from a university and the two hundred
dollar text books written by the professor teaching the course.

Corporate pencil necks in the personnel department are the ones
impressed by college degrees. Small business customers
are impressed by results.

IMO, many of todays college students are going to receive
more misery and poverty from their 100k student loans
than prosperity through their degrees. Those who end
up as self employed entrepreneurs would have been able learn the same things with a $1 library card. And still could have met the girls at beach for cost of a parking pass. Or bus fare.

Need a college degree in entrepreneurship? Read Atlas Shrugged.

 

I do not know the history of that discussion, but from the site (which I just happened to find searching) he states his degrees are from Northwestern University. Not sure why then it would not be accredited, unless the website is misleading. TC

 

You can also study numismatics at the Vienna University in Austria. This is the institute's home ...
http://numismatik.univie.ac.at

... and this is a list (German) of the current seminars/classes:
http://online.univie.ac.at/vlvz?kapitel=604&semester=W2012

Christian

 

I never said that Northwestern offered a degree in numismatics. Not sure how long it has been since you went to college, but most universities offer individualized majors. It is possible to get a degree labeled as numismatics if you put together an interdisciplinary plan of study and get a committee of professors to agree to it. Most universities will allow any title that is agreed upon by the committee. There would be no difference in standing (i.e., degree conferred) between that individualized degree (BA or maybe even BFA in Numismatics) and a degree in any standard plan of study (BA in Political Science or BFA in Photography for example). On the transcript it would even state BA or BFA in Numismatics. Now what the person did with that degree, just like any other degree, depends on the person. TC

 

Yes,

Wouldn't want to forget the ladies......

 

Even an accredited PhD doesn't mean one has mastered anything or has reached "expert" status. I work at an institution with more than 4,000 people on staff with MD or PhD after their names. If I had to put a number to it, I'd say about 1/2 or possibly even 2/3 of them are complete imbeciles. Being book smart enough (or rich enough to buy yourself through) to earn a college degree does not make one auto-magically qualified nor an expert.

The ONLY way to garner the title of "expert" is to prove yourself on the job and through review by peers. Self-proclaimed "experts" rarely are experts at all.

From a philosophical point, I think the obsession in the USA and some other countries with formal college education has watered down the meaning of having almost any college degree. A bachelor's degree is almost equivalent today to what a high school diploma was 25 years ago. Sad but true. Having taught at the university level, I can attest to the fact that a good portion of undergraduate students are at college because their parents want them to be.

 

He did not earn a PhD from Northwestern University. His PhD came from a distance-learning school named Union Institute and University or the University Without Walls. This was a non-accredited degree granting program that in 2002 had its PhD program shut down after an investigation by the Ohio Board of Regents determined that the level of rigor was not consistent with the PhD degree. The degree program may have been brought back on line after an overhaul.

I have a PhD in molecular and cellular biology and biochemistry from an accredited university and, if someone in my field of study claimed to have a PhD with the degree coming from an unaccredited institution, then I can say fairly safely that nearly all, or at least quite a few, would discount the degree entirely and would believe that the PhD should not be attached to the name of the recipient.

 

I only got as far as community college. But even that place was
more about beer and the Tube Snake Boogie than learning. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." But for all the good it did me I wish I would have gotten the library card instead.

 

I am a strong believer that PhD should NEVER be "attached" to the name of anyone. I find it especially hilarious when people refer to themselves as "Dr. John Doe, PhD". Not only is it redundant, but quite conceited IMO.

It is one thing in a biography to state that you earned a PhD from University X in the field of Y, but it is quite another thing to think that a degree should become a part of your signed name.

 

I do not think anyone explicitly, or by inference, stated education bestows master or expert status. Education is only a foundation upon which to start building practical knowledge and expertise which only comes by continued work and practice in a chosen field. Even then, true master or expert status will elude the majority of people.

 

Thanks for stating the obvious and paraphrasing what I went on to say in my post.

 

You are very welcome. Your thoughts just needed a little red pen to make them clear and concise. :smile

 

What did Kagin do his dissertation on?