EasyStreet,
It is re-assuring to know that I'm not on my own in thinking that academic excellence and elitism isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Then they rush to get an MBA, MA, or even more uselessly an MDA, whilst those with proper degrees look on bemused as to how JOCC could possibly count towards anything!
I had that very thought myself. I had a look at the Stafford MBA having had it rammed down our throat at ICSC and frankly was horrified by the scheme they were peddling. If I were an employer looking to take some one on with an MBA, I would expect them to have concrete experience backed up with a reputable qualification.
Frankly, my operational experience well qualifies me in hostile takeovers, but not an awful lot else. But when I looked at just how many modules I could skip through my prior experience, I actually thought I would be getting a MBA under false pretences. I had took do some research to find out what some of the modules were actually about, let alone be able to put what they teach in to practice without having done them. Surely that can't be right? I can see the day coming when someone gains a job on the back of one of these qualifications, gets found to be lacking very quickly and the employer takes serious umbrage.
As you rightly say, a thinly disguised money-making exercise pandering to those who see only a bottom line and target people who joined up straight from school.