I am a music teacher that invested over $30,000 into a Masters of Education in School Counseling degree from Liberty University that is worthless. Teaching and counseling degrees are of no use without licensure and institutions that offer them must take steps to insure that all participants are supported in their endeavors toward this goal. The problems that I have encountered with the Dean of Education are so severe and legion that I have been forced to report them. Her communication skills are abysmal. Most classes are online and serious, possibly crippling errors have resulted.
1. A class of 20 of us on an on-line 8-week course never received any course feedback from the instructor until the seventh week. Why? Because the Dean had not clearly communicated to him that he had one. Clearly this is unacceptable and reflective of poor communication.
2.internships for Education and School Counseling are not like other internships with regard to their timing. There is a short window of application and acceptance for fall internships of about 8 weeks that occurs 6 months before the start of the internship. If this is missed, there is another full year that has to pass (here in the Northeast) before one can resume education. I chose a school that seemed like a good fit but had never had an intern and was later to learn that they didnt want one. I had a 3.9 GPA and was well respected by my peers and found myself in a bad situation from which my reputation and ability to earn future income should have been protected. Dean Karen Parker never bothered to consult with American School Counselor Association (ASCA) protocol. ASCA officials told me explicitly, If there is a problem with the internship, get the student out immediately!
3.instead of following protocol I was advised to continue to the internship where the situation continued to deteriorate and later get an additional 100 hours at an accredited suitable institution. Further, Dean Karen Parker told me to finish the internship without telling the supervisor at the small school that the (school) supervisor and the course had been dropped. That is, she advised me to be deceitful for the remaining two thirds of the internship. A Dean of Education advising anyone to be deceptive is blatantly unprofessional and placed me in the middle of a no-win situation.
4. When I had finally tired of the charade and consulted with the school's principal, Dean Parker pulled me out of sponsorship for licensure. When? Exactly during the time when I might apply for a position at a notable school near Boston and losing another year. Why? I believe this was the deans revenge for my not continuing in her method of deception. Dean Parker later insisted that I could get licensure only if I was supervised by an employer. This was a demand not required of other students. Additionally, demands made by the dean were accompanied by long tracts of poor or non-existent communication.
I am now approaching two years of potential income lost. I have tried to take the high road and get a teaching job but there are few if any music teaching job openings and my old position was cut because of the economy. There is no guarantee that a school that might hire me would have the personnel or program to train me for licensure. I would never have quit my teaching job if I had known how inept the program was at Liberty. I have been hospitalized because of stress and I no longer want to pursue this profession-ironically called the helping profession. (This would require thousands of dollars more in time and money.) Dean Parker has been deceitful, unprofessional, and destructive to the point that the damage done to my family and me is incalculable. I want my money back!
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