It creates the illusion of working with a top professor, when in fact that dignitary seldom sees student work at all. By denying distance-learning students intimate access to top scholars, we circumvent the very process that can make students into academic standouts. Finally, Georgetown's good name and reputation is something it must protect at all costs. Yet distance learning practically begs for honor-code abuses, one of the main sources of academic deterioration. Worse, as bits and pieces of an elite education come within the reach of anyone with access to a computer who can rustle up the cash, our degrees will gradually mean less and less to future generations.
Many professionals already believe that the academy itself is unnecessary.
They deem us a luxury in a world where making great heaps of money is the standard of accomplishment. If we grant credits or degrees to people who have never set foot on our campus, or who only visit occasionally, then we might as well write our own obituaries. With our own cybernetic sword, we'll knight a distantly educated army that may eventually return to eliminate us altogether. But if we warmly welcome adults into the traditional college classroom, we'll raise up a new generation of adult academic stars. Carole Fungaroli teaches the 18th-century English novel and contemporary nonfiction writing in the English department.