AQB's latest dumbing down by 'Stakeholders' Dropping the College Degree Requirement

[TerryRohrer]

Who do those teachers blame....
The students....
The parents....
The administrators....
The teachers (themselves)....

I don't know. For the present discussion, that doesn't matter. One comment was:
"
I teach high school. Age range 15-18 years old. I have seen students who can't do the following:

• Read at grade level. Some come into my classroom at a 3rd/4th grade reading level. There are some students who cannot sound out words.
• Write a complete sentence. They don't capitalize the first letter of the sentence or the I's. They also don't add punctuation. I have seen a student write one whole page essay without a period.
• Spell simple words.
• Add or subtract double-digits. For example, they can't solve 27-13 in their head. They also cannot do it on paper. They need a calculator.
• Know their multiplication tables.
• Round
• Graph
• Understand the concept of negative.
• Understand percentages.
• Solve one-step variable equations. For example, if I tell them "2x = 8. Solve for x," they can't solve it. They would subtract by 2 on both sides instead of dividing by 2.
• Take notes.
• Follow an example. They have a hard time transferring the patterns that they see in an example to a new problem.
• No research skills. The phrases they use to google are too vague when they search for information. For example, if I ask them to research the 5 types of chemical reactions, they only type in "reactions" in Google. When I explain that Google cannot read minds and they have to be very specific with their wording, they just stare at me confused. But even if their search phrases are good, they do not click on the links. They just read the excerpt Google provided them. If the answer is not in the excerpts, they give up.
• Just because they know how to use their phones does not mean they know how to use a computer. They are not familiar with common keyboard shortcuts. They also cannot type properly. Some students type using their index fingers."

I guess appraisers don't need any of those skills.

 

[ucbruin]

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

Socrates

 

[Sadie]

Well it was not announced until last October. Based on what I saw in a demo, I would not have expected anyone to have finished by now.

The feedback I have heard is that some PAREA students are struggling because they took the lowest cost education available, and do not have the proper technical basis to make it through. The mentors are having to take the students through remedial education.

In the SA model that would not be an issue, because the SA could just tell them to adjust at $40/SF and move on.

How many trainess have you brought through to licensing? Are you speaking from experience? As in you as a SA told your trainees to use a list of adjustments.

 

[Sadie]

Not everyone is cut out for a profession and not everyone is cut out for a trade.
The college imparts critical thinking skills needed for a profession such as appraising and it levels teh playing field to ex-lude the dense and the stupid. There are too many of them in appraisal and we see it in teh posts here where they were able to memorize enough to pass a test for a license but then have no idea how to apply it in practice, and some of them are so cowed and intimidated by a client or homeowner they look to appease them rather than meet the standards of the profession - they drag the profession down to their level,.

College also teaches you how to put your thoughts in writing. Also college is more rigerous and it is harder to pass a class than in high school. Is there still a non degree options that allows for a series of specific college level classes in lieu of a degree? You used to be able to either test out of a degree or take a certain class set. This is from 2016
1. English Composition (3 semester hours)
2. Economics or Finance (6 semester hours)
3. Algebra, Geometry, or higher mathematics (3 semester hours)
4. Business or Real Estate Law (3 semester hours)

 

[DWiley]

How many trainess have you brought through to licensing? Are you speaking from experience? As in you as a SA told your trainees to use a list of adjustments.

I have never counted up the exact number I brought through the process in my 29 years in the field. Off the top of my head I would say it was between 10 and 15. I preferred hiring brand new folks, because I found it easier to train them from scratch rather than retrain.

For a trainee we would have them start by spend a few weeks with the office staff learning how the admin stuff worked - ordering, follow up on status, putting reports together, etc. Then we would have them go out with the staff on a rotating basis, just observing what each one did and how they did it. We would generally start the formal education (101, 102, etc) only after they had a few months under their belt doing that. Having that background made the courses easier for them to understand.

After they have their procedure courses we would start letting them take a swing at helping with the analysis. And, yes, when they first started we would give them something very simple and give them a list of adjustments to use, just so they could focus on the mechanics of it all. Of course there was a lot of follow up training to reinforce what they learned in classes about supporting adjustments, extracting economic life and effective age.

I know from the first hand experience of reluctantly taking on a few that had spent a year or more at another firm, that some SAs never moved beyond the "here's your list" phase. I once took on a trainee whose SA had died, and the trainee only needed a few more months of experience. Despite being so close to having a CR, that person had no clue how to derive any indicated adjustments from market data.

So, yes, I do know it from living it. I also know it from see post like the one I referenced earlier in this thread. A current CR come here asking us how he got his $40 GLA adjustment. Let's be honest and admit that we know where he got it. It is the number he was given on his adjustment list when he was a trainee.

 

[George Hatch]

According to the reference below, in 2019 about 40% of 12th graders were reading at or above "proficient" for their grade level. They are apparently including disabled and English/2nd Language students in that.

College also teaches you how to put your thoughts in writing. Also college is more rigerous and it is harder to pass a class than in high school. Is there still a non degree options that allows for a series of specific college level classes in lieu of a degree? You used to be able to either test out of a degree or take a certain class set. This is from 2016
1. English Composition (3 semester hours)
2. Economics or Finance (6 semester hours)
3. Algebra, Geometry, or higher mathematics (3 semester hours)
4. Business or Real Estate Law (3 semester hours)

That latter option - certain specific courses - is the one that I think makes more sense than all of the others. Enough to remediate any weaknesses from the public schools but not so much that it would be beyond the reach of someone working as an appraiser trainee

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

The college imparts critical thinking skills

No. It teaches you how pig-headed ignorant a Phd can be. You know why I dropped out of graduate school? Because my thesis advisor's wife packed up over the mid-semester break and moved in with the head of the department - who was also on my thesis committee. This is the same head that used to rail at students who shacked up. My advisor went half mad and neither man would talk to the other. How the L do you finish grad school when the head of the dept says none of the poor guy's students will get their thesis approved until "Zack" gives his soon-to-be-ex everything she wanted. I have every hour and then some required to get an MS in Geology. I passed the GRE with flying colors. What I don't have is that six hours of thesis work stalled by that Ahole. And I hung around half the summer until I simply had to get to work. Zack apologized to me later, but it was too late. I almost went back to another school, but I was promised that old "Ronnie" would give me a bad recommendation. That's how petty colleges are.

 

[sputnam]

BTW... at least in this state, a college degree is no longer required to become a Registered Trainee or Licensed Residential Appraiser. You are eligible to upgrade to Certified Residential without a degree after 5 years as a Licensed Residential Appraiser.

 

[Francois K. Gregoire]

View attachment 87715

hey Frank...send this in as my comment

Please send it yourself. I'm sure your powers of reasoning will impress the AQB and others. It would be a shame to take credit for your cleverness.

 

[jay trotta]

There a lot more "exceptions" out there than you realize. No they aren't all multi millionaires. Do you think that the plumber or electrician or hvac tech that built up a company over the years is an exception. Most of them started out at the bottom of the ladder right out of high school. Most of them have no degree. Same with many other small business owners.

Agreed and IMO- their business adventure will not be disassembled by the Fed and taken over. The clients they build up over time, will not be stolen by the Fed, there earnings will not be subject to any skimming agent allowed by the Fed. They can build an actual business that has value at the end.
Just a thought or two