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| The basics of a criminal justice degree |
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Wednesday, January 2, 2008
You can get degrees in criminal justice/criminology from both traditional schools as well as online schools. If you are a working adult, online courses will suit you a lot more than a traditional program since to complete an online program you do not have to give up your job or relocate or disrupt your life in anyway. More importantly, if you are a working adult already working in the field of criminal justice, an online degree will get you that much coveted promotion or switch to a more well paying job. You can also get a degree much quicker than through the traditional route as most online criminal justice/criminology programs allow you to take credit for your working experience or any on-the-job training that you may have gone through. A degree in criminal justice/criminology will open up many different careers for you at the local, state or federal government level as well as in the private sector. You can also get teaching jobs in various colleges and universities if you have a master's or a PhD degree in criminal justice/criminology. Within the broad field of criminal justice/criminology you can specialize in different fields such as criminal justice administration, criminology, criminal and business law, court procedures, policing, corrections, juvenile justice, domestic violence, court report writing, private security, homeland security, public safety and management, economic crime and fraud management, cyber crime, paralegal studies, forensic science, crime scene investigation etc. Depending on your major or specialization, a criminal justice/criminology degree in any of these areas will make you eligible for jobs in local, state or federal law enforcement, law firms, agencies such as the FBI, banks and insurance companies, corrections facilities, law courts, organizations responsible for public safety and a host of similar organizations. The salaries in these careers are also quite attractive with median salaries for such careers being around $40,000 a year. Jim Greenberg recommends you visit the Online Criminal Justice Degree Guide for more information on criminal justice careers and salaries. Which criminal justice degree is best for non-traditional students? Non-traditional students are almost always those who are already employed and are seeking higher education to climb up the corporate ladder. Their main problem is how to get a degree of one's choice without having to disrupt one's existing situation. Usually that boils down to a single question: how to get a degree without having to give up one's job and without having to relocate? Previously, before the age of distant learning and online education had come upon us, answering this question satisfactorily almost always depended on one's luck. If you were lucky you could get admission into one of the night schools or evening schools in your locality, continue with your education and still maintain your job and without relocating. But there was yet another luck factor involved – whether the particular degree you were looking for was being offered in night or evening schools in your locality or not. If not, bad luck. If yes, well you were lucky! Today that situation has changed dramatically. With distant learning and online education becoming more of a norm rather than an exception, almost anybody can get college degrees today without too much of a hassle. Of course, work and study you still have to do but getting the opportunity to do so is not such an issue anymore. All you have to do is to get admitted into one of the many online degree programs that are now available in almost any discipline you want -. from astronomy to zoology with criminal justice very much there in-between. Online degrees now enable employed people - people who have to continue with their jobs to maintain home and hearth - to try and become more qualified without disrupting the rest of their lives in any significant way. Today, online degrees are available for almost every single field within the broad field of criminal justice. These online degrees are best suited to meet the educational needs of non-traditional students, allowing them to continue part-time or full-time work. No on-campus visits are required. Participants in such online programs can learn about crime causation, criminal justice issues, forensic science, juvenile justice, law enforcement, courts, corrections, homeland security, law – you name it, you get it. And if you are careful about choosing the right online program, you can rest assured that the online degree you will get will be in no way inferior to any on-campus degree. Professional faculty members who are specialists in their own fields conduct online courses over the Internet. Non-traditional students can earn a degree in criminal justice online, from their homes and workplaces, and they can learn and earn valuable college degrees at their own time and at their own pace. Non-traditional students should, therefore, look at what they are presently doing, what degree can help them rise up the career ladder, which type of degree will enable them to cash in on their on-the-job training and experience to earn credits and reduce the overall time taken to get a college degree, which college or universities offer the best and most cost-effective degree in the subject of their choice, and so on, to take a call on which online degree they should go for. All that they will need is a computer at home or easy access to a computer, a reliable Internet connection, and the willingness to study and work beyond the basic demands of their jobs. For non-traditional students, online degrees in criminal justice that have some bearing on their existing professional calling are the best way out! Jim Greenberg recommends you visit the Online Criminal Justice Degree Guide for more information on non-traditional criminal justice degrees . Education in Hong Kong – Choices I have been living and working in Hong Kong for seven years. In that time I have worked in International Schools in Hong Kong and a variety of private tuition centers. Recently I have become principal of ITS Tutorial School (http://www.tuition.com.hk). One of the most common questions I get asked by parents is how do I choose the right school or educational syllabus for my child. In Hong Kong there are four main choices open to senior secondary school students. These are the local curriculum - Hong Kong A level, United Kingdom curriculum – UK AS/A2 level subjects, American curriculums and the International Baccalaureate (IB). My opinion on the Hong Kong curriculum is very poor. The Hong Kong exam authority still uses a norm referencing criteria to limit the amount of students who pass so as to limit entrance into their universities. This makes the exam very unfair. The material examined is very content heavy. Wrote learning is the main skill that the schools promote. Subjects are offered in both English and Cantonese depending on the school. I would not recommend this syllabus for any one who is fluent in English. Good results are incredibly difficult to achieve and the skills taught will not be that useful in further education. The UK syllabuses are taught by the English Schools Foundation (ESF) in Hong Kong. They are a carry over from Hong Kong colonial past. The courses are very good and well written. The problem though is that many of the humanities based subject require a detailed knowledge of the UK and Europe. This puts Hong Kong students at a major disadvantage in exams. The tend in Hong Kong now is for schools to move away from teaching these UK syllabuses and adopt the IB. The schools that offer the US syllabuses are really only suitable for those students aiming for US universities. These syllabuses focus on getting students ready for the SAT exams. I think these syllabuses are very narrow and quite easy compared to the UK based ones. Students do not tend to be pushed very hard and content is quite shallow. The IB is my choice of syllabuses for senior secondary students. The courses are on the whole well written and adding to this students give very good feedback about the course. IB makes students take a very broad curriculum and stops over specialization at secondary school. The IB diploma is internationally recognized and a good result will help ensure a student can attend university in many countries around the world. In Hong Kong many schools offer the IB. I believe the best job is done by the Chinese International School. Therefore as to choices for parents or students. I recommend the IB. About the author: Gary Hadler is the principal of ITS Tutorial School Hong Kong http://www.tuition.com.hk and an assistant examiner for the International Baccalaureate (IB) |
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