Hello, Malin!

Got your address off the SHIELDS page.  May I suggest you fire whoever took your picture?  You really don't look like that.  Honest.

Anyway, two quick items: 1) Would you be kind enough to change the caption on that utterly unflattering picture of me to "unaccredited mentoring school," since the term "correspondence" is incorrect?  And 2) would you be willing to post a link to my rebuttal of Novak's hit-article?  Or is that too much to ask?

Do you ever get down here to Phoenix anymore?  Haven't seen you in years.  Or did they finally fix that crazy canal?  And, have you taken the time to read Is the Mormon My Brother?

James>>>

Hello James,

> Hello, Malin!

> Got your address off the SHIELDS page.  May I suggest you fire
>whoever took your picture?  You really don't look like that.
>Honest.

That picture was taken by Craig Ray while I was presenting a paper at Mike Trapp's Apologetics conference a year ago.  I should probably scan in a better one and use it instead.  BTW, if you have a picture you prefer, send it to me as a file attachment.

> Anyway, two quick items: 1) Would you be kind enough to
> change the caption on that utterly unflattering picture of me to
> "unaccredited mentoring school," since the term
> "correspondence" is incorrect?

Hmm.  Just how did you receive assignments and turn them in for grading and comment?  Or did your work consist primarily of reading previously-agreed-upon material and then certifying to the school that you had actually read it?

In other words, just how does the school work?  Of what does the mentoring consist?  If "correspondence" is incorrect, in that there was actually no exchange of course materials and assignments by mail (or today's electronic equivalent), then we will be happy to make a change.  We would like to describe the school in a way that reflects reality.

> And 2) would you be willing to post a link to my rebuttal of
> Novak's hit-article?  Or is that too much to ask?

We have a policy that we will not put links on our site to critics' sites.  However, I will consult with Stan and Gene.  Possibly we might, with your permission, put up your response, or see if we can get Gary Novak to put it up (or a link to it) on his site.

> Do you ever get down here to Phoenix anymore?  Haven't seen
> you in years.

The last time I was in Phoenix was in 1994 or 5.

> Or did they finally fix that crazy canal?

They replaced the siphon.  We did develop an intelligent sonar-type system that worked quite well for locating the breaking reinforcing wires.  Reclamation has over 130 miles of that type of pipe, though none as large (diameter) as was used at Agua Fria Siphon.  What was learned there may yet justify the expense.

The whole siphon issue is in litigation between the US government and the Central Arizona Water District that the canal system was built for.  You and I will probably be long dead before it is settled.

> And, have you taken the time to read _Is the Mormon My
> Brother?_

Not yet.  It is in my queue, however.

I do have some questions.  Since you already had a master's degree from, was it Fuller(?), the legitimacy of which, to the best of my knowledge, could not be challenged on grounds of the school's lack of accreditation, why did you pursue another from CES, the legitimacy of which was sure to be questioned?  Why not apply the funds spent there on a masters to a traditional Ph.D. or Th.D. at a recognized, properly accredited school?  I realize that this approach would still have been more expensive than what you did, but I see your choice as causing you a tremendous amount of grief in the coming years.

After finding out about your doctorate, I obtained a catalog from CES.  I have also in the last week, for other reasons, looked into the accreditation of distance learning programs.  Based on what I have learned, I suspect that CES, if it continues to operate the way it does now, will never be accredited, even by the U.S. government approved Distance Education and Training Council.  The DETC accredits programs through the Masters level.  At least one conservative Christian program is accredited through this organization (http://www.berean.edu/distance.html).  You can see what the DETC is all about at http://www.detc.org/

Based on what I have read about the CES program, what you did was a step above what D. J. Nelson (flat purchase of a "degree") or Walter Martin (if he did anything more than simply pay for his "degree" those LDS looking into it have been unable to find out precisely what more it was he did).  But it simply does not meet serious academic standards.  I was saddened to learn that you chose this route.

Sincerely,

Malin
Malin Jacobs mljacobs@usa.net