Sure, MJ, there's at least a good number of teachers here who simply purchased a diploma off the internet. I know a few of them myself; a few of those are damn fine teachers.

It usually works. Most school owners/operators here just don't care all that much as long as they have a shiny piece of paper they can use to mollify their local Labor Bureau.

It's dishonest. No way around it. But then I guess this is a particularly dishonest world we're operating in. I guess the bottom line is having the ability to acquit yourself decently in a classroom.

One sad thing, though...I travel a lot of online ESL forums, including my own. I see about as much bad English (spelling, usage, etc. and usually NOT attributable to hasty writing) on them as I see in my classrooms.

I dunno...maybe there really is something to this "education" thing.