#25 Accreditation: Is It Necessary?

St. Thomas More Academy Podcast

Deacon Brad Watkins, Dr. Jake Noland, and Charles McCants discuss accreditation and the fact that is neither necessary nor a guarantor of excellence in schools.

It is commonly held that "Schools must be accredited." But who says, and what is accreditation? What does it do? What are its limitations? We've heard people say, "You can't get into to college if you go to a school that isn't accredited." And yet, STMA, which has never even sought accreditation, has a 100% college placement record over 20 years. Every graduate has successfully placed into four year colleges, including some of the most selective in the country. Add to this the number of homeschool students that go to schools like Harvard and Princeton every year, and it's easy to see that a statement like that is false on its face. More to the point, there are thousands of schools in the United States that are accredited, but truly terrible schools. So in today's episode we take a deeper dive into the myth of accreditation.