(2023 Update: This is one post of ~80 that was in the drafts folder and was not archived by the Wayback Machine. The previous RA blogger wrote this but there have been some edits by the current blogger. The partnership with Sterling College was in the works while I was at TM and was told that I should be able to do a credit transfer but was never told how.)
Several years ago, Teen Mania convinced Oral Roberts University and Sterling College to give college credit to Honor Academy interns. This was a huge boon for marketing since Teen Mania could now assure parents that their children would not be missing a year of college education (never mind that education was extremely suspect. Exhibit A: Heath Stoner’s “Trailer Club” counted as a college level sociology class). At any rate, I don’t begrudge interns who want to have their Honor Academy year at least count for SOMETHING, even if its just electives because none of the classes will translate to anything else except at a Christian school and/or with a Christian ministry major.
Last week, on a lark, I called Sterling College to inquire for more details about their arrangement with the Honor Academy. Imagine my suprise to hear that they have terminated their partnership with Teen Mania. They will honor the deal for all current and past interns, but starting in August 2011, Sterling will no longer offer college credit for Teen Mania.
When I asked for more details about the termination of this agreement, I got the impression it was more a financial decision and not a disavowing of Teen Mania’s methods (which they probably don’t know about anyway).
I asked if Teen Mania knew that the partnership was terminated since they were still advertising it on their website. She affirmed that Teen Mania was well aware of the situation.
I would think that if a business terminated their partnership with my company, I would quit advertising that partnership to potential clients. You know, truth in advertising and all that….integrity, blah, blah, blah.
Checking on the Honor Academy website today, the Sterling name and logo are still plastered everywhere. In fact, the top Sterling page (2023: link is now dead) is the same as always. It takes another click on the classes/credit link to get to this statement:
The Sterling Partnership is currently undergoing modifications for the class arriving in August 2011. Details to soon follow.
It only takes one phone call to learn that “currently undergoing modifications” means “cancelled.”
All these lies are getting tiring, can Teen Mania tell the truth about ANYTHING? Sheesh.