Roger Billings.... look at this snake eating itself

 

I want to put out some more information on what parents and people need and should care about in terms of education and learning how to think. Rather than what to think. The constant regurgitation of basic information just to spit it back up on a test that can be taken as many times as you want shows an insufficient understanding of how to analyze and how to use your brain to discern what is and is not real. Let's all put on our science caps and do a bit better.




As a concerned older brother, I found out about this from my parents ( who have gone down the anti-science, pro-religions, pro-Trump, rabbit hole and have had my little brother in this Acellus full online school for a few years now).

To provide some background:




“Mr. Billings, Acellus’s founder who goes by Dr. Billings, received his doctorate from the Institute of Science and Technology, a nonaccredited school based in Kansas City that he founded. At least three other Acellus instructors who go by “Dr.” also received their “doctor of research degree” from the institute, according to the teaching biographies on the company website.” (Koh, Y. 2020, September 22)




I cannot find any concrete numbers, but Acellus claims affiliation with 6,000 schools as well as its own private for-profit internet school.

The company's website states that Acellus was created in 2001 and around 3.5 million students use Acellus as of late 2020. But prior to the fall of 2020, it could not be determined how many schools used the programs. I think a keyword here is timing and money.




Now it’s pertinent to point out and be suspicious of this private for-profit online school because many of the teachers have no past experience in professional settings. While this does not necessarily mean there are no real results, if you have almost no checks and balances, no control groups to test against, and only one person ( one source) selling the snake oil per se who also happens to be giving all of his teachers their degrees along with his only, you could say some red flags start to fly.




In the fall of 2020, seven Hawaii school districts, four California districts, and one Ohio district dropped Acellus over concerns about educational standing, as well as the program's racist, sexist, and low-quality lessons that don't reflect objective reality.




I can identify with schools and or parents or kids in a bind, such as small home-schooling populations or high school students taking classes to retake. As a teenager, I used an accredited online class for one of my math credits. I believe these courses belong there, not in place of fully accredited institutions offered by colleges or public schools or as a replacement for them.





“As stated by Phyllis Unebasami, deputy superintendent at the Hawaii Department of Education, said at a state board of education meeting Thursday that the department didn’t thoroughly vet Acellus before offering it as an option to schools. She said that she didn’t know whether the

"The curriculum met state standards and that the department is going to start a comprehensive review of the program.” (Koh, Y. 2020, September 22)




On Aug. 28, a teacher (Mark MauikānehoalaniLovell) in Honolulu published an Instagram post showing an Acellus video of a Hawaiian history lesson which attracted more than 40,000 views. It had shown extremely troubling points about the lesson, which neglected to mention the last queen of the island region or its coup d'état that led to its forced annexation to the US. All things that literally happened….




The Acellus founder Roger Billings was described in old news articles and in a blog written by his very own son. As a polyamorous religious sect leader whose followers live in an underground outpost in Independence, Missouri. A blog, which has since been removed from the internet.

It has been reported that Billings ordered the Internet Archive to remove the blog showing the evidence backing the claims that he did now wish to admit. Sadly, after a death certificate was provided for the author of the blog, Aaron Billings Rogers' son, the Internet Archive deleted the blog. Thanks to the internet, however, the blog is still available in the form of screenshots. Copy here

Mr. Billings said, in an interview, there is a “whole big attack culture of a lot of people [who] are very angry because they say I’m a polygamist, a cult leader and [that] I’ve even molested children and it’s not true.” (Koh, Y. 2020, September 22)




Billings has received a lot of press coverage mostly related to a $220 million patent infringement lawsuit he filed in 1991 against computer giant Novell Inc. He’s also been criticized for receiving a doctorate degree from a nonaccredited science academy that he co-founded in the mid-80s in Independence, Mo.

During the course of the legal proceedings with Novell, several people made allegations, which Billings said were false, that he preached the divine necessity of polygamy at a church that he founded. (LAWHORN, C. H. A. D. L. A. W. H. O. R. N. 2004, April 27).




In addition, Billings alleged that Novell had stolen his intellectual property. However, Novell countered by submitting evidence to the U.S. Patent Office that other software companies had developed the same concept earlier than Billings.




The patent office sided with Novell, ruling that Billings had no claim to client-server technology since his patent described a system already in use. (News, D. 2004, January 3)




The following figures are in stark contrast to the ones above. And if you think I'm quote-mining read my sources for yourself.




"In my opinion, I no longer believe (the LDS Church) to be true and divine," Roger Billings said. "Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught that it was the will of God that men should have more than one wife." (News, D. 2004, January 3)





Many people regard him as a pioneer in the field of hydrogen fuel and as a successful computer engineer. Although this broken clock of a person may or may not have some standing in the computer science fields, I'm not here to complain or argue about what he claims to have done. Instead, I'd like to know what his schooling ( Acellus) institute is up to and what they are teaching. Are they trustworthy? Thus far, my research has led me to believe that that answer should stand on its own. You cannot self-sign your own doctorate when your own institution is the one issuing the credentials to the overwhelming majority of the staff and teachers.




Let's put aside all the gross, offensive, and inappropriate things that happen in the man behind the program and dig into the program itself. In other words, even if he's just a rich lying jackass, that doesn't mean the whole system is flawed or fake, right? Well, let's dig deeper. When they are accredited and vetted, online classes can be very beneficial, with many types of systems for many kinds of people. There must be adequate checks and boundaries to ensure that standards are kept. I think the most effective use of these systems would be as a supplement and enrichment, making them a small part of the overall learning system. Things start to get tricky as soon as it's overused like with the full-time online school they promote on a yearly basis and say that they offer K-12 grade education.




In order to ensure that things are done correctly, we have systems for education that are adapted to the grade levels. These systems are designed to set kids up for success. Well, kind of. The state you live in has a lot to do with this because here in the US things are a bit wonky.




The federal role in education is limited. Because of the Tenth Amendment, most education policy is decided at the state and local levels. So, if you have a question about a policy or issue, you may want to check with the relevant organization in your state or school district.




It is recommended that there should be a few core subjects: Math or Arithmetic, Science, History, and English. When we take this into account we need to pay attention to what needs to be learned. Knowledge is not accumulated in a flashcard mentally and there isn't an endpoint at which you can say, "I'm done". In order to deal with basic things like what is and should be education, we must observe things from a non-biased science-based perspective.




It is crucial to sift through data or information when analyzing it. I use the scientific method as a guide to analyzing data. This is even more crucial when teaching how to learn. The discovery of science comes hand in hand with how we approach education.





When looking into any topic you want to find a body of objectively verifiable facts that are positively indicative of or exclusively concordant with one position notion over another. When things can be verified, tested, and put under scrutiny and still produce the same results, they can be backed up safely. Being able to avoid being dogmatic and avoiding working backward from an already believed conclusion is the key.

Therefore, when reviewing information, disregard:

Whenever something is not consistent with other verifiable sources and cannot be falsified, it should be discarded. All sources have biases. Nonetheless, you should use multiple sources and make sure that whatever is said has been verified and is not simply unsupported assertions.




When we return to Acellus we find that it is not rigorous or does not address grade-level standards in context to many of its classes laid out.




Acellus’s website indeed lists a video on subtracting four from nine as a sample lesson for second graders. (Newman, J. (2020, September 17).




And if you thought this was sad it’s because it is, according to the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Grade 2 instruction should concentrate on the following critical areas: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Applying place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract, Relate addition and subtraction to length, Reason with shapes and their attributes when dealing with geometry, and Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.




There are many examples like this. There is a lot of wishful thinking about this institution and little outside data can be verified, which makes me think it's a diploma mill. On the main website, I did a simple WHOIS check over my CLI. (If you don't know what WHOIS is, click here )




And look at this snake eating itself…..




https://www.whois.com/whois/science.edu

Domain Name: SCIENCE.EDU

Registrant:

International Academy of Science

26900 E. Pink Hill Rd.

Independence, MO 64057-3284

USA

Administrative Contact:

Maria Sanchez

International Academy of Science

26900 East Pink Hill Road

Independence, MO 64057-3284

USA

+1.8162293800

@science.edu

Technical Contact:

Roger Billings

International Academy of Science

26900 East Pink Hill Road

Independence, MO 64057-3284

USA

+1.8162293800

@science.edu

Name Servers:

NS1.FIREANGEL.US

NS1.ENSCITECH.ORG

NS1.GOLDKEY.COM

NS2.GOLDKEY.COM




Domain record activated: 12-Sep-1995

Domain record last updated: 05-Sep-2021

Domain expires: 31-Jul-2024

Realizing that the person in question set up, helped pay for, and runs the website, do I smell a conflict of interest?




Maybe you can decide for yourself but, at the very least, schooling options are at a minimum lacking, and in the most extreme cases downright disgusting, racist, and wrong. Honestly, quackery like this is the reason there is so much division between what is real and what is not. In the US. Let's start thinking again, not simply acquiring information to fill in a box. Accreditation is the status of being recognized or authorized (of a person, organization, or course of study. But it needs to be much more than just that.




Techniques for gathering relevant information about teaching and learning in physical education lessons, including systematic observation, critical reflection, and formative evaluation through action research. The commitment to learn from practice and to improve practice are characteristic principles of action research, as is the concern to generate and produce relevant knowledge. A teacher's action research refers to a process for investigating their own practice and examining the quality of learning and teaching. After an event, this process involves analyzing and evaluating information about the occurrence, experience, or situation. Teachers and students can use questionnaires to obtain information about learning and teaching. (Zwozdiak-Myers, P. N. 2020)




In a nutshell, I think we can improve. Don't let these charlatans win.

-Austin M Staton


Resources:






Koh, Y. (2020, September 22). 'G is for gun': Online curriculum outrages parents. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-drop-an-online-curriculum-after-teacher-parent-complaints-11600804539




News, D. (2004, January 3). Publicity follows billings' brother. Deseret. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.deseret.com/2004/1/3/19804670/publicity-follows-billings-brother




LAWHORN, C. H. A. D. L. A. W. H. O. R. N. (2004, April 27). Cloud of controversy follows 'dr. Hydrogen'. LJWorld.com. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/apr/27/cloud_of_controversy/




U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Laws & guidance. ED.gov. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www2.ed.gov/policy/landing.jhtml?src=ft




Newman, J. (2020, September 17). The extremely weird story of a remote-learning company that's making parents livid. Fast Company. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.fastcompany.com/90549530/the-extremely-weird-story-of-a-remote-learning-company-thats-making-parents-livid




Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.). Grade 2 " introduction. Grade 2 " Introduction | Common Core State Standards Initiative. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/2/introduction/




Zwozdiak-Myers, P. N. (2020). Learning to teach physical education in the Secondary School: A Companion to. ROUTLEDGE.