Wikipedia states that in the United States, the Department of Education approves private agencies which can then go on to accredit universities and other schools, who then go on to bestow degrees to students.
But this is a pretty high power to give to an agency. Deciding who holds a certificate in what field defines the output of that field. How does the DoE set the standard for which accrediting agencies/companies have the power to do this? Furthermore, who accredits the DoE themself? Wouldn’t you eventually reach a point where absolute power comes from nowhere or an arbitrary source?
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To just address the question of “where does power come from”, since that’s my area of study and not education policy: the answer is violence. In political theory, since the 1648 Treaty of Westfalia, the state (as in a country, not a state in the US) is that entity which has the monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a territory. In other words, when Congress makes a law and you decide to disobey it, the government is allowed to send armed people to arrest you (even suing someone is ultimately violence, because they can forcibly take your assets if you refuse to pay up). This use of force is considered legitimate, because (most of) the people of the US have collectively agreed that Congress can do that. You personally can’t just make your own laws and enforce them at gunpoint, but the government can. Attempts to do so are called “rebellion” or, if enough people question the government’s legitimacy and attempt to enforce it with their own force, “civil war” and if successful, “revolution”. Other people outside the territory can’t enforce laws either; attempts to do so are usually called “war”.
TLDR; big picture: the government can accredit schools because they make the rules in the country and can enforce them with violence, and this action is seen as legitimate by the population.
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