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Dreadful! But what do you expect when the student is the "customer". Education is there to benefit the student, sure, but society has a very large stake in edu

Dreadful! But what do you expect when the student is the "customer". Education is there to benefit the student, sure, but society has a very large stake in educating its population. Its called a positive externality. This is a matter of public policy and society should be regulating this stuff. Now try doing that in a partisan political climate, where we can't even agree that creationism should not be on any curriculum.

NathanKP 11y ago
I agree. However the problem isn't necessarily that students are "customers", but rather that according to this writer the universities apparently have some kind of "customer is always right" approach to teaching. Ideally the college experience should be a transformative one in which the student has a chance to progress beyond the worldview they grew up with in their parent's home, by learning new things in a fresh, neutral setting. But when it comes down to it there are always going to be some people who are so entrenched in their current world view that they refuse to consider anything outside of it. In that case there are plenty of options for them. If someone wants to learn creationist worldviews in a college setting and have professors tell him that evolution is "just a theory" then there are religious universities they can go to for that. If they want to learn conservative worldview or liberal worldview only they have options to make that happen. If you are willing to pay money for a flawed, narrow minded education, and there are enough others like you to create a market, then there will be an institution that will serve you in order to get your money. Of course if the student chooses one of these myopic routes they are wasting their money by missing out on a tremendous opportunity for self improvement by learning about the world and other people's viewpoints on it.
bahador 11y ago
But what do you expect when the student is the "customer". True. Universities have turned into an industry. The university industrial complex. I've always lived near large UC and CSU school, and one thing I've noticed is that they're always under construction. Always! All that expansion costs money, and a lot of it. I've also noticed how the heads of the universities (chancellors?) are more akin to CEOs rather than being an academic leader or champion of sorts (not that I know anything about what the head of a university should or should not be).
MadcapJake 11y ago
Absolutely. The consumerization of higher education affects all aspects of collegiate life. Proper discourse is seen as inefficient, prone to upsetting the "workforce", or disagreeable to funding sources. Issues that would be considering opportunities to teach, discuss, or research are now discussed in terms of student gains, funding gains, dropout rates, etc. > This is a matter of public policy and society should be regulating this stuff. Now try doing that in a partisan political climate, where we can't even agree that creationism should not be on any curriculum. You're right there really isn't much of a chance of changing this any time soon. As the author puts it, "[right] now, there's nothing much to do other than sit on our hands and wait for the ascension of conservative political backlash...", so we're just gonna have to wait/hope for the tide to turn.

NathanKP 11y ago

I agree. However the problem isn't necessarily that students are "customers", but rather that according to this writer the universities apparently have some kind of "customer is always right" approach to teaching. Ideally the college experience should be a transformative one in which the student has a chance to progress beyond the worldview they grew up with in their parent's home, by learning new things in a fresh, neutral setting. But when it comes down to it there are always going to be some people who are so entrenched in their current world view that they refuse to consider anything outside of it. In that case there are plenty of options for them. If someone wants to learn creationist worldviews in a college setting and have professors tell him that evolution is "just a theory" then there are religious universities they can go to for that. If they want to learn conservative worldview or liberal worldview only they have options to make that happen. If you are willing to pay money for a flawed, narrow minded education, and there are enough others like you to create a market, then there will be an institution that will serve you in order to get your money. Of course if the student chooses one of these myopic routes they are wasting their money by missing out on a tremendous opportunity for self improvement by learning about the world and other people's viewpoints on it.

bahador 11y ago

But what do you expect when the student is the "customer". True. Universities have turned into an industry. The university industrial complex. I've always lived near large UC and CSU school, and one thing I've noticed is that they're always under construction. Always! All that expansion costs money, and a lot of it. I've also noticed how the heads of the universities (chancellors?) are more akin to CEOs rather than being an academic leader or champion of sorts (not that I know anything about what the head of a university should or should not be).

MadcapJake 11y ago

Absolutely. The consumerization of higher education affects all aspects of collegiate life. Proper discourse is seen as inefficient, prone to upsetting the "workforce", or disagreeable to funding sources. Issues that would be considering opportunities to teach, discuss, or research are now discussed in terms of student gains, funding gains, dropout rates, etc. > This is a matter of public policy and society should be regulating this stuff. Now try doing that in a partisan political climate, where we can't even agree that creationism should not be on any curriculum. You're right there really isn't much of a chance of changing this any time soon. As the author puts it, "[right] now, there's nothing much to do other than sit on our hands and wait for the ascension of conservative political backlash...", so we're just gonna have to wait/hope for the tide to turn.