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Re: Students and Tests - Kyle and business models



I firmly believe that students shouln't be regarded as "customers".
But unfortunately, I tend to agree with Allen Brown's views. In fact,
I've been describing what I call the "McDonald's attitude" towards
education for many years now because it seems to fit the behavior
patterns of more and more students. It seems that students believe
that their educational experience should be like a visit to McDonald's:
They pay their money, consume their courses like hamburgers, and feel
satisfied when they are done, and they shouldn't have to work any
harder than they would while consuming their McDonald's hamburgers.
And alas, I'm finding now that some college faculty seem to share
this notion. I know faculty here at Frostburg (including physics
faculty) who even refer to the students as "customers"! And as budgets
become tighter and schools become more competitive for students, I
don't think this situation is going to get any better.

Steve Luzader
Frostburg State University


Allen Brown wrote:

I think that Kyle is right. But let me point out that, as has been
mentioned, many students and parents _perceive_ education to be a service industry. ...