Contents by
Section: February 1998
Front
Page
Lead Story
They're
talking on campus...
On the Road
ActionLine NEA
In the Know
From Capital to Campus
NEA
Affilitates in Action
Higher Education News
Money Savvy
The Dialogue
Thriving in
Academe
| DialogueQuestion: Will viewing students as customers help improve the quality of higher education? | |
Yes, students increasingly view
themselves as customers. by Lin Knudson *
In Monsters Under the Bed, authors Davis and Botkin write that,
in the future, the private sector will eclipse the public sector and become the
major provider for learning. Far-fetched? Just consider McDonald's Hamburger
University or the education efforts of Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun
Microsystems.These private sector
institutions are our competition in the education "marketplace." They
will become even more competitive with further development of educational
technologies.We need to embrace a
fundamental truth: Customer service is the lifeblood of a successful
organization. We may like the term "customer" or not, but we do serve
various constituencies---students, employers, and the community at large.Students pay us for the
education they receive, and they demand their money's worth. They expect
flexibility, customization, ease of access, speed, low cost, and no hassles. If
we won't give it to them, someone else will.Many colleges have
discovered that the "build it and they will come" mentality no longer
works. Their enrollment is flat, although their population base continues to
grow. Yet continuing education enrollments are increasing in many places.Could it be that continuing
education's emphasis on meeting workplace needs via course customization, rapid
delivery, customer service, and marketing provides a competitive edge? |
 No,
this term doesn't belong in an institution of higher learning.by Charles Bishop* In the Business and Industry Institute and in Continuing Education at our college, students are now called "customers." The term makes me feel like
I'm a shopper rummaging through the aisles of the local five-and-dime. That is
not where I want to work. Here is why students are not
customers.While customers may
always be right at the Safeway store, they are not always right in my classroom.
Students are learning concepts of right and wrong, forming and reforming
definitions about the world, themselves, and others; they are learning to learn.
The majority of customers know what they want. Many students do not.Stores exist to sell things;
schools exist to explore ideas, teach techniques, impart information; probe
values. What they do is sometimes messy. You can't package a questioning mind in
Christmas wrap.The
"student-as-customer" movement forgets that, in the long run,
substance is what sustains a reputation, not catering to fickle fashion.
Students must do well when they transfer to four-year institutions; they must
come out of career programs with skill that allow them to get a job and to keep
it.Calling
students customers cheapens them by focusing on the dollars they have to spend
rather than ideas and energy they have to contribute. The student-as-customer
approach equates education with a Sears and Roebuck catalog. |
|
* Lin Knudson is assistant dean of Continuing Education and Community Services at Johnson County (KS) Community College. |
* Charles Bishop is faculty director for the Center for Teaching and Learning at Johnson County Community College. |
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