Reply to Spin-off "The student as a paying customer"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a parent, [b]I am the paying customer.[/b]  I expect high quality teachers (which rarely happens) and I expect my kid to behave in a proper manner, including addressing professors properly.  As they payer, I can cut funding at any time should neither live up to expectations.[/quote]

No. I'm sorry you can't wrap your limited mind around the fact that colleges and universities are not retail stores.[/quote]

Universities and colleges are providing a service.  So, the student is a client or customer or what ever you want to call them.  [b]They are paying for it. [/b] Its not free, like public school and even then we pay for it through our taxes.[/quote]
I don’t know of any store where you apply for admission, do you? [/quote]

Costco[/quote]

You don’t apply to shop at Costco. You buy a Costco membership. [/quote]

That's just semantics. To get a Costco membership you must fill out a form and pay some money - about as much as you would pay to apply at most colleges, in fact - or you're not getting in. The admission rate is around 100% if you apply, but you must apply for a membership to shop there (I hear there are some workarounds, but then aren't there with college applications too?)  :wink:  Once awarded, your membership can be revoked for unethical or illegal behavior such as shoplifting. It's an analogy that works well for the question posed by the PP upthread, though I don't subscribe to the notion that college students are like customers. I believe that viewing each student as a commission is incompatible with maintaining institutional autonomy and academic integrity.  I think a much better analogy is an exclusive gym membership.  You apply and pay lots of money, you take Soul Cycle, you hire personal trainers, but fitness is still not a product you can buy, it requires work.  The gym simply provides resources you can use to reach your fitness goals, and they are not responsible if you don't.[/quote]

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