Students Aren’t Consumers

Abstract

In many areas of the economy, higher standards work to improve sales. In academia, it’s the reverse. Thus the student as consumer has become part of academic decline. The classroom differs considerably from the university’s various housekeeping and recreational services. When the student is resident in the classroom, he is a learner, not a consumer. The challenge in this scenario is keeping the consumer side and the academic side of the student experience distinct. Unfortunately, “creeping consumerism” has inched into the academic side, namely in grade inflation; student evaluations, which weigh heavily in faculty retention and promotion; the tendency by students to regard syllabi as contracts; and the expectation among many students that their instructors should provide study guides to their courses. All of these developments further commodify the student experience of higher education.