At my university and in higher media, I often hear students being referred to as “customers” and, by implication, they need to be considered and treated as such. Although I don’t see the need to enter into every discussion that identifies students as customers, I am struck by the problem of including independent students in this way. As a marketing professor and advertising professional, it is clear to me how serious it is when college students are viewed incorrectly as customers. Let me explain.
Customer Relationships are Built on Ease
There are two types of trade sponsors: clients and customers. Customer groups are viewed as needing to be persuaded by marketers who want to understand what a group of people are interested in and are willing, accordingly, to offer the product at an attractive cost (ie, price) to gain market acceptance. and support.
The easier and more attractive a transaction can be made by the seller, the more likely the seller’s success will encourage sales; this usually means offering an attractive product at a low price, fast delivery time and/or proximity.
If I were to ask the students in one of my classes what they liked most about the course, almost universally they would say—probably with a smile—”I was giving an easy way to get an A!” And if I were willing to deliver what is offered by making the course shorter, easier and less stressful, many students would be very happy (err) with my role as a good professor and it would probably be seen as creating—for them, certainly—a better product at a cheaper price.
Although I have not done such a thing, I can confidently say that if If I had to look after the interests of the large number of today’s students in this way (to serve their current, short-term interests as consumers of education), I would compromise my teaching principles and reputation and reduce the course in the process, leaving the students with a weak learning experience. I would like, by my standard of most people, to be a little better professionally. When a teacher acts in this way, he really treats the students as customers.
There is Another, Better Metaphor
However, as previously noted, there are two types of exchange situations, which brings us to consider another type of transaction process, where students are not customers but rather customers. In a client-centered profession, there is a very different set of expectations and ground rules that define and guide what the supplier-buyer relationship is like and what is expected to happen.
In client-type transactions, the exchange of time, effort and money by the buyer is based on the knowledge and advice of one party; The buyer group wants to later benefit from this information and advice. Common examples of client-based salespeople include doctors, dentists, financial advisors, tax preparers, accountants, veterinarians, therapists and the professors.
In this type of transactional relationship, the provider is bound by professional standards to respect established, recognized principles, guidelines and practices in his area of ​​expertise. In other words, there is a hard limit to what a professional can or should be expected to do in providing an otherwise worthwhile and valuable service.
Immediate gratification is not an expected goal beyond the provision of specialized consultants, advice and/or expertise. For example, a bariatric surgeon cannot perform a tummy tuck just because something needs to be done; tax advisers cannot authorize illegal tax deductions simply because the client wants to pay less tax; architects should not skimp on drafting blueprints and plans just to save the client time or money. Likewise, professors should not cut ethical corners with regard to teaching materials, testing or grading practices, or even enter into extra credit deals just because a student (as a customer) thinks it’s a good idea.
When students are viewed as clients, the professor is bound by respect and professionally expected to deliver courses that provide standards and practices recognized by their field, rather than simply satisfying the short-term desires of students. The team motivated by this consideration should in no way limit the accessibility or reasonable proximity of the service provision by the professor. Indeed, it is in the interest of both parties in a customer-based transaction to provide first-class service when it comes to interaction, ease of access, accessibility, personal interests and respect.
Practical Implications
There are practical and institutional problems with this idea. First of all, professors are highly expected by chairmen, deans and provosts to get as fair a test as possible from students, who are often immature, short-sighted, selfish and ignorant about the purpose of higher education in their professional work. lives or the role a particular course may have in their future aspirations. A colleague who has been successful recently has been severely downgraded by students for having tests that were too difficult and grading procedures that were considered too difficult. In the end, he paid the price for having high, student-like standards because he was denied a good raise.
There is a second problem with the widespread acceptance of seeing the student as the customer. To the extent that professors fail to understand the immaturity of their client base and seek to cultivate student-client relationships, the integrity of the institution to which they are a part may be compromised and the interests of students as clients as academic sponsors. they are not well served. Course content and rigor may be compromised; inflationary conditions are encouraged. As a result, students are not prepared for life beyond college, and the reputation of the institution is at risk due to their poor performance in the job market.
What Should Be Done?
There are several institutional issues to consider when dealing with what appear to be persistent—and popular—misconceptions of the student as customer; Indeed, reversing this misconception requires many interventions, a few of which will be briefly noted here.
First, professional development should convey and emphasize the idea that each professor in his field is an expert who is expected to act as an authority and provide a transformative student education instead of entering market (ie, classroom) pressures.
Teacher evaluations need to include modified evaluation measures comparable to those that measure service evaluations of doctors, dentists, financial advisors and the like. Such evaluations often focus on issues of process as opposed to product: eg, they might ask whether the professor is friendly or approachable for questions outside of the classroom.
Peer evaluations also have a role to play: Fellows must visit classrooms unannounced to rate professors on a set of criteria that is more professional and higher in nature than is reflected in most student evaluations.
Student-as-consumer values ​​must be considered in the recruitment and admissions process; once on campus, students must repeatedly tend to what the professor-student relationship should be about what is expected and what is not acceptable. Similarly, professors would do well to emphasize and cultivate the principles of student-client relationships as they carry out their teaching duties each semester.
(It is beyond the scope of this discussion to examine when and how they read do they actually play the role of “customer” in any higher education institution. That role actually exists in many untaught areas, including dining services, recreational activities, accommodation and physical facilities. Attention given to viewing students as customers in this [and other] (The circumstances deserve a separate discussion and set of considerations.)
Thinking of students as customers in the classroom is wrong and leads to more than a few negative consequences. Like doctors, lawyers and the like, professors deserve the consideration of professional status afforded in other normal customer-based relationships and are entitled to hold students to higher standards than would be expected in the student’s trade as a consumer. Expecting anything else from professors can harm students and the reputation of the institution as a whole.
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