I have had several discussions with people in the education community
about who their customers really are. For example, one definition of
a customer might be the "economic buyer"; i.e., they who have the gold
makes the rules.
How does it change our decisions, then, if we look at what the people
with the money want. Parents often pay for the higher education of
their children. What do they see as desirable outcomes? Other
funding sources are scholarship grants and foundations. What do they
want? Etc.
And, given those thoughts, if the students aren't the customers, what
are they? For example, are they the "product" of the schools?
What about K-12 education that's usually paid for by various taxing
structures. Who's the (paying) customer for these institutions?
Joe Podolsky
(podolsky@hpcc01.corp.hp.com)
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Measurement in Education LO1478
Author: Non-HP-learning-org-approval (learning-org-approval@world.std.com) at
HP-PaloAlto,unixgw3
Date: 6/1/95 4:21 AM
Meanwhile, of course, the conundrum is wound tighter yet. Students
ARE "customers," and there is some genuine justification to listening to
their complaints and preferences. Yet if they're customers, they're also,
by definition, to some degree "ignorant" of the subject matter they come
to learn. If they knew it all already, they wouldn't need the class. Thus
profs have an obligation to craft the learning experiences, direct the
class, etc. to some degree - at the same time that it is the STUDENTS who
learn, not the prof (though I've never taught a class without learning
something!). The students ultimately are responsible for their learning,
and if they won't - especially at higher levels - it's not obviously "the
professor's fault."
No easy answers, alas.
Sam
- --
MXJELI@MAIL.WM.EDU
Mariann Jelinek
Richard C. Kraemer Professor of Business
Graduate School of Business,
College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23185
Tel. (804) 221-2882 FAX: (804) 229-6135