The customer is always right

I remember way back when I was in college, sometime during the Pleistocene, that there was a minor movement about to have students design not only their majors, but the curriculum as well. That experiment did not last long, but it illustrates a basic question: how much input, and in what form, should college students have in their education? There are a lot of facets to this question, but let me start with the examination of a popular premise, that is, that students are our customers, and if we (college faculty and administrators in particular) are to stay in business, we should meet the needs of those customers. Generally the discussion then develops into whether colleges address those customer needs adequately, and how colleges may do so. That would imply at least three doors: 1) we could assume that we know what students want/need and hope that we build a better mousetrap, 2) we might recognize that even if we build it they may not come, so we need to find ways to attract students to our institutions, or 3) acknowledge that we need new paradigms to find out what students want and give it to them. After outlining these elementary options gleaned from Marketing 101 you're probably thinking that we're about to see what the lovely Carol Merrill has behind door number three.

But wait: are students really our customers? This is an interesting notion, and one that, as a marketing instructor, I frankly reject. Yes, there are elements of market, exchange, satisfactions, and the rest of it, and yes, students pay their money and shop for courses, instructors, majors, and the like. But students, or those who study, are there to learn, and to learn from those who supposedly know, or profess to (professors). So while there are elements of students as customers, if you need a more appropriate metaphor, maybe students as apprentices will do. The selection and admittance processes, demonstration of expertise to progress and finally graduate, and the qualifications required and authority entrusted to college personnel to guide students to attaining knowledge are just some of the points that bolster the apprentice model.

However, it seems so much simpler to just refer to students as students, or those who come to learn from educational mentors. We aspire to be your guides in learning, and while there are elements of the marketing concept present, we do not really try to find out what you want and to give it to you as though you are "customers." Should we? Perhaps. Why don't we? The customer is not always right.