I have long been an opponent to the commodification of education, but I saw this blog post this morning and thought it might make for an interesting discussion.
The original post can be found here: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/04/should-students-be-treated-like-customers.html
Should students be treated like customers?
From Mike Sansone:
I once asked a teacher what would happen if they treated their students like customers, with a design philosophy of customer experience in mind. The teacher was taken aback. She said the day she treats her students like customers is the day she would lose control of the room.
At that moment, I knew she was standing on the line of irrelevancy — and about to cross over. The reality is, she should have been looking for ways to share control rather than try to own it alone.
Hmmm… reminds me a bit of this Robert Fried quote.
In other news, student enrollments in more-personalized choice options such as charter schools, virtual schools, alternative schools, and home schooling continue to rise…
What do you think?