I try to invert the 'customer/consumer' discourse. When I have had students get a bad attitude in relation to the 'customer' mentality, I have broken down their fees to create a rough estimate of what they pay per hour of instructional time. Then, I remind them that they should put in the effort to get their money's worth. For some students, at least, it has encouraged better attendance and active engagement.
In the US, I tended to find that my students were that much more invested in their learning because they put their own money into it. Here in Sweden, where education is 'free', I have sometimes encountered the opposite problem as students don't feel they have lost anything if they don't put in effort, have spotty attendance, or even drop courses by simply fading away without telling anyone. (Most do take student loans for living expenses even if they don't pay tuition so they do actually have an investment, but don't often think of it like that for some reason.) Lately, I have started the term by reminding them that tuition is not actually free, but provided by the taxpayers as an investment in their futures and the future of society. Most of them had never thought of it like that, and it seems to have struck a chord with many of them, especially teacher education students who are civic-minded.
Francis
--
Francis M. Hult, PhD
Associate Professor
Centre for Languages and Literature
Lund University
Web: http://www.sol.lu.se/en/sol/staff/FrancisHult/
Editor, Educational Linguistics book series
http://www.springer.com/series/5894
Co-editor, Contributions to the Sociology of Language book series
http://www.degruyter.com/view/serial/16644
New Book: Research Methods in Language Policy and Planning: A Practical Guide
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118308395.html
________________________________________
From: Teaching Linguistics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Dave Sayers [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 13:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: students as consumers
Hi folks,
In the context of student tuition fees, a recent article...
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2015.1127908
...uses survey evidence from UK higher education students to show that "a higher
consumer orientation was associated with lower academic performance".
This is an interesting and novel argument to use in the face of complaints from
students about this and that "when I pay so much in fees"! But I wonder how it might
pan out in practice.
I also got to wondering how other TeachLingers handle consumerist attitudes from
students. Any thoughts? Naturally I imagine this doesn't just come up in the UK!
I had an interesting run-in myself recently. In an exchange with a student over
classroom disruption, which happened to have involved a quip about fees, I quoted
that remark back to the student in question in an email, explaining that this concern
goes both ways, and that all the other students have paid the same and don't deserve
for the value of their fees to be diluted by disruption. On the same basis I advanced
a gentle but clear warning of exclusion from the classroom if the disruption
continued. Never let it be said I'm a soft touch! But I thought it was handy to
consider the 'fees' argument in that wider context. (I hasten to add this was a very
unusual incident and my students are mostly studious angels.)
I'd love to hear from others about their experiences encountering these sorts of
attitudes, and possible ways to address them.
Dave
--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University | www.shu.ac.uk
Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk
[log in to unmask] | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
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