Model 1, The Grocery Store. Student = customer, Professor = courtesy clerk, taglines: "would you like paper or plastic?" and "the customer is king." Product = ‘a degree’
The grocery model for education is very comfortable for the student. The student pays for a product, and is entitled to a fair price for a high-quality product. Under this model, the professor, the university buildings, and the rest of the university infrastructure are “paid for” by the student. Students should feel free to adopt the attitude that “the professors are paid by them and work for them.” It is reasonable under this model for customers to be irate when there is a cleanup needed on aisle seven, knowledge should also be timely and convenient with minimal time spent on “price checks.” Probably the best grocery store universities even provide high quality results (good grades) when the customer consistently shows up and buys groceries. The problem with this model is that learning is not a product, it is an individual process. No one else can do it for the student, no matter how nicely the professor asks “would you like paper or plastic?” This model encourages the increasing attitude of student entitlement and it is bad for learning. If you want a job in which you ask; “would you like fries with that?” This is the model for you.
Model 2, The Prison. Student = prisoner, Professor = warden, taglines: "the inmates do not run the prison" and "parole denied." Product = ‘I did my time’
The prison model for education is a product of professors becoming bitter with the educational process or a product of professors feeling entitled to an “academic lifestyle” or both. Professors are probably more likely to rebel and to adopt a prison model at a ‘grocery store university.’ This is so because, getting a PhD takes many years, and most professors do not feel oriented toward ‘customer service’ after the process of earning such a degree, a position that used to be called “status” (often incorrectly mistaken for ‘elitism’ today). It is rare that the prison model is supported by university administrators and politicians. This model tends to be applied in the classroom, and it is a dying breed. Professors are frustrated, angry, and demanding; students are berated, discouraged, and disparaged. This too, like the grocery model, is a poor model for education. Here students still feel entitled, but they also feel betrayed. The biggest problem with this model is that learning is a process, not punishment. This model encourages complacency in students; it is bad for learning. If you don’t want average and better students to reliably obtain degrees, this is the model for you.
Model 3, The Golf Course. Student = golfer, Professor = golf course designer, superintendent, and golf pro, taglines: "errors compound themselves in golf" and "put for dough, drive for show." Product = skilled graduate
The golf course model of education is most telling for what it is not; it is the antithesis to the grocery model, which is clearly portrayed in the following observation by three geography professors from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire: “I paid good money to get on this golf course and I have a right to shoot par [classic grocery store logic]. [But] anyone can enter the U.S. Open - that's what ‘open’ means. But if you don't make the cut, you don't play in the tournament. Nor do you get a refund of your entry fee.” Tuition, under this model, is not payment for a product; it is an entry fee to the “course.” Under this model, the professor designs the challenge and might be thought of as a course designer. The professor is also a golf-pro, golfing is analogous to studying, and it is the golfer’s job to learn how to golf and the student’s to learn how to learn. Most professors know from experience that the best way to learn is to become a better student. As a result, this is the model that most professors at most universities adopt.
Be careful that you do not mistake a challenging “course” for the prison model; it may be that you are not yet the low handicap student that you think you are. You may need more practice and lessons to meet the challenge of difficult courses. Errors compound themselves in tough classes; if you are not rigorous early in many courses, you may not be able to succeed later in the course. Remember too that driving the golf ball is fun to practice, but you will need to be able to putt to finish strong, which requires more tedious dedication and practice. That said, one always learns in golf, no matter which hole on which course one is playing. The same is true for challenging classes, even if one is not quite ready to succeed there. If you want to feel satisfied with your degree and to be able to translate your degree to a variety of opportunities, then learn to ‘put for dough’ (accomplished putting requires detailed practice), and this model is for you.
Perhaps the most important point is that students and professors fail to recognize that they often operate under radically differing sets of expectations; students often adhere to the grocery model. Professors naturally gravitate toward the expectations communicated in the golf course model, but often get side-tracked into the prison model for a couple of reasons. First, professors are in a position of responsibility and authority; defensive attitudes from either the student or instructor can turn ugly very easily. Second, and more important, is that professors are not really like golf courses, we are human. If you hit a golf ball in the hazard despite trying really hard to shoot par on a hole, the golf course does not care. You will find that most professors want you to succeed. Don’t believe me? Just ask them.
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