Jim Devine wrote,
>1. If you haven't read Jane Smiley's comic novel MOO, do so. It's got great
>descriptions of the economist, Dr. Guest, who thinks of students as
>"customers" and trains them (with evangelistic glee) to be individualistic
>free-riders. He loves the fact that the results fit with his a priori
>vision of human nature. (This fits perfectly with the studies that indicate
>that economics courses have this effect.) It's about a university that's
>suffering from massive cut-backs.
Life imitates art department -- speaking of students as "customers", here's
part of a memo I received from the director of a night schoool program where
I teach a course:
"But it must be emphasized that we work within a full cost recoverable
operation and as such the needs of our customers must come first. This need
to be answerable to the marketplace, as mentioned earlier, is very important
to our survival. Let me reiterate that while [name of institution deleted]
credit programs do receive public monies, Continuing Studies non-credit
operations do not. This department is not mandated by the province and we
exist only to the extent that we are able to fully recover our costs."
Regards,
Tom Walker
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