Have It Your Way: Consumerism Invades Education

Have you ever heard the saying "it was a bump in the road"? These speed bumps can make people go two different directions. Either it sends them careening off the road, or they go over it and keep moving forward. For college students, this bump is prerequisite classes. Depending on who you ask, these classes could be either a dirty word or the only way to success (Reed). Among many faculty members, when you attack on a prerequisite class, you are making an attack on the structure of academic education (Reed). In other words, faculty members get offended by these comments. If these members consider prerequisite classes that essential, then why do so many people contradict it? A prerequisite class is a requirement that must be completed before

Benlow started off his essay saying how the faculty and staff received a memo urging "to take special efforts in serving our customers - presumably, our students" (139). In his opinion consumers are "driven by simple and personal desires… and ultimately demanding that those desires be met" (141). Being passive with our decisions, we are paying for someone else's work, not having to create or produce any ideas. When students have their minds in the attitude of a consumer, they will only see black and white. In all, we are lost and unaware of how a college culture should really be. In a way, I do see how the faculty and staff members can view us as a customer, because of the fact we are paying them for their service. On the other hand, I do find it alarming that we are considered a customer, because they are doing this service to help for the future job force. Eliminating the prerequisite requirement, could possibly bring insight to how education should be viewed, instead of a

An example of this would be, in a prerequisite math class place accounting majors together with the emphasis on relating it to our future accounting courses. By doing this, students would actually excel in putting more time and effort into those classes. As a college student myself, I would value this prerequisite math class for accounting just as much as I would for a course in my actual field because it has future value. Being a freshman in college, I am very discouraged about only taking prerequisite classes my first year since they are somewhat of a repeat to classes I have completed years prior. To change this attitude of not only me, but others, cutting back on the amount of required prerequisite classes could get students more eager to complete them and move onto courses for their career at a quicker pace. On cutting down on those required classes, colleges could offer more career path classes to ensure that a student graduates with 100% of confidence moving into their