The role consumerism plays in student learning

In nations facing austerity measures, students risk diminished quality in their higher education experiences. Universities function increasingly like corporations as they struggle to compensate for budget shortfalls caused by declining public support. As a result, students become positioned as consumers of a private commodity that exists to facilitate their personal economic advantage. The purpose of this piece is to analyze the largely hidden role consumerism plays as an underlying contributor to the issue of diminished student learning in colleges and universities. This article will argue that educational quality is compromised when students are understood as customers to be placated rather than learners to be challenged. Drawing on research about how students learn, this work posits teaching and selling as inherently contradictory processes. Implications for higher education’s future and support as a public good are discussed.