Erosion of professional behaviors in physical therapist students

Journal of Physical Therapy Education, Fall 2001 by Carey, James R, Ness, Kirsten K

SHOULD THE STUDENT BE A CUSTOMER?

There is a range of viewpoints on treating students as customers. At one extreme, Woodward7 professed the appropriateness of treating students as customers to safeguard their rights. He emphasized that achieving customer satisfaction in students is important because, on moral grounds, the university has a responsibility to ensure a quality higher education experience and, on pragmatic grounds, existing students will influence future students to either attend or not attend that university.

Similarly, Emener8 advocated strongly for consumerism in the education of rehabilitation professionals. He argued that because the role of the rehabilitation professional ultimately is to promote empowerment in individuals with disabilities so that they have control and authority in their lives, it is only logical that these future professionals should develop empowerment skill in their own lives as students. Thus, he urged rehabilitation educators to construct an educational environment that promotes a sense of power, control, and authority in students.

In the middle ground, Playle9 cautioned that classifying the student as customer or consumer may reduce the role of faculty to that of being only a supplier for the immediate needs of students, while forsaking the personal autonomy and professional responsibility that further define the role of an academician in higher education. He acknowledged the power difference that traditionally exists between the student and faculty and suggested that this difference be equalized, not by considering students customers but by considering them collaborators in the learning process.

At the other extreme, Albanese10 declared strongly that medical students are not customers based on 4 points. First, society expects that individuals accorded certain rights have earned those rights by successful completion of an education program. The educational system is then obligated to fulfill this expectation by ensuring that students meet required standards, regardless of student satisfaction. Second, the "purchase" of education by medical students brings more than just rights, as connoted by the term "consumerism," it also brings obligations toward knowledge, skills, and conduct. Third, different from the retail industry, merely paying tuition does not entitle students to the grade, degree, or product that they want. It only affords them the opportunity to progress toward the desired product. Fourth, the consumer model is predicated on the notion that the customer is reasonably knowledgeable about the desired product, whereas students do not fully understand the intricacies required to attain the degree.

We believe that students have basic rights, but we do not believe that they should be treated strictly as customers. A consumer model of education de-emphasizes active learning, which we believe is fundamental to the learning process in graduate-level professional education. We contend that consumerism is antagonistic to professionalism in that consumerism is centered inwardly for the good of the customer, whereas professionalism is projected outwardly for the good of the patient.