Okay,
leaving the whole tenure process and results on teaching and student
service aside because that is one of the largest problems in academia,
what the faculty member described is a common misunderstanding. See, I
can be quite temperate at times. But I must say that the faculty member and his chair just prove the Pogo cartoon once again.
If
anyone believes that pandering to the worst instincts and behaviors of
students is providing customer service they are not only wrong, but to
quote Dr. House they are idiots. They are not providing good
customer service anymore than a dentist who sees a bad tooth and leaves
it in so as not to cause the patient pain from a root canal is.
Keep
in kind that anyone who believes that the customer is always right is
almost always wrong. QUIZES ANYONE? Students are not right. In fact it
is because they are wrong -or maybe better word - flawed that they come
to college. They attend higher education because they know they are not prepared to succeed in a career yet. They
also realize they need to learn from books and from people if they are
to get that job or grad school before a job to reach their goals in
life. They pay money to be made stronger, smarter and less socially
awkward. And due to false notions of customer service we fail them –
sometimes in all three areas.
If
we make courses easier because we believe they do not want to work that
hard, that is not customer service. If we do not challenge them as much
as we ought to create greater intellectual plasticity and ability
preferring to hand out high grades that will reinforce their
self-esteem, we have not served them well. And if we allow them to act
in ways in our classes that will surely get them fired on a job we have
failed. That is not customer service! That is in fact, major
dis-service.
If
anyone believes that letting students skip classes will be helpful to
them in the world of work, it can only be an academic living in the
tenured palace. There is not right to fail in life/ Faculty
who allow students to walk in late or walk out when they want, talk on
the phone, nap during class, be rude, use inappropriate language, be
rude to the teacher, hand in homework when and if they please and so on
are just preparing these students for failure in life. And they are
preparing themselves to hate what they are doing as teachers.
“Uh
Ms. Dennison, I came into the meeting late because I really needed a
latte and I had to leave the meeting to talk to my bud who is having a
rough time right now. Oh yuh, the analysis you need and
told me to get to you today, well, I had stuff to do so I didn’t get it
done yet but I may be able to get to after some things I need to do
tonight. Okay?”
How long will that graduate of your college have that job I wonder?
By
letting students act in inappropriate ways that will bite them in the
future is so far from good customer service that it is appalling bad.
College is not just to instruct on some facts, some processes. It
is to teach some abilities to survive and thrive in the real world.
Real customer service is telling students who walk in late “You just got
fired from your job and class today. Arriving late and interrupting me
and the class is unacceptable behavior which will not be tolerated here
or in whatever field of work you wish to enter.”
“Cell phones are not permitted to be used in this class. It
is disrespectful to me and your classmates when you go and talk during
class and will not be accepted by your colleagues nor your bosses on a
job. Shut them off. leave them off during this class.”
“Work
is due when it is due. If it is not on time, there will be consequences
here as there would be on the job you may eventually get.”
And
so one. You get the idea. Taking positions such as these above is
actually good customer/client service. Moreover, it is also providing
good academic customer service to the other students who are trying to
learn from you. They are as upset with interruptions, cell calls,
talking, sleeping, etc as you are. Maybe even more so. They are not paying for you to let other students hinder their chances to learn and succeed.
Students
are your clients who come to your school and your class to be made
better and stronger just as any client with a problem, a challenge or a
need comes to an expert. We expect the expert to tell us the truth and
to tell us what needs to be done even if it is not necessarily what we
ant to hear. Just as when I am a client of my doctor I expect the truth
and courses of action with integrity even if I do not want to watch what
I eat and exercise.
Would
anyone feel he or she received good service if the doctor told us that
we were engaged in unhealthy behaviors but just keep doing them. “Hey, I
don’t want to upset you, you know bedside manner and all so yes keep
drinking to excess, overeating fried and fatty foods topped with ice
cream and candy, engaging in a sedentary lifestyle, sticking nickels in
your nose, coming to class late unprepared and overtired, talking on the
cell phone during meetings, cursing out your boss and just being a
general pain in the butt is just fine. And oh yes, while your at it, you
might consider smoking too. Keep it up”
Of
course not. And we should not be doing anything even close to that in
the name of customer service. We do not help students and we certainly
do not help ourselves. Stop it and replace it with real service. Being a
provider of good customer service does not mean doing what is harmful
to the students now and for the future.
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presentations, research, training and academic customer service
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