Critique of the Customer Model of Higher Education

Robert J. Soucy earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison after an M.A. from Kansas University. Over his career as a historian, he has taught as an instructor at Harvard University, an assistant professor at Kent State University, and as a full professor at Oberlin College. He is presently a professor emeritus at Oberlin College. He has published five books on different aspects of French fascism, over thirty articles in scholarly journals, and numerous conference papers.

"This book is an important contribution to the debate on the decline of American higher education, which allows students to think and act like customers. Having paid so much tuition, they are encouraged to stand in judgement over their teachers through the evaluation process, resulting in relaxed standards and reduced demands. In this appeal for an abandonment of the ‘customer model’ of higher education, Dr. Soucy brings a lifetime of experience to bear and examples from many college settings.”Patrick Allitt, Professor of American History, Emory University

• Acknowledgments – Introduction – Challenging the Customer Model – What’ s a Teacher to Do? – Likeability, Personality and Grading – Evaluating the Evaluators – Students at "Midwest State" and Elsewhere – Is the Customer Always Right? – Out of Step with Some Students – Social Class in American Academia – Social Class and College Teaching – "To Disturb Is My Function" – What Should Count Most in College Teaching and Learning – A Critique of Collaborative Learning – A Dysfunctional and Misleading Evaluation System – Solutions – Afterword – Appendix: Chronicle of Higher Education Articles – Bibliography.