Page 173 - Crisis in Higher Education

144 • Crisis in Higher Education

cultural backgrounds of individual students. In essence, this is custom-
ized learning and is consistent with service dominant logic as discussed is
Chapter 5. Student-centered learning, which dates back to the 1930s, is a
substantial departure from teacher-centered learning where the instruc-
1
tor asserts control over the material and determines the pedagogy. With
teacher-centered learning, all students receive the same learning package.
As the notion of student-centeredness was adopted to address enrollment
concerns, it morphed into a student-first mentality across all aspects of
student life, because it was not clear how to deliver customized education
to thousands of students without busting the budget.
As a result, student-centered learning, the most important aspect of being
student centered, was lost. In addition, becoming student centered caused
universities to misjudge the needs of potential employers, who want highly
capable graduates with up-to-date knowledge. When an intense focus on
pleasing students and limited attention to potential employers are combined
with an emphasis on retaining students, performance standards gradually
eroded. Faculty members feel the pressure to lessen standards from stu-
dents, who are pressed for time, and from administrators, who want higher
retention rates. These tendencies are not counterbalanced by pressure from
potential employers to maintain or increase standards. These factors also
cover up a lack of preparation by many students.
Becoming student centered should be a positive experience because
students get more respect, better treatment, and courteous, responsive,
effective, and efficient services. Student services such as online registration
and online financial aid make students’ lives easier and may actually lower
costs. Better facilities, such as dormitories and dining halls, and more ame-
nities, such as student activities and legal services, have improved quality
of life, but they have increased room and board costs as well as student
activity fees. One irony is that some universities, which built these expen-
sive dormitories, have vacant rooms, and they are requiring students who
are unable to commute to live in campus housing. Being student centered
seems to be in conflict with this requirement.
These points are related to becoming student centered and are discussed
in the following sections.

1. Cost impacts: With respect to facilities and amenities: Has the pen-
dulum swung too far? Are universities investing too much? Can stu-
dent services be improved further while the cost of providing those
services is reduced?