Would You Like Your Receipt?
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Student Life

Would You Like Your Receipt?

Students with a customer mentality.

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Would You Like Your Receipt?
Huffington Post

The different labels placed on students is entertaining. Students are labeled for a multitude of reasons: the motivation they have or lack, if they’re passive, customer-like learners, how they’re paying for school, or even what major they fall under.

Simply calling a student, “a student” isn’t enough anymore.

A student can’t fully appreciate their education and figure out who they are as a student when they’ve already been labeled or categorized. The notion that a student is a customer plays into the labels a student has been given, because after all a customer is someone who pays for a product and in this case it’s a student paying for an education.

As a customer checks out of a store they are asked “would you like your receipt?” the receipt is either to return the item later when it doesn’t meet expectations or for proof of purchase.

A student can’t return their degree when they are unsatisfied with the education they received and find out the “product” they purchased won’t help them in the workplace.

Meanwhile on the other hand after graduation a student shouldn’t have to walk around flashing their diploma to prove they have a degree, the knowledge they gained in college should be evidence enough that they once were a student and have mastered their major.

When a customer makes a purchase they either use the product briefly then throw it aside, or use it everyday and use the product to its full extent. It should be obvious which one a student should do with their degree.

Students are compared to customers because they share the negative commonality of being entitled. Students are called entitled because there’s the stereotype that all students believe that just by being enrolled in a class means they deserve at least a C in the course, and if they actually show up to class and put in minimal effort in the assignments that means they should be guaranteed an A.

Students believe in this example because that’s how it worked in K-12, they were able to take advantage of the teachers easiness while receiving a free education.

When students move on to college they fall into one of two categories: the first is the student that carries on the mentality of being lazy but also feels entitled to good grades, the second being the student that genuinely cares about their education and wants to earn the grade they received.

The comparison of students being like customers would suggest that more students fall into the category of being lazy and entitled, however the majority of college students are more than willing to step up and meet the standards required of them without wanting to be handed a grade they don’t deserve.

The right way for a student to have a customer mentality is to expect a quality education and caring about what knowledge they walk away with after they graduate.

When someone makes an expensive purchase, they tend to care a lot about the product. This applies to expensive makeup, exotic sport cars, the latest technology, and it should also apply to one’s education.

For some students, such as myself, we are paying for college by ourselves. We are forced to take out FASFA loans, as well as private loans. For this school year alone, I am currently in debt for over $30,000 and if I am able to graduate from here in four years my debt will grow to $120,000.

Because of how much debt I am going into, I will hold the right consumerist view.

I expect that my professors are going to be capable to teach the material for class that I am enrolled in. I expect that they will be able to teach me, and be available for questions when I am confused about the subject.

I expect that the school that I am attending and going into a large amount of debt for will prepare me for my future career, and if this school doesn’t prepare me for my future career I am going to be sincerely upset about my purchase.

The consumer mentality that I have isn’t “I paid for this, so I deserve to be handed a diploma with minimal effort.” The mentality that I have is that since I am paying for this education myself, I expect that I will be prepared for the life I have after I graduate from this place.

I absolutely refuse to be cheated out of my education. If the school that I am currently attending doesn’t meet my expectations I will be more than happy to transfer to another school that will.

A student in it’s most basic terms is a person who attends school, but students are much more complex than a dictionary definition.

Students are diverse in their habits, expectations, skills, and passion. The blanket statement that students are customers doesn’t work, because there are gray areas when defining a student.

Yes, students are customers because they are purchasing their education and expect it to be of high quality, but most students refuse to be passive and and want to truly earn their degree.

Students have the desire to learn and be educated, they need to be held up to the standards of a university in order to succeed in life and not want to return their purchase.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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