Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | The price of unfairness
More on the Marlborough boy. Mark Lawson points out that the case is symptomatic of a society in which people think money entitles them to anything. I’m reminded of a student who didn’t attend, nor do any work, and didn’t respond to messages asking him to contact me. When I finally tracked him down, I told him I couldn’t see in what way he could be classified as a student. He was most put out – angry even – and insisted that he was a student. When I asked him on what basis he could claim that, against all the evidence, he said “I’ve paid my fees.” I hadn’t the heart to tell him his fees were no more than a contribution to the cost of his education, and that they would probably account for no more than a couple of months of his course. What concerned me more was his notion that simply by registering, and paying his tuition fee, he became a student – no study was involved, apparently.
The price of unfairness by Dr Rob Spence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Someone has reported me for asking them to do a bit of homework. They have paid their money so I should show and tell them everything in class. I have never come across this nonsense before and I feel quite angry about it, especially since they are supposed to be designing something. What does this person want me to do? Design it for them!
Most people are really keen but this person is a complete pain.
PS I don’t usually get much resistance because my lot are mature adults. They are normally keen and willing.
This guy can please himself as to whether he does it or not. I am not going to do it for him.
Quite – the trouble is, that by treating students as consumers, we set up expectations that are completely unrealistic. The rhetoric of education now, where “choice” is the key word, is leading to a generation who feel that, as you say, it is the teacher/lecturer/trainer’s job to provide them with whatever is necessary, because they have paid.
I have to take it all back. The guy has completely changed his attitude. It was worth going out of the door tonight. vbg.
Result! At my end, I have just had to cancel a class because 2 out of twenty students had read the text they were supposed to have read two weeks ago…