Keith B. Murray’s current essay, “A Higher Metaphor: The Pupil as Shopper,” challenges the pervasive metaphor of the coed as buyer in increased training. Murray’s argument that college students are higher seen as purchasers, a mannequin that respects skilled experience and upholds tutorial rigor, strikes us away from the shallow transactional nature of the client metaphor. Nevertheless, the consumer metaphor nonetheless falls wanting capturing the transformative objective of training.
I suggest a return to seeing college students as residents, reminiscent of increased training’s historic mission whereby schools and universities had been locations to domesticate civic-minded people, making ready college students to contribute to democratic society and the general public good. This imaginative and prescient, rooted in thinkers like John Dewey and Alexander Meiklejohn, has eroded within the face of market-driven priorities and bureaucratic logics. Restoring the metaphor of the coed as citizen not solely reclaims this civic mission but additionally addresses the urgent want for lively engagement in at present’s advanced world.
As we return to those foundational ideas, it’s important to construct on and never abandon the progress increased training has made in fostering inclusion and fairness. Right this moment’s lecture rooms are extra various than ever, and this range enriches the idea of citizenship, broadening it to embody the lived experiences and contributions of scholars from traditionally marginalized communities. Sustaining this progress ensures that the mannequin of the coed as citizen serves all college students, reflecting the plurality of our democratic society.
The Limits of the Shopper Metaphor
Whereas the consumer metaphor improves on the client mannequin by emphasizing professionalism and long-term outcomes over quick gratification, it nonetheless frames training as a transaction. On this view, professors are service suppliers certain by skilled requirements, delivering a product within the type of information and talent improvement to a consumer in search of experience. Each the professor’s authority and the coed’s receptivity are central to this dynamic.
Nevertheless, even this framing subtly positions the coed as a passive recipient within the studying course of, emphasizing what is finished to or for them somewhat than what they contribute to the academic dynamic. The client-professor relationship, whereas extra skilled, nonetheless operates throughout the logic of service provision, specializing in particular person profit somewhat than collective objective. It narrows the scope of training to private achieve somewhat than societal good.
This slender framing is a departure from how increased training has been understood traditionally. As John Dewey emphasised in Democracy and Schooling, training is supposed to organize people for lively participation in civic life, not merely to amass skilled credentials. The present concentrate on particular person outcomes undermines this broader mission, decreasing training to a sequence of remoted transactions. To maneuver past these constraints, the metaphor of the coed as citizen affords a richer framework, one which emphasizes participation, accountability and neighborhood over transaction and passivity.
The Citizen as a New (and Outdated) Metaphor
Reframing the coed as a citizen isn’t a brand new concept. Relatively, it’s a return to the roots of upper training. Citizenship implies membership in a shared neighborhood the place rights and obligations are balanced, the place people are anticipated to contribute to the frequent good. Within the context of upper training, this dynamic entails seeing college students not simply as shoppers or purchasers of an establishment however as lively individuals in a neighborhood of studying.
A citizen just isn’t passive; they interact, query, deliberate and co-create. They maintain obligations not solely to themselves but additionally to the neighborhood they inhabit. For college students, this implies a dedication to rigorous mental engagement and moral habits, and a willingness to contribute to the collective studying atmosphere. For professors, this framing means fostering a tradition the place college students are empowered to take possession of their training and are inspired to see their studying as a part of a broader societal mission.
This imaginative and prescient of citizenship should embrace the variety that now characterizes trendy increased training. Traditionally, entry to the advantages of training—and its civic objective—was restricted by race, gender and sophistication. Right this moment, inclusion just isn’t solely an ethical crucial but additionally important for cultivating a richer and extra equitable tutorial neighborhood, one which displays the contributions and views of all college students, making certain they really feel possession and company throughout the establishment. This method aligns with Alexander Meiklejohn’s imaginative and prescient of experimental schools, which handled training as preparation for democratic life whereas embracing the variety of thought and expertise required for true collaboration.
Citizenship in Apply
What may this metaphor appear like in apply? First, establishments of upper studying would wish to articulate a transparent imaginative and prescient of educational citizenship and share it with college students throughout admissions and orientation. College students ought to perceive that they’re coming into a studying neighborhood the place their engagement issues as a lot as their outcomes. They need to be inspired to see themselves as stewards of their training, to embrace mental curiosity and a accountability to hunt to know the world and their function inside it.
College, too, would wish to adapt. Those that nonetheless emphasize authority as being on the core of their roles might body themselves as facilitators and mentors inside a democratic studying house. This shift doesn’t imply abandoning requirements or rigor however somewhat creating an atmosphere the place college students are invited to take part meaningfully within the course of of information creation.
For instance, classroom actions may very well be structured to emphasise collaboration and dialogue, mirroring the deliberative processes of civic life. Assignments might encourage college students to grapple with real-world points, connecting course content material to societal challenges. Assessments might measure not simply particular person achievement but additionally contributions to the training neighborhood, akin to peer suggestions, collaborative tasks or civic engagement efforts.
Institutional Implications
This reframing would additionally require shifts on the institutional degree. Insurance policies and practices ought to mirror the values of citizenship, emphasizing shared accountability over transactional relationships. Course evaluations, for example, might ask college students how they contributed to the training neighborhood or how properly the course fostered significant engagement. College improvement packages might concentrate on methods for cultivating scholar company and community-building within the classroom.
The citizen metaphor additionally encourages a rethinking of upper training’s relationship to society at giant. Establishments would wish to strengthen their dedication to public engagement, positioning themselves as areas the place college students not solely study but additionally contribute to addressing urgent social points. Partnerships with area people organizations, service-learning alternatives and tasks that enable college students to use their information in civic contexts would grow to be extra integral to the educational expertise.
To completely embrace the citizen metaphor, establishments of upper studying should additionally behave as communities themselves, treating college and employees as residents with voices in shaping the collective mission. This method restores the shared governance fashions that had been as soon as the norm in increased training. As Dewey argued, training thrives when it mirrors democratic processes, fostering mutual respect, collaboration and shared accountability.
Towards a New Mannequin
Murray is correct to reject the client metaphor and to name for a extra skilled framing of the student-professor relationship. However to actually honor the transformative potential of training, we have to transfer past even the consumer mannequin. The scholar as citizen captures the reciprocal, participatory nature of training and aligns with the broader democratic mission of faculties and universities.
Restoring this imaginative and prescient affords a transparent path ahead: Schools can domesticate a tradition the place college students see their training not as a transaction however as a shared endeavor, making ready them to guide not simply of their careers but additionally of their communities. This reframing challenges all of us to suppose extra deeply about our roles and obligations within the tutorial and civic communities we share, making certain that progress towards inclusion continues as a part of this richer imaginative and prescient of citizenship.
