A survey completed by 608 students from 35 English universities formed the basis for the study, published in Studies in Higher Education, that found a “higher consumer orientation was associated with lower academic performance”.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Students with consumer mindset ‘get lower grades’
A survey completed by 608 students from 35 English universities formed the basis for the study, published in Studies in Higher Education, that found a “higher consumer orientation was associated with lower academic performance”.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
As a student at Carnegie Mellon, the exorbitant tuition we pay is constantly at the forefront of my thoughts. However, I have never viewed my education as a product I have been purchasing, because you don't need to earn a product. You can pay to go to school anywhere, but should you not pull your weight, study, and do your work, then you won't graduate, and as such you will have "bought" nothing. It isn't at all surprising that people that view college as a product do worse, because they are clearly more intellectually challenged overall. The study limited itself to only most recent grades from 600 students, which is part of the early issues, and if that specific bit of data expanded to include, say, a full record of a student's grades in a four-year program, we could actually start to make real empirical predictions, but, with this data, that is more difficult. And, as the article says, learning can not be bought, which is all too true. Unless you're at community college, the chances of you bribing your way into an A are slim to none.
I wonder if this effect has something to do with how students perceive their goal. If students feel that their main goal in college, and their main reason for going to college, is getting a diploma, then they probably won’t be as intrinsically motivated to study in their classes. Someone who is primarily in college to learn about the ideas and skills they are being taught, and feel that the primary benefit of being a student is the knowledge, not the degree, will have a higher intrinsic motivation and therefore will be more likely to care the subject matter. The diploma focused people would also be more likely to see the diploma as the product, whereas the knowledge motivated people might see the classes as the product. I think people’s mentalities toward education and the effect that people’s mentalities have on learning is complex, but very important, and I am glad it is being studied.
Personally, I like to think of this school as a ridiculously expensive theme-park. All your tuition gets you is a ticket. All we pay for is the opportunity to learn. That being said, why would you ever buy a ticket to a theme park and then stand around all day and not go on any rides? Likewise, how can you go to this great school that literally bleeds money out of you and not do your work or go to class? It's a waste of money, and someone else, who would have worked for it, could have been in your place. No one is entitled to anything. You cannot "buy" an experience. You simply pay for the opportunity, it's up to you to pull your head out of your phone and pay attention to the lecture. I realize that I'm repeating myself, but I'm just frustrated that people think that just paying tuition will automatically lead to a diploma? It's just a silly way of thinking. And life will kick you to the curb if you leave university still thinking that you don't have to try in order to succeed.
I definitely agree with this article, but at the same time I think that being aware of how much you are paying to get your education can sometimes be a good thing. For me, whenever I feel unmotivated or lazy and just want to skip class, I think about how much money I'd waste by not going to class/not doing work, and I feel the obligation/motivation to push myself to get back to work again. Not having a clue of how much you(r parents) are paying for your education can easily make you take things for granted. I definitely see the point this article is making, and how the "buying a degree" mindset can make people think that they don't have to put effort into their work, leading to lower grades. However, from my experience I also think that being aware of how much you are paying can be beneficial and helpful. I definitely think the experimenters of this study should expand and conduct further research, and I look forward to the results.
This article makes a lot of sense. Not valuing an eduction as a way to improve yourself is going to be an easy way for your grade to stop because you already don’t care. If you think college is nothing more than a means to an end, getting a diploma to get a better job, then not only are you not getting enough bang for your buck but you’re going to exit possibly without learning essential skills that will help you stay successful in your field. In theatre, for instance, if you aren't taking advantage of all the learning opportunities, it’s going to be hard to keep up with people in the field why, by nature, are always thinking of new ways to do things. Remembering how expensive your education should light a fire under you na make you go out and get as much knowledge as possible so you it’s worth the huge price tag. No piece of paper can replace the learning that is supposed to have come from it.
I totally agree that there is a huge number of students currently in college (or soon heading to or recently graduated from college) who find it hard to look at their education without a consumer mindset. So this article feels a bit demeaning in stating as so cut and dry. I felt that it implied causation between having a consumer mindset and getting lower grades, which would make you think that if you stop looking at your education in a consumer mindset then your grades would improve (which doesn’t really seem logical). While I’m basing this on the article and not the original paper, I think it’s still an important distinction. I would wonder if class or financial burden would be factors which lead to this mindset AND academic performance difference. Students who are focused on the financial burden of their education do not get the same college experience as their more financially advantaged peers. Students who are taking out loans and working extra hours to pay for their education are obviously going to be focused on making ends meet to “get an education,” detracting from focus on just “expanding their intellectual ability.” It isn’t that they are less interested in focusing on learning, but that it’s pretty darn hard to just focus on learning when you’re stressing about debt. If the price tag is constantly present, weighing on you, then it’s going to be difficult to attend lecture and not think about how much you’re paying for it. I think a more effective study would have considered the financial situation of the students, as well as using GPA to test academic performance instead of a single graded assignment.
I feel that for some people, especially as such an expensive university like Carnegie Mellon, it's very difficult to not feel like you're "buying" your education. At almost $70,000 a year for an education, it's tough to not think about education in a monetary sense. Like Scott mentioned above, it's hard to find nowadays a number of students who look at their education without a consumer mindset. However, I feel like this mindset only truly aligns itself when the student feels like they're not getting the quality of education that they're shelling out money for. I love learning in all ways, and I like doing things for the sake of doing them. I think education is a precious part of human life and is essential-- it is not a privilege, it is a right. However, money obviously gets in the way of this (namely, within the USA). College tuition is absolutely outrageous and makes total sense that many students are just thinking of their education in money terms. Once again quoting Scott : "it’s pretty darn hard to just focus on learning when you’re stressing about debt." If tuition was lowered, that burden of having to think about debt would greatly decrease and in my opinion, allow students to truly learn and enjoy learning.
This article took a lot of things I noticed around campus and put into words. I feel like a lot of people here take Carnegie for granted, just another stepping stone to their success. And while that’s totally true, the reason this school is what it is is because the former students didn’t take it for granted, they took advantage of everything around them. I can’t act like financial aid is a constant factor in my mind, but I use it for motivation. I chose to come to this expensive school because I knew it could be so much more than just a stepping stone, it can be a foundation. But at the same time in society college has become something you need to succeed, and it really isn’t for everyone. So I can see how, if you’re forcing someone to pay thousands for something they need just to work a simple minimum wage job, that their effort would be low. It’s complex, but also not. There has always been, and will always bee people who give a damn and people who don’t.
I am in no way surprised by the studies results. I understand completely why the student-as-consumer mindset can be so damaging to the actual progress and the overall performance of the student. The more of a mindset of Student-as-consumer the student is the lower their learner-identity is. I think this is because when you think of your education as something you've purchased, you feel more of a responsibility or even more of an obligation to learn. When you add that extra pressure on yourself, I can imagine that you might see school as a chore and be less willing to do things just to gain the knowledge and not just because you already paid for it. Dr. Bunce brings up an interesting correlation between this mindset and the growing tuition fees. I think that it is very possible that the growing tuition fees in colleges is the main source of this mindset. Even at Carnegie Mellon, this mindset is certainly present and I think it really is because the cost of out tuition. Everyone should be careful when talking about college and what it really means to pay and go to school. The students can have many pressures acting on then based on cost and those stresses should not affect their overall performance academically.
Whenever I see a title like this I automatically am skeptical. The results don't seem to far off from what I would expect and makes sense, but I don't see a whole lot of value in a survey of 600 students. I remember in high school we took a few of those kinds of surveys that just ask about your life to collect data for anything, and we all thought they were a waste of time and trivial so no one was honest on them. So whenever I see that a survey was given to students by first impression is that the majority of the students didn't take it seriously. I do agree that students with consumer mindsets probably don't get as much of out their universities education as they could because they believe they are just paying for a degree and not believe in the hard work and dedication to earning a degree. However, I don't know if I see a point in this, yes I will believe it, but why is this important to tell? Are they planning on finding some way to reach those students and help them understand? Or are they just going to conduct another survey?
I think it’s really funny that there’s a trend of ‘consumer learning’ cropping up. I found the study to be very interesting, but I wonder what would happen if the study was conducted at American universities. The university structure in the UK is different, as tuition is lower across the board due to government subsidies. The maximum tuition in the UK is £9,000 ($13,440). Across the pond in the US, the average college tuition is roughly $35,000 to $40,000. So that makes me wonder if consumer culture is larger in the US, since student have no choice but to be more aware of the financial implications of their education. I know personally, we all reference the fact that we pay $60,000 a year to go here. It’s usually jokingly, making fun of the fact that we pay so much to do some ridiculous task like melting plastic for a Susan project or whatnot. But it seems like everyone is constantly aware of how much they are paying. Maybe, if tuition was lowered enough that we didn’t have to constantly worry about financial aid or work study or filling out forms, then we could perform better academically.
The thing about the University system is that you do have to play the role of a consumer, you must purchase the right to attend your classes, to do your homework, so sit in the studio until 4am gluing tiny bits together for the latest Susan project. What this article reminds us is that you still have to earn knowledge, you can’t just pay for it. When I think about the value of all of my classes I consider not how much money they cost but rather how much I learned from them. That’s because the true value of our degree isn’t reflected in the money we spent but the time and effort that we put in to learn as much as we could with the chance to sit in the classroom with our professors for these four years.
I tend to agree that the paradigm should be “we are here for the purpose of learning about our field of study, and not for the purpose of getting a degree in our field of study”, but at the same time, there are certain things that a college degree can buy you that the same knowledge that hypothetically comes with the degree might not buy you, particularly in our industry. Recognizing that fact is important, and to me, being appreciative of the opportunity to go through the several (often very shitty) experiences that allow us come out the other end a more well rounded and prepared person for the industry is extremely important in marketing yourself. Basically, just include on your resume your degree from CMU, it’ll open doors. But while we’re here at the CMU SOD, it’s probably a good idea not to worry about the degree and focus on the base of knowledge you’d actually want to get from the degree, especially in a program as subjective as the design/production program. Half the battle of being a good student here has to do with recognizing that early enough.
It's very disappointing to me whenever I hear of students treating their education this way. It is so easy to fall back on the assumption that everyone goes to college and when you go to college you pay $xx,xxx for your ____ degree. Of course, what should be happening is students getting excited for school and to learn and get an education, but I think some of our minds are conditioned to look for the end product instead of milking the process. Having been in mostly required classes in things that weren't focused on my concentration for so long, this semester's course choices were really exciting to me. I really felt like I was trying to build the manager I want to be with the classes that I chose, and that's an amazing feeling to know that you're able to choose what you put in your toolbox. I just hope that more students take advantage of that.
Post a Comment