You go to a salon and pay money for a hair cut. On what parameters will you evaluate your barber's/salon's performance?
You go to a coffee shop and pay for your coffee. On what parameters will you evaluate the coffee shop's/barista's performance?
How will you like it when the salon takes money from you, gets you to sit on the chair and then your barber goes about participating in a barber's conference OR Google searches 'haircuts' and writes a paper to publish in a barbering journal that other barbers review/edit? How is it helping cut your hair?
How will you like it when the barista takes your order, also takes your money, but is more keen on presenting her skills to other baristas?
Would you still give your business to that salon and coffee shop? Would you still fund their careers at the cost of yours? Would you not demand a service you paid for? So what if the salon and the coffee shop are ranked No. 1 in their fields? How is it helping you get your service—a service that you paid for?
Have you seen restaurants that take money from their patrons but are only focused on participating in competitions and getting awarded Michelin stars --as in chefs trying to impress other chefs after taking money from their patrons but not actually feeding or serving them?
If the answer to all the questions above is NO, better start relating them to your university and professors and ask if you are getting your money's worth. Or if you are funding the universities to pursue their own goals at the cost of yours.
As customers, we get exasperated when the salon/coffee shop/restaurant either do not serve us or serve us halfheartedly, despite getting paid for the services. We feel cheated. And yet when we join universities, irony of all ironies, we do not feel cheated. Interesting, isn't it?
We deserve the ranking brouhaha because we feed into the frenzy. It is interesting to see students fund and own a metric that has nothing to do with their education, a service that they paid for.
#HigherEducation
Love Life
2moAwesome!! I would like to have attended! I hope to become a member and see this in April 2025!