Reply #55: Treating parents and students as "customers" began before I retired.

[madfloridian]

One year we were told that the "customer" is always right, and we were to act accordingly. That was in the late 90s. It has gone downhill ever since.

Education can not be done that way. I love the comment by a blogger at the NYC Educator.

"Another example of the transition of students to 'customers'. The customer's always right, right? Keep the customer satisfied, no? Moreover, some parents are afraid of their kids. They have no parenting skills themselves; that's why they buy them the iPod they don't deserve or the family can't afford. Junior will rage uncontrollably unless they capitulate."

If the parent and child are always "right", then the teacher becomes a non-entity.