Picture an animal with the body of a lion and the head of a rhinoceros. Grafting the business model onto higher education produces just such a strange animal. Students, paying tuition to attend classes, are considered “customers,” but what are they buying? While they can pay for the time and talents of their instructors, they cannot buy knowledge or expertise: these they must work to acquire for themselves, and for this reason they cannot buy degrees or certification. When things work out well and students achieve the desired certification, when they are granted the degrees they seek, they themselves become “products” of the institution.
Here it is, then: A successful student goes in one end of the processing plant as a “customer” and comes out the other end as a “product.” Economics aside, when one looks at it carefully, isn’t it obvious that education cannot be considered industry and should not be run along the same lines or judged by the same standards?
Health care regarded as business produces another such unnatural animal. What can “customers” of health care purchase? They cannot neither buy health nor an alternative to death, the eventual inevitable end of us all. They receive time, attention, advice, access to medications, the ministrations of technicians and specialists who poke them with needles, inject them with chemicals, cut away pieces of their flesh and often send them on to other technicians and specialists for more of the same. Sometimes the desired results are achieved, and the person paying for services is relieved of pain and other ill effects of disease or patched back together after great physical trauma; however, as with education, the “customer” often has as much responsibility for and input into the result as the health care provider.
In health care under the business model, we must ask again the question we asked of education. What is the “product”? How is successful delivery of the “product” measured? Financial benefits to providers are measurable, but at the other end--? Those enamored of the business model see no difficulty in allowing a “market” in health care to accommodate higher and higher prices. They do not see a widening gap in health care delivery, the gap between those who can afford it and those who cannot, as a problem. This is how the market operates. This is the law of the jungle, the law of natural selection.
I ask again: What is the “product” in a health care “industry”? I do not have an answer.
12 comments:
Hi P.J.Grath,
Since it is Possible to Learn from Books, even without an Instructor, Basically what is Purchased when we go to School is College Credits, for Degrees are not Offered without the Credits, no Matter how Many Books a Person has Read.
Retail is not Unlike what you have Described because the Retailer is the "Customer" of the Whole Seller and Also "the Seller of Products". As a Seller, he is "Responsible" for the Results of his Sells and Marketing, Making the Right Purchases (as Costumer) and then Displaying the Product in an Attractive Manner.
In Light of this, One Way of Looking at this would be that the Student, or "Product", Pays for Product Improvement at Whole Sale and then Sells the Improved Product to the World at Retail and Once the College Tuition is Payed Off, then Hopefully there will be some Remaining Profit.
The Problem with Health Care, though, is that the Product is so Vital to Life, that the Choice to not Buy is not a Practical One and therefore the Consumer has NO POWER TO INFLUENCE the Seller by Refusing to Buy.
That's an intriguing idea, Lista, that students buy at wholesale and retail. You have a very inventive mind to answer my challenge to the business model that way, so hats off! However (did you know there would be a "however"?), doesn't the analogy seem forced, which would indicate that the model isn't a good fit for education. And, really, students can't buy credits. They can purchase the instruction, but they have to do the work themselves, and if they don't put in the time and effort or if they just can't do the work, no credit.
I think that learning from one's own reading is always useful, but one of the things a student buys with tuition dollars is guidance to some of the best materials, access to specialized libraries, and interaction in seminars, labs, and conferences with people who know a great deal more than the student knows.
If the only point is to obtain a degree, the student's best choice is to purchase credits from the cheapest outlet available and be done with it. If the point is to learn something, the student should consider carefully the quality of the education offered.
I don't even want to address health care tonight. I will just get all wound up and end up reading all night. GACK.
I would include libraries and student interaction under "instruction" opportunities. A student who skips class, sleeps through class or spends class time with mind elsewhere, like a student who does not complete assignments or engage in discussion or go to the library, has paid for instruction (or the parents have) but is not doing the work necessary to learn. I agree, Gerry, that access and guidance come with the purchase price, but I think you would agree too that the student still has to do the work.
I Wrote a Longer, Like Two Part Comment to this, but I've been Taking my Time at Getting Around to Delivering it. Perhaps Later Tonight. We'll see.
I will Respond to Gerry, though. If Education is a Product Purchased at Whole Sale and the End Product is an Improved and more Informed Self, then the Purchase of all the Things that are Described by Gerry is a Better and Wiser Whole Sale Purchase then just the Purchase of Credits, with no Real Effort to Learn. I even Think that the Discussions and Interactions with Other Students is a Worth While Purchase.
The Wiser the Whole Sale Purchase, the More Marketable the End Product will be in the Job World.
I Look Forward to Coming Back and Talking to you Guys about how Work and Effort are also a Part of the Economy and this is Straight from a College Economy Class.
No, Actually, it's more than just the Fact that Labor (Effort) is a Marketable Product. More Later. Got to Run.
We may be getting a little off the track, and it's probably my fault. The way the term "product" is tossed around these days (e.g., in banking) irritates me terribly.
What if we dispense with talk of educational "products" and agree, provisionally, to call what we purchase in college a "service" instead? Are we still straining to fit education into a business model.
My own sense is that the capitalist business model works well in many areas where money changes hands for services but not in all areas. I don't like to see schools or hospitals or governments run like businesses. They are too fundamental to our national health (the "common good") to be auctioned to the highest bidders.
I hope you don't Mind, Grath, but since I Took the Time to Write this Long Comment, I would Really Like to Share it and it does Help Education to Fit into the Business Model, yet Bear with me, for when I'm Finished Talking about Basic Economics, I'm also Going to Tell you something that I Basically Agree with you On.
When I Took a Basic Economy Class, One of the Things I Learned from it is that "Cost" is not Only Measured in Dollars and Cents, but also in Effort.
An Interesting Example of this is when the Government Freezes the Price on Something During a Shortage. Supply and Demand Effects Price and Will Continue to do so Even when the Government Steps in and Freezes Prices.
The Best Example of this is the Gas Lines During a Gas Shortage. When the Government Froze the Prices, the Cost Created by the Shortage was Paid in another way, which was Waiting in a Long Gas Line (Time and Effort, rather than Money).
This is not a Bad Thing, though. As I see it, it just Changes who the Most Benefits and who the most Struggles. When the Cost is Money, this is Easier on Businesses and Harder on the Poor. The Gas Line, though, is Easier on the Poor, for the Businessman has Money, but not Time, yet the Poor Man Often has Time, but not Money.
Sales are Similar, for when the Price is too Low, Lines and Crowds are Produced. Those with Money, Value their Time more than their Money and Therefore, are not willing to Pay the Price of the Time, Effort and Aggravation of Crowds and therefore Ignore the Sales. The Poor, however, have more Time than Money and Therefore, will Take Advantage of Every Sale they can Find and Will Pay the Time and Effort Price for the Low Priced Product.
The Main Point of the Above Comment and also of this One is that Effort is Indeed Part of the Economy, not Only in the Fact that Labor, (Time and Effort), is a Product, but also in that Time and Effort is also a Part of the Cost Equation.
The other Example of Time and Effort was given on the Supply Side, or the Business Side, of the Equation. This Example has to do with Lobster Fisherman and the Supply of Lobsters. Just as when the Price is too High, Fewer Costumers will Buy a Product, so also when both the Cost and Effort of Providing a Product is too High, Fewer People will Go into this Business and Provide the Product.
Here is how the Example Goes. When Lobster Fishing was Hard (Time and Effort), there were Fewer Lobsters Caught and Fewer People Interested in being Lobster Fisherman, thus there was a Smaller Supply of Lobsters. When Technology Made Lobster Fishing Easier, (Less Time and Effort), More Lobsters were Caught and More People because Lobster Fisherman.
A Lobster Fisherman can not Buy Lobster any more than a Student can Buy Credits. He can Purchase a Boat and the Necessary Fishing Supplies, but Effort is Part of the Process of Obtaining the Product.
Since Time and Effort is Part of the "Cost" of Both the Purchase and the Selling of Products, Adding Time and Effort to the Cost of Education does not Remove the Student from the Economy and Business Model. What is Needed instead is a Broader View of what Economy is
While I'm at it, I might as well also Explain that this is why Excessive Taxes and Regulation on Businesses (Not just Money, but also Effort) can Result in Fewer Risks Taken by Entrepreneurs and Therefore Fewer Jobs.
Now Getting Back to the Subject at Hand, if we Dispense of the Idea that the Student is a Product, this Totally Messes Up my Whole Sale/Retail Model of the Student as a Product that is Marketable in the Business World. This is the Model that Dispenses with your Problem of "Straining to Fit Education into a Business Model."
I'm done with that Subject now, though, if you Prefer to Move On.
The Capitalist Business Model Works Better with Luxury Items, though, than with Necessities and the Reason why is because with Luxuries, the Costumer can Decide not to Buy, if the Price is to High. The Decision to not Buy Health Care, though, is Life Threatening and therefore Impractical. Without the Option to Not Buy, the Consumer has no Power to Influence the Price and that is the Problem.
As to Education, when fewer People Make this Purchase, than we have a Less Educated Population and this Effects Politics, which Effects Everyone, not just those who Choose not to Buy the Product and this is what I Believe to be Wrong with the Capitalist Business Model in Relation to Education.
Basically, Grath, I am Agreeing with you that there is a Problem, yet I'm Explaining the Problem a Little Differently than you are.
It seems to me that people with money would pay poor people to do their standing in line. Maybe you could say that poor people would benefit from this, too, because they’d make a few extra dollars, but poor people have limited time, too, and since they can’t pay other people to do things for them they have to do more for themselves, so the squeeze on their time is tighter. I could give a long, detailed example, but I think the picture is pretty clear without it. But—where does this take us?
Well, believe it or not, there were People who were Willing to Pay Someone to Stand in a Gas Line During the Gas Shortage. Other Types of Sales, though, are just as Easy to Ignore and Wait for a Time when the Sale is Over and the Crowds are Gone.
"where does this take us?"
Well, I'm not Opposed to Government Assistance in Relation to Education and Health Care, I just Think that Obama Care was Written in a Way that is just too Expensive and therefore, it Needs to be either Modified or Totally Redone.
So much was taken out of the bill, Lista, that its final form was nothing like what it started out to be, whatever that might have been. That said, I agree with you that health care costs in general--attach anyone’s name to it that you choose--are too high. It is inspiring, however, and gives me some hope to read articles about programs around the country where people are trying to provide good care at reasonable cost and to bring down costs for the highest-ticket patients in a variety of ways. Yes, there are people addressing this problem—as yet, not enough people, but a good start is something. I wrote about this recently on my main blog, "Books in Northport," and there are links there to a couple of pertinent articles, as well as the name of a new book on the subject.
Post a Comment