EduPreneurial Spirit
Let's face it, we work in a for profit educational institution. Many of our actions should be based on this premise. It will assist the company in acieving organizational objectives and goals.
In our case, our students are "customers" but, in the big picture, they are our product. Training them to be successful will change their lives, and it also changes our lives as well.
Caring instructors = engaged students = better prepared work force = stronger value of diploma or degree = more enrollments = profit
Yeah, we work in a for profit educational institution but, being genuine is just good business. You have the option of treating this as a job or something that you love to do, that's something that I tell my students and that's something that I believe.
David,
Good point, David. We never want to award a credential to a student who has not mastered what they need to master. Short term profit is never worth long term integrity.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I would add that it is important to remember that we have two customers: the student and the industry we are preparing them to enter. For myself keeping that in mind in the for profit context adds a check and balance factor to the extent I will be the students advocate for success. Yes! I want to keep the student in school so he/she contributes to the revenue stream, but not to the extent that I am graduating a student that is not qualified to enter the industry.
Brian,
Thank yopu for your comment on this. We teach becasue we love to teach and we plan lessons becasue we know that the best lessons yield the best results. Fortunately, these actions should lead to a profit as our students do well and graduate into careers.
I do not agree with your views. I do agree that working for a "for profit" organization; one must understand that the company needs to make a profit but this can be accompolished by pleasing the customer. In this case the customer is the student. If the student got wind of an instructor basing their teaching skills and profeciencies on profit, the student will lose faith in the instructor as well as the institution which will ultimately lead to a serious retention issue.
I do work in a for profit educational institution. I'm not sure what you are implying regarding your statement that many of our actions should be based on this premise.
"Student's success comes first." My position as Dean of Students in a for profit educational institution is to make a difference in another's life and help to change that life for the positive. With all due respect, my actions are not based on the bottom line. Don't get that statement wrong, I totally understand from a business standpoint that my employer must make a profit in order for the school to remain open. However, I don't use that as my motivation to get my retention numbers up. I look at every student individually and help them along their journey educational, personally, emotionally and whatever else may create barriers to being successful.
My position is a very rewarding one 95% of the time. I get to see the success stories and the smiles on faces when the student finally reaches their goal and sees their vision come true. Unfortunately, I also get to experience the tears and sadness when a student doesn't make it. My words of encouragement to those students is to keep that dream alive and to make a promise to themselves that once their life turns around they will go back to school and finish what they started. For the most part, everyone tells me they will.
