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  • Essay / Mark Edmundson on the uses of a liberal analysis of education

    As for how this point was reached, Edmundson dates it back to the era of the GI Bill after World War II. (Edmundson 28) After this influx, colleges began to shift their focus to consumer needs. He says colleges tend to serve students rather than challenge them, saying students now have the flexibility to add and drop courses during the first two weeks of the semester without making any commitments. Edmundson describes today's students as happy consumers, saying, "A happy consumer is, by definition, one who has multiple options, one who can always have what he wants." And since a course is something that students and their parents have purchased and paid for; Why can't they do what they want with it? (Edmundson 31) A problem with this way of thinking is that a person will never be able to experience things that could alter their mind due to them not liking something about a particular subject. A college finance executive told Edmundson that "colleges don't have admissions offices anymore, they have marketing departments." (Edmundson 27) According to Edmundson, these changes in universities were inevitable and the only way they could successfully stay in business. Why is Edmundson concerned about consumerism affecting and changing