At a recent social gathering, one of our neighbors made the following comment to me: “Al, I have tremendous respect for you as an educator and administrator in a public school. If I could offer my business perspective on public schools, it would focus on becoming more customer-focused.” This was not the first time I had heard the phrase “customer-focused” from a parent, a colleague, or a speaker at a professional conference. In nearly every instance, the term carried a transactional meaning: if schools deliver services efficiently and effectively, the public, in return, provides tax dollars. Embedded within this view is the assumption that schools are not delivering the educational service either efficiently or effectively.
From an educator’s standpoint, there are two problems with treating schooling as a transactional process. First, a customer focus implies that satisfaction is the ultimate measure of success. Education, at its best, often requires discomfort, challenge, discipline, and patience. The best teachers frequently ask the “customers” sitting in front of them to confront difficult ideas, question assumptions, and persist through failure.
The second problem, or I would say, set of problems, is translating into educational terms “keeping the customer.” Does keeping a customer mean cultivating lifelong learners? In the context of public education does keeping the customer mean sustaining the public’s trust—ensuring that citizen continue to see schooling as a shared civic investment rather than a service to be consumed. In schooling, does keeping the customer less about “customers” and more about connection—creating students who feel ownership of their learning. Seen through the lens of school mission statements is keeping the customer mean fostering a enduring commitment to learning—not through transactions or services, but through relationships that inspire curiosity, trust, and a sense of belonging.
Of course, schools should be responsive, respectful, organized, and accountable to the communities they serve. Parents deserve transparency, communication, and professionalism. Yet when the language of “customer service” becomes the dominant framework for thinking about education, something essential is lost. The relationship between school and a community is deeper than a market exchange; it is a moral and civic partnership.
As I have suggested in prior blogs, the real challenge for public education is not becoming more customer-focused, meeting the latest accountability mandate, securing college admission, or simply preparing students for a good job. Rather, it is becoming more human-focused: creating schools where students are truly known, challenged, supported, and ultimately prepared not merely to consume, but to contribute.
Alan C. Jones 