A lecturer at one of the UK’s top universities has complained that there is a tendency among her students to see their education as a consumer transaction and expect everything on their own terms and to their own schedule – in many ways demonstrating a huge sense of entitlement to what they view as "their 2:1".
When students are paying, on average, £8500 a year in tuition fees, it is easy to see where this heightened expectation comes from. Yet education requires skill and commitment, not just cold, hard cash.
However, it is not just universities that are feeling the pressure of this generation of "ultra-consumers". Whether dealing with a government, a charity or an NGO, members of this group come with the belief that every aspect of their lives is governed by a consumer economy – in which they believe they have all the buying power and attendant control.
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