The Business Model of Education and Its Cost to Quality Teaching
This paper examines Lynne Drury Lerych's essay "Meeting the Bottom Line in the College Biz" and her critique of the commodification of American higher education. The analysis argues that the prevailing "business model" of education — in which professor compensation is tied to enrollment numbers rather than academic rigor — produces mediocrity in both teaching and learning. Drawing on Lerych's concept of "edu-preneurship," the paper identifies three forces driving this trend: educational institutions, teachers, and students. It concludes that subordinating quality instruction to financial incentives distorts the fundamental purpose of education.
- Introduction: Education as a Commercial Service: Commodification of education in capitalist America
- Lerych's Argument and the 'Bank Model' of Education: Lerych's self-portrait and the bottom-line model
- The Role of Edu-preneurship and Academic Standards: Enrollment incentives erode academic rigor
- Identifying the Culprits: Institutions, Teachers, and Students: Three forces enabling the business model
- Conclusion: Mediocrity and the Cost of Commodified Education: Capitalism produces mediocrity in teaching and learning
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper establishes a clear central thesis early — that quantity (monetary compensation) is being substituted for quality (passionate teaching) — and consistently returns to it throughout the analysis.
- It grounds its argument in a specific primary source, Lerych's essay, using direct quotations to anchor claims about the "bottom line" mentality and "edu-preneurship."
- The identification of three responsible parties (institutions, teachers, and students) gives the argument analytical structure and avoids oversimplification.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective source-driven argumentation: the student reads a single primary text closely, extracts key concepts (the "bank model," "edu-preneurship," "clash between academic standards and capitalism"), and uses them as scaffolding for a broader critique. Rather than simply summarizing Lerych, the paper applies her framework to develop its own evaluative stance on the American educational system.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a macro-level discussion of commodification in capitalist society before narrowing to education specifically. It then introduces Lerych's text and her self-characterization as a rigorous teacher. The central sections unpack the "bank model" and "edu-preneurship" concepts, while the penultimate section distributes blame across three stakeholder groups. The conclusion synthesizes the argument by restating the cost of the business model in human and intellectual terms.
Introduction: Education as a Commercial Service
The commodification of goods and services in a capitalist society is apparent in contemporary America, as more and more institutions seek to increase monetary revenue through the services they offer. Increasingly, institutions that once provided services freely to the public — such as access to educational materials and library resources — have begun to charge fees, effectively converting those services into market commodities.
Access to educational materials and formal education itself is slowly being converted into goods sold in the "educational market." Under this logic, the higher the quality of material or service one wishes to receive, the greater the fee one must pay. This dynamic forms the foundation of what critics call the commodification of education.
This is the central concern of Lynne Drury Lerych's essay "Meeting the Bottom Line in the College Biz," a discourse on the development of America's educational system as a form of commercial service, whereby the highest payer is granted the superior quality of education. This issue, Lerych argues, stems from various factors largely motivated by the laws of economics. The present essay examines her arguments against the "business model" of education that she identifies and illustrates. It further analyzes the educational system, the quality of education, and the quality of teaching, arguing that in the present American educational system, quality teaching is increasingly equated with monetary compensation — that is, quantity (monetary compensation) is preferred at the expense of quality (passionate teaching and a genuine yearning for learning).
Work Cited
Lerych, L. "Meeting the Bottom Line in the College Biz." Academic Leadership Online Journal, 2001.
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