-=> Quoting Dale Hill to Matt Smith <=-
 MS>     The second-grade student is no more the "customer" of the K-12 s
 MS> attends than a dog is a veterinarian's "customer".  Only the person 
 MS> either paying the bill (taxpayer) or choosing the supplier (parent) 
 DH> A dangerously narrow paradigm.  But one you quite obviously subscribe 
 DH> to.  I disagree with you Matt, but rather than get sucked into a host 
 DH> of messages that beat this topic into the ground I'll concede that we 
 DH> see things differently.
I just read an article in Fortune magazine on "who is the customer."
In the business context, it was the fad a while ago for departments
of companies to identify other departments as their internal customers.
This point of view originally lead to many improvements in how 
companies were structured.  It was always an analogy, though, and
any analogy can be pushed beyond its limits.  The article is about
the misuse of that analogy.
I think your discussion with Matt is based on a difference in
meaning. Ironically, neither of you is talking about real
customers in the strictest sense because the education market is
very different from an idealized marketplace considered in
economic theory.  In looking for the analogy of customer, each
of you has chosen an analogy that serves your purposes.  Matt is
most concerned about the financial aspects of education, so he
has chosen an analogy that captures the economic power of
idealized customers. You are most concerned with the delivery of
services aspects of education, so you have chosen an analogy
that captures that aspect of idealized customers.  Neither one
of you is wrong, but you're talking at cross purposes.  The
selection of a an appropriate model should be tied to the
problem being solved.  Your model is most appropriate for the
central topics of this echo;  Matt's is more appropriate for the
public debate of how to structure our public education system -
especially when that debate considers the considers the possible
continuation of public education without public schools.
 
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