ChemJerk (now there’s a nom de plume) has a lengthy takedown (hat tip to this week’s Carnival of Education) of the "student as customer" model, which he suggests is damaging to education in general.

First off, I think a bit of clarification on ChemJerk’s part would be helpful.  As he points out in the lead paragraph, this approach has its adherents in both public secondary schools and the post-secondary level, but since much of his discussion seems to have applicability largely at the college level (the three links at the end are all related to cheating in college classes), we really wouldn’t have much to add. 

However, here’s an important perspective.  I would agree with ChemJerk that many factors–due dates, grading policies, price of services–are things that no student, K-12 or post-secondary, should be able to negotiate.  Furthermore, what ChemJerk points to as non-negotiables are, in a lot of ways, key indicators of the level of difficulty of a particular school.  I’d suggest that students really aren’t the principal consumers of K-12 education–parents and guardians are.  And just as a college student has a wide array of options to decide where he or she will go to school, it should be up to a parent to find a school that has the level of achievement that best meets the needs of his or her child.