In a consumerist society, what is the pedagogic/educational equivalent of consumerism?
Failure.
In a society where little is made to last so we need to, thus expect to, buy again soon, a significant percentage of students failing is built into our pedagogy. CUNY for years kept its pass rate for its writing test, whether the WAT or the ACT exam, at about 1 out of 3. And that was okay. If a teacher of Freshman Composition was at a level significantly higher than that, as I had been for more than ten years, somewhere around 70 per cent; then the teacher was excommunicate and anathema.
The Falling Leaf Review 