McDonaldization

McDonaldization

Nowadays, the concept of McDonaldization is spreading all over the world and over different spheres of life. Under the notion of McDonaldization, people usually mean the process, when the main rules and approaches of the fast-food industry are applied to the other spheres of society. The sphere of education also had come under the influence of this concept.

The principle ideas of McDonalds, such as control, predictability, efficiency, and calculability, has passed to the educational system, and successfully integrated in it. Control is very important in the modern system and all professors and students have to comply with regulations and rules. Moreover, all classes are lasting for a certain time, and grading is also having some certain norms. Predictability is the next issue, because of which the educational system becomes faceless. Today, all educational institutions have the same textbooks, identical courses, examinational process, and the way of teaching. That is why it is hard to differ one college from another. The positive side is that people are able to get the same knowledge regardless of the college status; however, it has reduced the level of competition, which is not that positive. The process of examination becomes more efficient, especially for teachers because all tests are made and checked by machines, and there is no need for individual interrogation. By means of McDonaldization, the main criteria of academic progress are grades and statistics; however, for me it is hard to agree that such system of estimation is really good.
In my opinion, the concept of McDonaldization in the educational system is not appropriate, at least in some issues, especially in regard to estimation and teaching process. Education should be a creative process, and McDonaldization has turned it into some kind of assembly line. Moreover, this concept integrated into other spheres, such as trade, politics, and art to name a few.

Of course, the concept of McDonaldization is comfortable for many people because it saves time and simplifies different processes; yet, it is erasing individuality by making all issues the same. That is why society has to think about this process, and detain it.

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