 In 1993, George Ritzer published his book titled the McDonaldization of Society. The term McDonaldization refers to the business model adopted by McDonald's and the fast food industry that focuses on the four main elements of efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control. These are said to be the most rational forms of running a business and operating within a capitalist system. With rationality, we replace traditional rules with logical and consistent ones. Let's take these four elements and apply them to your experience at a fast food restaurant. What is efficiency? You know you desire something to be efficient if you have ever complained at a fast food restaurant because your food was taking too long. Well, what is too long? One minute? Five minutes? With efficiency, we expect to order an item and have it available right away. efficiency also puts more expectation on the customer to do things for themselves such as get their own beverage or condiments. This is convenient for both the customer and the business. The second element is predictability. We love what is familiar. And just like the McDonald's where you live, you expect a McDonald's in another city or country to have either the same menu items and atmosphere or at least something close to it. Third is the idea of calculability. Let's face it, you don't go to McDonald's because you believe it is the best quality food. Well, why do you go? In addition to knowing what you will get and getting it quickly, you know you will get a lot of food for a small price. So in other words, we go for quantity over quality. Last, we have control. And primarily, it's control through non-human technology. Quality ensures that our food is cooked and prepared the same way each time. This aids in de-skilling humans and turns them into employees that can be easily replaced. But McDonald'sization is not just limited to the fast food industry. Today we see it everywhere from restaurants to banking systems to higher education. How have colleges and universities turned into places of McDonald'sization? If you think about it, they focus on efficiency when you take a multiple-choice test on a computer which automatically grades your test when you're done and then enters it automatically into an online grade book which you can then check any time, day or night. Predictability happens when we expect one professor to teach the same way and use similar teaching styles. Calculability shows up when what we produce in the classroom and what can be measured is the primary focus. You know this is true when what matters most to you is the grade you receive in the class or your GPA. Is this more important than the process of learning? Can all learning be quantifiable? And what about control? Standardized tests and an institution's rules and regulations on how and what is taught give a certain amount of control. And courses that are developed and packaged to be taught by any professor anywhere and outline exactly what needs to be done each class period have a great deal of control. All of these elements impact the type of education you receive. So, is McDonald'sization a good thing for colleges and universities? How does it affect the way you learn? Is McDonald'sization even good for society? And perhaps more important is how will this affect our future?