The duty of an educator of children to impose educational practices based upon his conception of the best interests of the children in his care can be justified by the inability of the children to know their own best interests. Immaturity entails inability to judge. Obviously, this argument has more or less force at different times and in different circumstances. An educator in higher education is dealing with adults, people who can be assumed to know what their own best interests are. Therefore she cannot justify her action in imposing her educational practice upon the immaturity of her students. There are obviously other justifications for the power of the educator to determine the curriculum and educational practice of higher education. However, the dissimilarity from educational practice in schools raises two possible arguments that need to be considered, and that are familiar from institutional educational discourses. First, we are involved in adult education so we should respect the choices of students as adult consumers. Second, we are educating adults so we should be able to assume the students can look out for his or her own self-interest. Each argument attempts to shift responsibility from the educator, at institutional or at individual level, to the people being educated. Hence each raises the question: is it the duty of educators to care what is in the best interests of students?

This question is fundamental to the ethics of educators in the tertiary sector. Higher education does more than educate individual students. It is the site of research activity, it transmits cultural values, and it provides apprenticeships for the scholarly disciplines. Legal education also provides support for professional practice, and plays a regulatory role in the legal services market. Higher education is an important economic activity, and plays an important role in legitimising social status and supporting social mobility. These are important and legitimate concerns for those active in tertiary education. It is far from straightforward or simple to determine what might be in the best interest of students. Therefore it is tempting to shift this responsibility onto the students’ shoulders. This chapter attempts to explain why this temptation should be resisted.