[jackvalentine]

I'm talking about the concept of "voluntary informed consent" in the context of the ethics of research studies. It's a far more specific thing than 'oh our capitalist system requires our labour or we'll freeze to death'.

Voluntary informed consent generally requires that participation is completely voluntary, that any rewards for participating don't cause undue influence on the participant's decision to participate and that there will be no consequences or loss of benefits for not participating.

I would argue that to reach this standard the requirement to participate in studies to complete your degree would need to be known before enrollment (likely the case) and the actual study you'll be participating in needs to be identified (almost definitely not the case). Anything less and students will find themselves financially and personally committed to a course of education without truly knowing what they'll be required to do to pass.

If you're interested in the topic, take a look at this neat little booklet: https://oprs.usc.edu/files/2017/04/Informed-Consent-Booklet-...