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SCHOOLS
FOR SALE? COMMERCIALISM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Is there anything
wrong with that math problem?
Increasingly, schools are forging partnerships with big corporations,
allowing vending machines, conspicuous advertising, and market research
firms into schools in exchange for much-needed funds and resources.
Is this a case where the end justifies the means? When do these
partnerships do more harm than good?
On this edition of The Merrow Report, John Merrow talks with Andrew
Hagelshaw, Senior Program Officer at the Center
for Commercial-Free Public Education, and David
Walsh, President of the National
Institute on Media and the Family and author of Selling Out
America's Children, about commercialism in public schools. Where
should educators, families, and policy makers draw the line?
recorded 10/26/99
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ARTICLES
The
American School Board Journal:
"The Lure of School Marketing,"
Lawrence Hardy, 10/25/99
"The Great Cola Wars," Robert L. Zorn, 2/99.
"Insert Coins in Slot," Kathleen Vail, 2/99.
"Broadsides for Your Busses," Tibbett L. Speer,
11/95.
The Nation:
"Students for Sale," Steve Manning, 9/27/99.
The
New York Times:
"Schools Making Easy Money by Helping Market
Research," Mary B.W. Tabor, 4/5/99.
"Math Book with Brand Names Raises Concerns,"
Constance L. Hayes, 3/21/99.
"Corporations, Classrooms and Commercialism,"
Deborah Steed, 1/5/97.
San
Jose Mercury News:
"ZapMe! School Role Debated," Michael
Bazeley, 3/22/99.
WEB SITES
Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Center
for the Analysis of Commercialism in Education
The
Center for Commercial-Free Public Education
Consumers
Union
Captive
Kids: A report on commercial pressures on kids at school,
1995
Education Commission
of the States
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FACTS
Children spend $70 million each year and hold considerable sway
over their parents' purchasing decisions.
Schools generated and estimated $750 million in revenues for the
vending machine market in 1997.
Profits from school vending machine sales that used to go to extras
such as athletic equipment and extracurricular activities are
now used to buy office equipment, books and computers.
Soda consumption among 13-18 year olds has gone up 80% since 1980.
12,000 high schools and middle schools in 47 states contract with
Channel One, a company that gives free televisions to schools
on the condition that they air a 10 minute news segment and 2
minutes of advertising each day. Channel One's pitch to advertisers
is, "We have the undivided attention of millions of teenagers
for 12 minutes a day."
ZapMe! will supply 15 computers and an Internet satellite hookup
to any school that promises to use the machines, which feature
constant on-screen advertising and allow advertisers to monitor
which sites kids visit, for at least four hours a day. 200 schools
in about a dozen states have partnered with ZapMe.
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