Comments on: Born to Buy: The Commercialization of Public Schools

By: Jesus Jefferson

Jesus Jefferson — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:44:58 +0000

For those interested please read about the public school system. This book is incredible and only costs a dollar or two on amazon

“None Dare Call it Education”

By: BigMike

BigMike — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:45:30 +0000

Oinko,

Right, I am clueless about schools. My Wife was a teacher for 6 yrs, so don’t even get me started!!!!

I attended the informational meetings, looked at the facilities and the budgets. They did not come up with any alternatives. Just the most expensive one. It was voted down! Go figure. They didn’t do there homework. Busing is breaking the backs of the schools and the taxpayers. I basically pay $500 a month in property taxes in a town that has virtually no services. I want out!

By: onineko

onineko — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:14:51 +0000

I’m a teacher at a junior high school, and our school used to have a McDonald’s night, where the staff worked at the restaurant for a couple hours and the school received the profits for the time worked. At the time I was a new teacher, so I didn’t actively campaign against it, but chose not to participate. When asked why, I said I don’t want to endorse McDonald’s in the eyes of our students and their families as an acceptable, healthy lifestyle choice by my participation. (This was before McDonalds added salads and other “healthy” items to their menus. Even so, I would still argue that most people who go to McDonalds don’t order their salads.)

In the United States, I don’t think we can completely get rid of brand name presence in the classroom. Corporations market so aggressively to children these days that branding has become a part of adolescent identity. Even the most conscientious parents would have a difficult time raising their children to resist brand name orientation. I do think schools have a responsibility to keep brand-name promotion to a minimum. This is not easy, because corporations make accepting their advertising a cheaper alternative.

With regard to michael (#33), I don’t think any principal would allow advertising into their schools simply because he or she thought the advertising itself was good to the school. It’s usually a concession for something else he or she thinks is valuable for the school, or saves the school money. Admins shouldn’t be put in the position to have to make these tough choices in the first place. People blame “society” because we don’t have a public culture that discusses the in’s and out’s of public policy. It’s all about entertainment and consumption.

To BigMike and others who think public schools are simply inefficient and not underfunded, attend a few school board meetings and learn about the budget. Education is extremely important to everyone, yet most people are in the dark about how their tax dollars are spent.

I applaud parents like escapee and dialectialy_yours for getting involved and taking a stand. One parent standing up for their kid can make a difference for everyone.

By: Sally Villarreal

Sally Villarreal — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:09:47 +0000

I remember Channel One. And the book covers. I think the “cool” thing became to put on your cover insider out so that you didn’t see the ads.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:54:43 +0000

In the school system my children attend, there are 3 big fundraisers in the course of a school year…some with a payoff (free party at the end of the year for participants, etc..).Well, I suggested to the principal one year (after taking my checkbook to the office and cutting a check for what I deemed “my fair share” of what someone who was actively doing the fundraiser was bringing in)to accept cash instead of selling stuff. Last year, I noticed on the first fundraiser letter from the PTA, that I could donate a certain amount of money and my children could then benefit from the incentives. So put some pressure on your princpal…he/she should be able to make changes like that for families who don’t agree with the corporatism of our public schools.
Trent, didn’t you say you were once a Pepsi drinker? The marketing apparently worked for them with you!
OTOH, we do live in a capatalistic country, and that is how most people make their living…selling something. I know for a fact that schools in other countries (my children attended a few of them in Belgium and France) and it is such a relief to NOT have to have children selling stuff at every turn to make money for the school….there are no hour long events during school to let them know about the products thay are meant to sell (hello…they should be learning about something other than crap from China…that’s 3-4 hours out of a school year…poof!). There is no guilt on the part of a parent who really cannot afford to participate. Or that sense of sadness from the kid who gets all worked up at these school events to win the big prize and the parents choose not to participate for whatever reason. School is school and commerce has no place there. I wish we were big enough as a people to learn from those countries and make school a much more serious matter.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:34:36 +0000

While I absolutely agree that advertising in the classroom is inappropriate, I have to disagree that they solution is to throw more money at the schools. A recent Washington Post article estimated a per pupil cost of almost $25,000 per kid per year in the DC area.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/04/AR2008040402921.html

And this isn’t a school system known for its academic excellence. I am homeschooling two kids for about $800 per year with much better results.

Stephanie

By: Jason L

Jason L — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:30:50 +0000

@Scott comment #21

You said: “Do people actually want lower taxes so they can buy more crap? ”

I’m glad that you and the government are enlightened enough to know how I would waste MY money, if I was allowed to keep it. Let’s stick to improving our schools, and not shoot for outright socialism, eh?

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:18:13 +0000

I don’t believe that marketers are allowed to corrupt schools due to the lack of funding. This could be true in some cases but I think it has to do with greed in other cases. The more the better. The student’s certainly aren’t getting much benefit from it except that they are being groomed in such a way that they become trained to be good little consumers. I think this probably has the most impact on the younger, more impressionable students. The fact that there are TV’s in most every classroom is really a shame. But it’s become the only way to get their attention. There have been some interesting studies, suggesting a link between TV and ADHD. At the very least, we are raising children who need to have TV to focus on. I guess I was lucky to attend private school and was exposed to very little comercialism. I do think the pizza hut program was one of the most important factors in getting me to read, one that has followed me since. It motivated me to read. But my mother was smart. Everytime I earned a pizza, she would take me to order the pizza and I would bring it home. Pizza hut didn’t make anything off my mom…But we had a dress code and had to dress presentably. No logo’s or writing of any kind of our shirts (another way of marketing) as well as no ripped jeans, short skirts, etc. I just think this is another reason to stay away from public schools. If nothing else, I think it’s good to send a child to private school or do homeschool early on, while s/he’s still impressionable. And McD’s et al DO target schools. The local pub school spent tons of $$ on a new school, deserted an perfectly good building, and now they have a pretty impressive food court, similar to ones at the mall. It’s not only sad but it’s sickening to think that children are being preyed upon by ppl who could care less. All they care about is training the future spenders of the US and use the kids as a vehicle to get into the parent’s pocketbook/wallet. If someone really cares about their children and what they are being exposed to at school, the only way to go is either private or homeschool.

By: michael

michael — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:34:40 +0000

Trent says: “Frankly, though, the blame for things like this falls on society in general.”

I disagree strongly, loudly, and as often as possible. Society is NEVER to blame, for ANYTHING. Society didn’t force school administrators to show commercials to these kids; the admins just chose to do so.

This is a pet peeve — every time something bad happens, there’s always a call to blame society. Why? Because society can’t be held accountable in any way. Every specific problem has a source, or group of sources. In this case we have: the local politicians, who chose not to fund adequately (perhaps); the parents and teachers, who allowed their children to be subjected to this; the admins, whose job is education, not marketing.

As long as society is blamed, nothing will ever change. When no one is ever held accountable, no one will ever step up and perform.

By: Pete

Pete — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:32:34 +0000

A couple points…kids in India, China, Japan, Germany (the list goes on) get better test scores because they are being trained for life. They are EXPECTED to go to school, pay attention, respect their teachers and study…because all of those teachers and parents realize that they need to train their children to survive! While Billy American is being coddled because his learning style may not be the same as Jimmy’s and Sally’s and Kim’s, the kids in other countries are learning History, Chemistry, Geometry…all from the same teacher…all with the same expectations…all with higher test scores in American History than our own kids are getting…enough of that rant…believe me I could go on about how we’re cheating our children and setting them up for failure…

Parents and schools need to wake up and challenge the companies “offering” all these great educational materials. They want the positive press of having contributed to the cause of education, but we don’t demand that they earn it. Instead they make US earn it by subjecting our kids to captured, focused marketing. What kind of response would we get if all parents stood up and MADE IT PUBLIC that the only way company XYZ will contribute to the cause of education is if we take valuable time away from learning to watch commercials? I bet the PR departments would have fun trying to spin that away.

Fuming inside now!

Pete

By: NP

NP — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:31:10 +0000

Our local Papa John’s Pizza gives each school a promotion night where the schools receive part of the sales receipts on that night. Our local Chic-fil-a does the same. Both of these promotions are much favored by the kids. I buy the pizza occasionally, because occasionally it IS pizza night when one is busy with sports practices and such. We occasionally visit the Chic-fil-a on the school night. We get a meal after a long day of school, work, and after-school activities and a chance to socialize with our community. Frugality is an important value, but not the ONLY value.

I simply tossed out that promo from Time For Kids. I decline the coke sales too. In fact I participate in very few fund raisers at the school. Sorry they can’t afford the new playground equipment or whatever.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:52:53 +0000

Mamacita-
By the way, I should disclose that, like Susan, we’re a homeschooling family. We’re also enrolled in Book-It.
See, I find Pizza Hut’s program to be pretty benign. Because no kick-back to corrupt the program, so the marketing is pretty upfront. The family still has a choice (although, a heavily pressured choice- who can say no to a 7yo wanting to go to Pizza Hut?) to contribute their money to the corporation. There is the benefit, as well, of setting reading goals. Granted, there are better ways to do it.
My problem with Channel One, etc, is the captive audience. When I was in school, we had no choice but to watch the show or try to tune it out. The money was given first, without regard to how it influences the students. Or, what’s worse, the influence was obvious, and the schools were comfortable exposing their charges to whatever drivel happens to be on display.

By: dialecticaly_yours

dialecticaly_yours — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:16:34 +0000

My kids have attended public school, charter school and home school. NOWHERE in that list did I abdicate my responsibility as a parent. It is my job to help them understand and deal with the bigger world.

DARE is not marketing in the usual sense, but it is equally ubiquitous.In Kindergarten, my oldest had to sign a DARE pledge, etc. I found out about it AFTER THE FACT and was LIVID— I told the principal in no uncertain terms that while DARE may be an excellent program, by making my child make those kinds of “promises” without my knowledge, they effectively made the school more important than his parents, and THEN I hit him with: Did you get a chance to see your third grader take the DARE pledge? So why couldn’t I?”

Specifically about advertising, we talked with our kids very early and often about everything from the “convenient” school uniform flyers that promote a particular brand, and “give money back to schools”. Then we did the math at Wal Mart– the same blue slacks, with minor differences in quality of construction, were *double* the price for (school-specified) brand versus the Wal-Mart store brand. My 5yo figured out IMMEDIATELY that “spending less money on the uniform left more money for books and toys”.

When hit up to buy cookies, cookie dough, chocolate, etc., I often simply say, “My food allergies make that a poor purchase, and I hate to throw food away. Is there a way to donate money directly for the project/program?” You would NOT believe the number of times I’ve been told by *school officials* that there isn’t a way to donate directly!!!! It’s INFURIATING– they want to SELL THOSE CANDY BARS, because the back of the label has EVEN MORE ADVERTISING on it!

We’ve had great discussions over the kids’ whole lives about brand identifiers, marketing ploys, icon recognition, and one memorable evening driving around town to prove the hypothesis that Hollywood Video and Blockbuster not only had stores within SIGHT of each other, but usually on the opposite side of the street!

When confronted with these school-related marketing ploys– specifically, Book-It, I had a great “comeback” for our charter school advisor. “The kid most likely to appreciate the motivator is allergic to milk, and can’t eat at Pizza-Hut anyway because of their cross-contamination issues. Both kids are participating, but when they reach their goals, I’ll give them a reward. I’ll hand their coupons back to you to give to another parent with preschool kids.” The kids got treats for participating, I bought them a $5-10 toy instead of a fast-food meal, adn the school got ‘credit’ for their participation.

Bookadventure.com is much friendlier than Book-it, anyway. *G*

By: susan

susan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:13:57 +0000

After reading these posts, it gives me one more reason why I am so glad that we were able to homeschool our three children for many years. My youngest is graduating this year and they are all well-adjusted, very socialized, well-informed adults. It is definately worth looking into if you are dissatified with your school district. You are your child’s greatest teacher.

By: escapee

escapee — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:57:22 +0000

This is a great article and something that I care deeply about.

Let me tell you about something that happened at my son’s school. I had seen on a local blog that kids were being shown fast food corporation logos and even singing a “fast food” song in ALL of our county’s kindergarten classes. At first, I couldn’t believe it- what teacher in their right mind would allow this? I wrote to my school board and school principal and asked them if this was true. IT WAS!! I about slit my own throat!

I raised holy hell after that, writing to every school board member, superintendant, etc, armed with journal studies citing the obesity epidemic, kids susceptibility to marketing, etc. Another local parent did the same, and to my astonishment, the principal at my son’s school contacted me a few days later and told me that all mentions of fast food had been removed from the kindergarten class’s curriculum!

The bottom line is that I spoke out, and it worked! So, I’d urge all parents to speak out- you might think that you won’t make a difference, but if two people can get this sort of thing removed from a curriculum, then you can do it too!

Here is a snippet of the actual curriculum that was sent to me, so you can read for yourself what the kids were singing in the classroom- it’s pretty unbelievable:

The Fast Food Song

3.Display the enlarged posters for “Fast Foods Song,” verse 1.

•Read the fast food icons with the children.
•Demonstrate the actions that accompany the signs. Have children practice the actions with you.
•Pizza Hut – squat down, make rooftop with arms over head
•Kentucky Fried Chicken – thumbs to armpits, flap arms like wings
•MacDonald’s – arch both arms to form an “M”
•Put the words and the actions together.
•Sing the first verse with the actions for the children.
•Have children join in singing and doing the actions for verse 1.

4.Repeat the same procedure for teaching verse 2.

•Taco Bell – make rooftop with arms over head, move head from left to right
•Dunkin’ Donuts – one hand make a cup, the other hand dunks into it
•Wendy’s – hold fists to sides of head (for pigtails)

5.Review: Signs are pictures and words that give us information. Signs help us locate places. Signs are consistent from one place to another.

By: Limewater

Limewater — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:27:43 +0000

I think you should clarify that the “equipment” Channel One provides pretty much consists of a satellite dish to receive Channel One and a television set for every classroom.

Television is an even worse educational tool than Powerpoint.

I remember Channel One News from when I was in high school. They spent an entire week talking about the return of some captive killer whale to the ocean off the coast of Iceland or something. They spent an entire day discussing what a tornado is. It’s terrible, and it offers no serious benefit to the students. It does, however, manage to steal over a week of class time over the course of a school year. Ten minutes a day adds up.

By: The Frugal Immigrant

The Frugal Immigrant — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:07:13 +0000

My son is in first grade. His elementary school teacher(s) have a special day, when they work couple of hours after school at our local McDonalds and all kids are invited to come in and buy a burger and the tip goes to the teacher.
The kid receives an Extra toy for visiting McDonalds on that day. If they buy the kids menu – this makes 2 cheep Chinese-slave-labor-made toys in a single day!

What else – just this week my son (1st grade) comes from school and brings up a TIME-for-Kids brochure, explaining how wonderful it would be for his school to receive the “free” materials from TIME magazine, describing current news in language that kids can understand.
All that my son (and his parents) need to do to support our school in this “GREAT” effort is to write the names and addresses (in this brochure) of TEN of ourfriends, relatives, etc. you name it, and TIME magazine wil send them a SPECIAL offer for 80% off the cover price for a subscription of their wonderful and “generous” magazine.

On top of that – 3 days after the brochure comes a letter from the PRINCIPAL of the schol, explaining in more detail how wonderful it would be for the school to get these free materials from TIME magazine.

What a bunch of crooks!!! This whole thing needs to go completely commercialized, so people finally say enough is enough!
I’ve voted for every hike in taxes for school levies in my area, and they all have passed. I don’t know why they still have to sucumb to advertisers pressure.

By: Awesome Mom

Awesome Mom — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:47:39 +0000

I remember when Channel One started being shown in schools. My homeroom teacher in High School called my parents in to talk with them because I was discussing actual and important topics with my friends instead of paying attention to the TV. My parents were annoyed that the teacher bothered them for such a silly thing.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:12:51 +0000

Sense – as far as I’m aware, there are no schools here sponsored by McDonalds. There is a school sponsored by a freight company, the school is now called “Bairds Mainfreight Primary School” and to be honest, it’s a community success story. The school in question is decile 1 (meaning really low income families) and the company has really gone all out to make a positive difference for those kids. Yes, their logo is everywhere, bu I don’t see it as a bad thing because it’s pretty difficult to get people to buy more freight than they need, or to have kids pester their parents to send parcels for them! Thin end of the wedge though, perhaps?

I think if it were McDonalds there would be much more of an outcry. Perhaps what you are thinking of is “Ronald McDonald House” which is a charity that supports the families of children who are in hospital. There was quite a disturbance when they opened a branch of McDonalds at the children’s hospital.

By: mamacita

mamacita — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:08:14 +0000

Personally, I resent Pizza Hut’s Book It program. It’s obvious that Pizza Hut makes a fortune off of it — the kids get a gift certificate for only one personal pizza; anyone else who goes with the kid to Pizza Hut has to pay for his own meal, including mom, dad, and siblings. And, like you said, the schools get nothing out of it. There are plenty of other, better ways to promote reading without doing Pizza Hut’s marketing for them.