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Research Roundup 18, 1 (Fall 2001)
Commercialism in Schools
By Kirstin Larson
Commercial activities in schools have increased dramatically in the last
decade, and many people predict they will continue to grow in frequency and
variety. As schools with strained budgets struggle to meet demands for
improvement and acquire expensive technologies and learning materials for
students, many businesses are attempting to obtain access to these students for their own purposes.
Typically, businesses offer support to schools in the form
of cash, equipment, and educational materials in exchange for the right to
advertise or sell products to kids while they are in school.
Considerable debate focuses on school districts entering
into exclusive contracts with soft-drink bottlers and agreeing to air Channel
One in the classroom. Critics contend that exclusive contracts with beverage
companies result in schools profiting from student consumption of unhealthy
soft drinks, undermining what students are taught in their health and nutrition
classes.
Proponents cite the much-needed cash infusion and
scholarship money that many of these deals provide. Commercialism has always
been in schools, they argue, and now savvy schools are charging companies for
the privilege.
The intense public controversy sparked by these deals has warranted a report by
the U.S. General Accounting Office, and led to a number of recent attempts at
regulation. Proponents view these interactions as natural, symbiotic
relationships that benefit both businesses and children, while critics view
them as something more akin to mad cow disease--they're spreading rapidly,
undermining the ability of schools to control the curriculum, and eating away
at the minds of children.
Educators and business people on both sides of the debate
agree that schools need to have policies addressing commercial activities.
This issue of Research Roundup gives voice to the concerns raised by critics
and supporters of commercialism in schools.
The U.S. General Accounting Office reports on the nature and frequency
of commercial activities in public schools, and the laws and policies that
regulate them.
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development highlights
controversies sparked by commercialism in schools.
The Consumers Union looks at what commercial sponsors are teaching kids
in school.
Alex Molnar considers how the commercialization of public education may
affect the larger civic culture.
Nancy Willard examines electronic marketing in schools and offers
guidelines for schools that do business with technology providers
U.S. General Accounting Office. Commercial Activities in Schools,
GAO/HEHS-00-156. Washington, D.C.: Author, 2000. Available from: U.S.
General Accounting Office, Box 37050, Washington, D.C. 20013. 202 512-6000.
First copy free, additional copies $2 each. Downloadable from website: http://www.gao.gov/.
Over the last decade commercial activities in public schools have increased in
visibility and taken unprecedented forms, while subject to very little
comprehensive or uniform regulation at the state and district levels, the U.S.
General Accounting Office (GAO) reports. Businesses are eager to tap into the
growing youth market, while schools are turning to businesses for resources
such as cash and technology-related equipment and services. The variety and
frequency of school-based commercial activities exceeds the scope of most state
laws and district policies.
This GAO report is a response to growing concerns over how students' behavior
may be affected by the advertising, product sales, and other commercial
activities taking place in schools. At the time of the report, Congressional
hearings had been held and legislation drafted (H.R. 2915, S.1908) to address
the commercial exploitation of children and the need to protect students'
privacy rights.
The report draws from a review of state laws and regulations, site visits to 19
public elementary and secondary schools in seven districts in three states,
interviews with national education and business organization officials, and
reports on commercial activities.
The report identifies four distinct types of school-based
commercialism: (1) Product sales, including arrangements with companies to sell
their products in and to schools, as well as rebate and fundraising programs;
(2) direct advertising, including ads in school publications
and free product samples; (3) indirect advertising using such methods as
corporate-sponsored incentive programs, educational materials that display
brand names, product samples, and
corporate gifts; and (4) market research using questionnaires, taste tests, and
online surveys.
In the schools researchers visited, exclusive soft-drink
contracts and short-term fundraising were the most common and lucrative
methods. Nationwide, exclusive soft-drink contracts were the fastest growing
commercial activity in schools.
Despite their growing visibility, revenue from school-based commercial
activities represented only a tiny percentage of the budgets in the districts
researchers visited. In addition, the report notes, many of the advertisements
"yield no tangible commercial benefit to the schools, although they do
yield benefit to the advertiser."
Only five states have statutes and regulations that specifically and
comprehensively address school-related commercial activities, while 14 states
take a more piecemeal approach by restricting or even explicitly permitting
specific activities. The level at which decisions are made concerning
commercial activities in schools also varies by state, though the
decision-making is usually left to local school officials.
The report notes that specific activities often get designated controversial or
noncontroversial according to the values and preferences (including brand
preferences) of school officials and parents "rather than the nature of
the activity itself." A wide range of policies and levels of commercial
activities therefore exist among and even within districts.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Supporting Students
or Selling Access? ASCD Infobrief on Commercialism in Schools. Alexandria,
Virginia. Infobrief Issue 15, November 1998: Author, November 1998.
Available from: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,
1-800-933-2723 or online at http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/infobrief/9811.html
Proponents laud the financial windfall and critics deplore the exploitation of
a young and captive audience, as commercial arrangements between businesses and
schools undergo what many view as a dramatic shift in frequency, nature,
and degree of boldness on the part of in-school marketers. ASCD's Infobrief
highlights arguments on both sides of the debate.
Educators and business people alike are divided over the very nature of
commercial arrangements between schools and businesses. Proponents often use
the term "school-business partnership" to emphasize the mutually
beneficial, cooperative nature of these arrangements. While businesses may
benefit from their sales and marketing in schools, underfunded schools gain much-needed
resources for their students, who will still be able to learn while exposed to
a minimal amount of inschool advertising, supporters argue. To illustrate the
symbiotic relationship between schools and businesses, a Colorado school
official points to posters that display a corporate logo while encouraging
students to stay in school.
Critics, however, think the term "school-business partnerships"
disguises the exploitative nature of many of these arrangements. They point out
that corporations often sponsor schools to gain access to students during
school hours, cultivate them as present and future consumers, shape students'
influence on their parents' purchasing behavior, and gain credibility with
students through the business association with trusted teachers. Critics argue
that such arrangements are commercial transactions that exploit students and
betray the public trust.
Channel One is a twelve-minute classroom news program that includes two minutes
of commercials. Along with the free television programming, equipment is made
available to schools as long as they air the show almost daily. Supporters of
Channel One defend the educational value of the show and point out its
popularity among students and teachers.
Critics object to what they identify as the program's explicit advertising,
dubious educational content, waste of costly instructional time,
disproportionate presence in high-poverty areas, and noticeable effects on
students, who mistake commercials for public-service announcements.
Districts considering commercial agreements with business should enlist school
and community participation in the decision, thoroughly assess the educational
value of the agreement, and never require a school to take part in such an
agreement.
Consumers Union Education Services. Captive Kids: A Report on Commercial
Pressures on Kids at School. Yonkers, NY.: Consumers Union, 1995. Available
from: Consumers Union of U.S., Inc., 101 Turman Avenue, Yonkers, New York
10703. 914 378-2000. Downloadable from website: http://www.consumer.org/other/captivekids/index.htm
At a growing number of schools, students are encouraged not only to read and do
their homework, but to buy. Schools across the country are allowing corporate
sponsors to influence the curriculum and the lifelong purchasing habits of
students, according to the Consumers Union.
Along with more traditional curricular fare, many students are now learning why
they should buy (or get their parents and neighbors to buy) certain brand-name
products. They are also studying educational materials that present corporate
and industry opinions on social, environmental, and health issues as facts.
The report warns that when educators expose students to
in-school advertising and promotional materials, they implicitly endorse
corporate sponsors, undermine students' ability to distinguish between factual
accounts and promotional vehicles, and violate public trust. The Consumers
Union also warns against allowing commercial interests to set the classroom
agenda.
In their review of 77 sponsored educational kits and packets, researchers found
that the majority--including those endorsed by educational associations or
produced by independent developers--were "commercial or highly
commercial" despite the absence of advertising, and nearly 80 percent
offered biased, incomplete, or self-serving information. "A few,"
moreover, "contained significant inaccuracies." The educational value
of sponsored materials is often left to the discretion of teachers ill-equipped
to assess their accuracy or to defuse the effects of their advertising plugs,
the report states.
To preserve the integrity of schools, the Consumers Union recommends that:
- the
corporate sector publicly support appropriate school funding
- the
education community recognize that bringing commercial influences into
schools is unethical regardless of any financial payoff
- parents
teach their children to be media-literate and critically aware consumers
- government
ensure proper school funding, make corporations pay a fair share of school
funding, and eliminate tax breaks for corporate contributions that bring
commercialism into schools
Molnar, Alex. Corporate Involvement in Schools: Time for a More Critical
Look. State Education Standard volume 2, No. 1. Alexandria, Virginia:
National Association of State Boards of Education, Spring 2001. Available
from: National Association of State Boards of Education, 277 South
Washington Street #100, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. 703 684-4000. Downloadable
from website: http://www.schoolcommercialism.org/
Unsolicited materials developed by well-funded outside interests are flooding
schools, which must fall back on their own resources to evaluate the materials
due to the decentralized nature of curriculum approval. The abundance of
unscreened materials may weaken academic programs and undermine democratic
control of the curriculum (typically through elected school boards), warns a
report by the National Education Association's Committee on Propaganda in the
Schools--in 1929.
Molnar argues that these concerns over commercial influences in schools are
even more urgent today, given the phenomenal rise in school-based commercial activities
over the last decade. Since 1990, for example, press citations of sponsored
educational materials increased by 1,875 percent, citations of exclusive
contracts between schools and corporations increased 1,384 percent, and
citations of privatization increased 3,206 percent. Of the eight categories
Molnar researched, fundraising had the largest number of citations.
According to Molnar, corporate involvement in schools has interfered with the
ability of schools to provide a sound education, promote the best interests of
children, and foster "democratic civic values." Children in schools,
he argues, are increasingly being approached as consumers rather than as
learners and citizens. He cites, for example, ads and products that encourage
kids to consume junk food and sodas, market research that exploits students and
invades their privacy, and lack of public accountability on the part of
education-management organizations.
Attempts have been made to regulate commercial activities at state and federal
levels, but many have failed. "Unfortunately," Molnar writes,
"to this point in America, policymakers have devoted much less time to
thinking through the constraints that may be necessary on corporate involvement
in the schools than to considering ways to expand school-business
partnerships." He says this will need to change if the character of public
education and the democratic culture it expresses are to remain intact.
Willard, Nancy. Capturing the Eyeballs and "E-Wallets" of Kids in
School: Dot.com Invades Dot.edu. Eugene, Oregon: Center for Advanced
Technology in Education, 2000. 541 346-3460. Downloadable from website:
http://netizen.uoregon.edu/index.html
In exchange for technology resources, a growing number of schools are allowing
businesses to collect personal information from students through online
profiling and to expose students to the targeted marketing enabled by banner
ads, according to Willard, director of the Center for Advanced Technology in
Education at the University of Oregon. She terms this latest incarnation of
corporate sponsorship the "dot.com business model."
According to Willard, schools are participating in these exchanges without
adequate assessment of their educational value, impact on students, or ethical
implications. Unethical classroom activities may require students to disclose
personal information to be used for marketing purposes, allow students' online
behavior to be tracked without their knowledge, or permit this personal
information to be distributed to other online businesses without the knowledge
or consent of either students or their parents.
Willard warns that students who are encouraged to share
personal information that will be used to manipulate their own behavior and the
behavior of other students for commercial purposes "may fail to develop an
understanding of the boundaries of personal privacy."
While no laws or regulations address these specific concerns over electronic
marketing in schools, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act does seek to
protect the general online privacy of children under 13. Willard notes,
"If teachers are selecting sites for student research, the sites should
first be analyzed for the quality, appropriateness, and suitability of the
educational materials present on the site."
She recommends a set of principles for a school policy on
commercialism on the Internet and identifies questions teachers should ask when
considering the use of a particular website with students. These questions
include:
- What information will be collected directly or indirectly from students as they use the site?
- What is the purpose of the collection of information?
- What security provisions have been established to ensure the confidentiality of students' personal information?
- Does the site have any banner ads? If so, what is the relationship of the collection of data to the presence of banner advertising?
Kirstin Larson is a research analyst and writer for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management at the University of Oregon.
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