Channel One News Essay, Research Paper
There is a big argument break outing within our state s instruction system. Corporate America is occupying our schoolrooms and campuses at an dismaying rate. Corporate pudding stones such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike, and US West are doing their presence felt in the hallways, gyms and schoolrooms from class schools to colleges. Should these companies be allowed to purchase their manner into the schoolroom? The reply is no. Corporate restructuring of our educational systems is non the manner to work out our schools funding jobs.
Large companies want to acquire into the schoolrooms every bit shortly as possible. Following twelvemonth, 53 million American kids will do up about $ 250 billion dollars worth of immediate disbursement ( Long, 2000:1 ) . If the kids are decently marketed, this figure would lift exponentially in ulterior old ages, taking to a life-time of trade name acknowledgment. These kids are get downing to tie in certain merchandises with the trade name names that they see and use at school every twenty-four hours. This will so likely cause these kids to go on to purchase the same merchandises subsequently in life every bit good. This life-time of buying power could take to incalculable net incomes in future old ages.
Channel One is a day-to-day newscast that is offered to pupils around the state. About 40 per centum of American schools tune into Channel One everyday ( Manning, 1999:1 ) . A controversial enterpriser, Chris Whittle, founded this company in 1989. These pupils are purportedly tuning into this plan every twenty-four hours in order to maintain up on current events and issues around the universe. However, Channel One is now known as the most profitable in-school selling run in the state. The company gives the schools, which will assign clip for pupils to watch the plan, free orbiters and telecasting sets. What it besides gives them is two proceedingss of paid advertisement ( Stark, 2000 ; 1 ) .
About all of the 86,000 schools across the state utilize some kind of plan where the schools receive money or equipment in exchange for proof-of-purchase vouchers or grosss ( McQueen, 2000:2 ) . Is our public instruction system nil more than an inducement based buying plan, or are we seeking to learn independent idea and originative thought? Third grade math is being taught by utilizing Tootsie Rolls. Classroom concern classs are being taught by touring pupils through McDonald s installations. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are feuding over multi-million dollar contracts that would guarantee pupil ingestion of their merchandises foremost ( Manning, 1999:1 ) . Nike offers free dress and equipment for athleticss plans, merely if the jocks will go walk-to hoardings, have oning big Sons on their New Jerseies and vesture. US West builds squad scoreboards merely for schools that will hold to sole vending trades.
However, there is something else to be said about the commerce of our state s public instruction system. In standardised testing, our state s instruction system is falling behind the remainder of the universe. The authorities has been dawdling on instruction reform, and fewer dollars are being pumped into most countries of public instruction. Some would state that commerce is a great chance to set money back into the schools. South Fork Highschool In Marlin County, Florida gave Pepsi the sole right to to market and sell its drinks to their pupils in exchange for $ 155,000 (
Stark, 2000:3 ) . A school that was in desperate demand of funding received compensation and Pepsi, in bend, gets to be the exclusive distributer of drinks to the school. This is the concern exchange. These companies will supply money and services for schools that are missing proper support in exchange for what is turning out to be fundamental corporate brainwashing. This may non be needfully bad for the pupils, but it does present a menace to true consumerism. Another great illustration of this is The Wal-Mart Corporation. More than 1,800 Teacher of the Year awards are given by Wal-Mart, each instructor having $ 500 that can be turned around and pass at Wal-Mart to buy goods and supplies for the category ( Long, 2000:2 ) . This is where Wal-Mart s investing begins to pay off. When the pupils see that Wal-Mart has recognized a instructor of theirs, and has in bend given money for the school, than the pupils will get down to see Wal-Mart as a good company. This may, in-turn, do sub-conscious purchase purpose in the hereafter for these pupils. While this may look like a just trade, money in exchange for consideration, but there is a deeper issue at bay. Should this possible corporate brainwashing be allowed to happen when our kids s susceptible heads are at hazard? If this is allowed to go on, so our full society could be interpreted as being one big market place, where commerce dominates over everything, even basic public instruction.
There are some people who are contending back against the onslaught of corporate propaganda, and it can do a difference. A group in Seattle, known as the Citizen s Campaign for Commercial-free schools ( CCC ) , has been forming meetings and commerce walk-throughs in order to raise public consciousness of the state of affairs ( Manning, 1999:3 ) . In these walk-throughs, groups from the CCC will travel and roll up as much selling stuff in the schools as they can, and direct transcripts of their studies to the appropriate school boards. One schoolboard, with force per unit area from the CCC and other protagonists, issued a declaration saying We are opposed to exposing schoolchildren to corporate values in an educational environment where they assume that whatever is presented to them carries the blessing of the educational constitution ( Manning, 1999:3 ) . After this declaration was issued, members of the CCC were put on a school-community undertaking force responsible for analyzing the issue and doing policy recommendations. Four provinces have besides begun to restrict certain types of advertisement and other commercial activity from their public schools: California, Florida, New York, Maine, and Illinois ( McQueen, 2000:1 ) . Harmonizing to the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education in Oakland, the Madison School Board in Wisconsin was the first of all time to reject reclamation of an bing corporate contract when they cancelled their contract with Coca-Cola after months of public argument ( McQueen, 2000:2 ) .
In shutting, it is imperative that this corporate profanation of our instruction system be stopped now. If this job is non remedied, so concerns could rather practicably stop up running our public instruction. Peoples are doing a base, but the consequences are excessively far and mediate for any existent difference to be seen. Consumerism will finally take the topographic point of larning as the end of our schools, and we will fall farther behind in footings of international instruction criterions.
