Education Manifesto
What student hasn't felt taken advantage of during their school years? Probably none, if you think about it. In this day and age, corporate control over American public education has taken advantage of students by using them as obligatory consumers to sell their products. This kind of forced endorsement is a violation of student's rights and agency. Corporate America needs to find a way to fill their coffers other than subjecting students and schools to have to consume a set amount of their product or lose their funding. The way corporations strike deals with school districts to provide funding and materials in exchange for an opportunity to expose the students to their product in order to sell as much as they can is unethical because it is taking advantage of students and forcing them to buy things they don't need, or even just watch TV. For example, Channel One, a daily, ad-bearing news program for grades 6-12 broadcasts "free" to 40% of all schools contracting it as a mandatory part of the curriculum. The incentive to schools? Installation and unlimited use of the provided satellite dish, VCRs, and classroom TVs. Channel One Communications owns, maintains, and insures the equipment--and repossesses it
This kind of sponsorship hasn't been exempt from my own education experience. Campbell's idea is no better, though; it brags that it is "Providing America's children with FREE school equipment!" But it's misleading because under the curriculum, schools can earn one "free" Apple iMac computer for only 94,950 soup labels. In the Colorado Springs school district, schools will receive $8. The numbers add up to about 100,000 General Mills products sold. What's wrong with that idea? Corporations trying to back up their product by using it as a teaching module is about as low as they can get. This can generate up to $10,000 a year for each school. So what can the average, everyday person do about this? Here's a list of things citizens can help keep schools free of commercialism. It seems that corporations are the only people in America who aren't blaming teachers for all of our education problems and low-test scores. Companies also make exclusive agreements to sell or use products, mostly with companies like Pepsi and Coca-Cola. If every citizen were to do these things, corporations would have little control over what our students are exposed to and forced to consume. org is developing and testing a critical thinking curriculum for use in K-12 classrooms-contact us for details. I remember having to watch Channel One every morning during second period all through junior high. Support adoption and enforcement of guidelines ensuring public debate on commercialized money offers and keep commercially sponsored programs out of classrooms (contact us for specific local and state model policies).
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