Education For Sale
Our education system is a reflection of the greater society we live in. The main focus of this essay is on K-12 but a lot of the content can apply to community colleges and universities as well. Our schools mirror the economic situation in our communities. If you want to learn about a city, a good place to start is it’s school system. The old phrase, “follow the money” can apply to many things and the United States education system is no different. There is a general feeling that our education system has only worsened with the passage of time. It has to be “fixed”. This is an over simplification of what has happened in our schools in the last fifty years. American society always evolves and changes. What may seem like a worsening situation to one group may simply another group getting ahead. There have been huge changes in our education system over the last 50 years; integration, population growth, public versus private schools, and the explosion of computer and internet use just to name a few. In the last twenty years there has been an often overlooked change, our schools have become another market place for companies to sell their products directly to buyers. Even more subtle is the way schools prepare students to not only be workers but consumers as well. This has been going on almost from the start of education as we know it today. Now there is more focus on science an math and less on arts and humanities. The focus on science and math helps the economy but not the society. We are becoming less able to think critically. All of these changes are important but the last one has a huge impact turning students into consumers and producers first before citizens. Schools serve economic interests in two basic ways; one, as a large market for the sale of products and two as a training ground for what the society will need to keep the current power structure in place.
It can be argued going back over a hundred years our education system has been designed to produce what types of workers the economy needs. At the beginning of the last century, it was largely factory workers. So life in the school reflected life in the factory. Precision schedules, measuring quality, a chain of command and respect for authority are taught from day one in the class room only to be reinforced later in life at the steel or textile mill or on the auto assembly line. Like the factory there are all kinds of ways for measuring the final product. All across the United States in both public and private school students have to take standardized tests in addition to studying what ever has been assigned by their teachers. The tests are redesigned every so often so educators can cite improvements (we are doing well) or perceived failures (saying we are raising the standards). Instead of looking at individuals, states and education administrators look at data and subjective scores on often culturally biased tests. This is education’s version of quality control. For much of the last century it was not uncommon for a person to go right from school right into the local plant and stay there for the rest of their life. Many schools even reflect the factory architecturally. There is an office for the principal and his staff (plant manager and his staff) and wings where specialized work is done such as the history department (where fenders are painted) and both are usually surrounded by a high fence. It is not only the structure that resembles the factory. There are also similar sounds. Schedules are punctuated by bells and announcements are made by a loudspeaker system that covers the entire campus. When there is work to be done, the only one supposed to talk is the teacher much like the supervisor that will come later in life. There is not much room for soft skills like imagination and critical thinking in such a structure but there is a lot of room for a large captive market.
Schools are a huge market for all kinds of products. There is Channel One broadcast every morning to schools all across America. It is a “news” channel going out to 6 million teens a day in 11,000 high and junior high schools across the United States. (1). They do not sell news. Channel One makes a deal with the schools for the benefit of Channel One. In return for loaned (not given) video equipment, the school has to show it’s broadcast 90% of the time school is in. It is clearly a for profit company given access to a captive audience. Parents are completely out of the decision process. It is a pattern we will see again. Channel One show news stories with advertising. In most cases the teacher has no choice but to use class time to show it. Educators, local or otherwise, have no input into the programming or commercials. Channel One cuts across a wide age group 11 to 18 year olds. Some of the stories are considered by many to be inappropriate for the age group they are being shown to. For example, stories on gay marriage; 11 year olds cannot fully understand all of the issues and implications involved. There are other problems. Another related issue that comes up when dealing with such a diverse age group is movie previews that air on channel One. “Dude Where is my Car” is one example. (2) Seniors in high school are much better equipped to deal with the portrayal of drugs and other adult issues in the movie than their junior high counter parts. They consistently advertise products that are not the healthiest choices like candy, chips and other snack food. There is no competing narrative in the class rooms for the news and advertising. What is shown is one short take on a news story and a limited amount of products. All of this takes time away from teaching and learning. Advertising beamed in everyday is one thing but corporations have moved well beyond this, setting up business in the school itself.
The school itself is now another market. In the last ten or so years vending machine companies have set up contracts with individual schools and school systems to sell their products and share the proceeds with the schools. To a system facing a tight budget, this may seem like a good alternative. In 2001 high schools in Washington DC were taking in $4,000 to $30,000 a year from the placement of vending machines. (3) Again there is no input from parents, teachers or students. The food, snacks and drinks are rarely if ever healthy and the businesses again get the better deal. They have a captive market with few choices. Some students like the arrangement but the cost in health are staggering. We are in the middle of an obesity epidemic brought on by poor diet starting at an early age. Company sponsorship of events are another way companies get into schools. One is the Pizza Hut reading incentives program in which children receive certificates for free pizza if they achieve a monthly reading goal”. Another is The Canadian company ShowBiz brings moveable video dance parties into schools to showcase various sponsors' products. (4) Direct marketing to students K - 12 is one thing but what is really learned are lessons carried on throughout one’s life.
What is taught in the schools from the turn of the last century to today are lessons needed by business and industry. Reading, writing, science and math we all can agree are important items every student should learn. However, there are more subtle lessons that are never graded students often learn for the rest of their lives. Respect and fear of authority are at the top of the list. The teacher has the power to not only humiliate, inflict punishment (physical or otherwise) at school but can also get the student in trouble at home as well. If this is not enough there are always assistant principals and principals. to turn to. Punishment at school can take many forms, from humiliation, to physical violence to temporary expulsion or even permanent expulsion. None of these punishments address the cause of the problem and often only make it worse. Sending students home for fighting will only cause them to get behind in their studies and leaves the issues that lead to the confrontation unaddressed. Our K-12 system teaches very little soft skills like imagination or thinking critically. There is little done to encourage use of imagination. Critical thinking can be a sure way to get into trouble. This even holds true in the school newspaper. The Supreme Court in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier January 1988 has ruled high school papers are not protected as free speech because a school newspaper is not considered a “public forum” . (5) Student have no voice in their own schools from what is taught to how they are treated. The power structure is completely imbalanced. Students have no “voice” in what goes on in their day to day lives as students.
We are getting the best education money can buy. Routines, skills and values needed to keep the economy going are mass-produced in our education factories. The chances one has for success in life are greatly determined by the education they receive. Some schools produce those who will lead the economy while other produce those who will work it. Education is not about “education” but rather about keeping the dominant narrative about who and what we are going. Through routine, underlying lessons about “success” physical structure, and direct marketing the final product is being produced as demanded for the most part, consumers.
Works Cited
1. Channel One www.channel.com Copyright 2008
2. 1Choice on Line www.obligation.org Copyright 2008
3. “US Schools Hooked on Junk Food Proceeds” David Nakamura April 29, 2008 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0227-01.htm)
4. Media Awareness Network Copyright 2008 http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/marketers_target_kids.cfm
5. Student Press Law Center “Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier A Complete Guide to the Supreme Court Decision” Copyright 1992
http://www.splc.org/legalresearch.asp?id=4
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