Sunday, September 27, 2009
Blog #5---Classrooms for Sale
After reading the article “Classrooms for Sale”, I think on the companies’ side, they just want to make profit. I am not surprise the companies have a contract with schools because I believe schools and students are big customers to them. If they want to develop their enterprises, they will in no wise give up any chances to get the business with schools. On the schools’ side, they also want to save money for their office supplies and classroom furniture, etc. I consider that if a company offers a good deal, the school would like to sign an agreement to save money. People think schools should not close the business, and they have to concentrate on education. However, today, we live in a market economy, and we can’t live without commercial activity. Finally, according to the essay, it’s hard for students to choose the marketing brands because they cannot change channel. For students, this is not fair. Are they useful stuff to students or just about money? Therefore, I think schools have the responsibility to the students because the primary mission of the school is still teaching. It is not simply a matter of deciding how much you want to save or make.
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I agree that we can not live with out commerical activity. There is always going to be a sponser somewhere to advertise their product to benefit them but also the reciever. I personally think that doing this doesnt really affect the students or the primary mission of the school because with the money, they are able to fund the school more.
ReplyDeleteHi Lifeng,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I wonder whether or not students are taught how to read ads, and whether or not these attempts at manipulation are made transparent to students. In my days of K-12 education, sponsorship wasn't present. How would growing up with advertisements as a "normal" part of education change one's worldview and education?
I think that advertisments can definitly have a large influence on people. People wear certain clothes because of the associations and social stigmas attached to them. It is more about image managment than practicality. However, children don't have purchasing power. Their parents do. Parents have an oppertunity to reverse this desire and explain the neccesary behavior.
ReplyDeleteI am concerned about the school system becoming increasingly 'corporatized.' I think this is a 'practical' trend, and maybe I'm too idealistic, but I think it has moral consequences. There are always 'administrative' tasks and functions in any enterprise, including schools, but I don't know if children should have to pay the price for budget issues, and I don't think school administrations should have to wheel and deal with corporate entities and worry about consumption quoatas. There are already quotas to meet and those are Standardized test scores and the No Child Left Behind measure that Bush Jr. implemented. I think children are getting left behind in many ways, and I don't know if drinking Coke is going to remedy any of the underlying issues.
ReplyDeleteThere is the potential for increasing censorship on school campuses as school attempt to align themselves with the sponsor's agendas - this is dangerous and scarry to me.
I don't think military recruiters should be on school campuses either.
For me it's not that I disagree with Coke or even the military, per se, it's more about the presence of these external entities and their agendas usurping the priorities of the learning environment.