School Commercialism: From Democratic Ideal to Market Commodity

Pizza Hut's Book It! program rewards students with pizza for meeting their reading goals. Toys "R" Us paid a Kansas school five dollars for each student who took its toy survey. Cisco Systems donated internet access to a California elementary school, asking in return for the school choir to sing the company's praises while wearing Cisco t-shirts. Kids today face a barrage of corporate messages in the classroom. InSchool Commercialism, education expert Alex Molnar traces marketing in American schools over the last twenty-five years, raising serious questions about the role of private corporations in public education. Since the 1990s, Molnar argues, commercial activities have shaped the structure of the school day, influenced the curriculum, and determined whether children have access to computers and other technologies. He argues convincingly against advertisers' assertion that their contributions are a win-win proposition for cash-strapped schools and image-conscious companies. From themarketing of unhealthy foods to privatizing reforms such as the Edison Schools and Knowledge Universe,SchoolCommercialismtracks trends that are more pervasive than many parents realize and shows how we might recapture schools to better serve the public interest.

Alex Molnar is Professor and Director of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory in the College of Education at Arizona State University at Tempe