Corporate Sponso Should Be Banned In Schools Essay

Corporate entities are everywhere in today’s society. People see them on television, on the internet, on their way to work, and on their way to school. Advertisements invade individuals’ lives almost everywhere, but schools have been a safe haven from this – at least they were. Some schools have elected to take sponsorships or other advertisements to increase school revenue. However, some of these ads inhibit the activities of students in their learning environment. Some of the sponsored items include actual lesson plans, which could be propaganda instead of actual learning material. Schools should not be sponsored by corporations, since they create propaganda, distract from proper education, and waste students’ learning time. One of the main issues with allowing corporations to sponsor educational content is that they can create propaganda to benefit their company. In a comic by Kirk Anderson, a teacher is quoted saying, “Today’s economics lesson on debt is brought to you by visa…” (Corporate Sponsorship Invades). This is ironic since Visa is a corporation who profits from people being in debt to them. If Visa were to sponsor the lesson they could modify it to make it seem as though they were not putting anyone in debt and that it was a good thing to be in it. In the same comic
there is a health book which is sponsored by McDonald’s. It is known that McDonald’s food is unhealthy, so for them to write the health book is also major propaganda. This is all extremely poor for the proper education of students, because they would be taught lies to benefit companies, not themselves. Another problem with companies placing stakes in schools is that it can be a major distraction from actual educational material.
One of the proposals is called Channel One. This deal would loan TV sets for each room, a satellite dish, VCRs, and access to full documentaries (Obligation.org). The downside is that classes would be required to watch a 13 minute in school TV show which has nothing to do with the topics in the classroom. It could possibly distract the students for more than just the 13 minutes, since the topics introduced might be more stimulating than the actual lessons of the day. Not only is this a waste of time, it has no educational value and doesn’t belong in
school. Besides being a distraction, ads could actually waste students’ time during school hours. Dr. Tom Koerner referred to Channel One saying, “It forces students to watch commercials as opposed to ad bearing materials, which are more passive. Scoreboards, billboards…no one is forcing students to view these.” (Consumersunion.org). This wastes students time and could distract them for more than just the designated time by having their minds be off topic to begin with. If ads are using up the time of the students, it is causing their learning experience to be diminished. Corporate sponsorship in schools is detrimental to the success of students because they create propaganda, distract students, and waste their educational time. Companies have no place in the educational system where they can change it to benefit themselves. Education is all about the students, not the economic gain. Propaganda and tricking students only hurts them and their educations. Distracting them and wasting their time is just as detrimental. The time in schools is made for learning, not for commercials and tricks.