Corporate Sponsorship in Public Schools Essay Example

Corporate Sponsorship in Schools

Across America corporations are regularly providing thousands of schools with financial assistance in exchange for advertising their products. Although I do not agree with every aspect of corporate sponsorship I do believe the benefits outweigh the risks. Due to limited funding by both local and state governments many school districts are unable to fund many programs deemed nonessential such as art and music classes as well as extracurricular activities including sports and after school clubs. Since they only choice is to do without or get money elsewhere I believe corporate sponsorship is a good way to do this. Many people will argue that schools should be commercial free zones and that marketing to children in schools can be detrimental to the students that are there to learn. I feel advertising in schools is no different than what children are exposed to on a regular basis outside of school. The areas that are often hardest hit by cutbacks are low income neighborhoods where parents are unable to pick up the slack within the system by purchasing necessary equipment and supplies. There for, this can be a way to lessen the financial burden without having to give up anything. If corporate sponsorship can help to improve programs and give students access to materials that otherwise would not be available to them why not? There are different types of corporate sponsorship that are available and it’s up to each school to do what will work best for them. One way schools implement corporate sponsorship is by direct advertising, this is when a school gets money or goods for rights to advertise on school property. A school in Sheboygan Wisconsin recently sold the naming rights of their high schools kitchens for forty five thousand dollars and New York City’s Board of Education signed a nine year fifty three million dollar contract that allows advertising on their school buses. Other schools allow gymnasiums to be named