Education Manifesto essays

Education Manifesto essays What student hasnt felt taken advantage of during their school years? Probably none, if you think about it. In this day and age, corporate control over American public education has taken advantage of students by using them as obligatory consumers to sell their products. This kind of forced endorsement is a violation of students rights and agency. Corporate America needs to find a way to fill their coffers other than subjecting students and schools to have to consume a set amount of their product or lose their funding. The way corporations strike deals with school districts to provide funding and materials in exchange for an opportunity to expose the students to their product in order to sell as much as they can is unethical because it is taking advantage of students and forcing them to buy things they dont need, or even just watch TV. For example, Channel One, a daily, ad-bearing news program for grades 6-12 broadcasts "free" to 40% of all schools contracting it as a mandatory part of the curriculum. The incentive to schools? Installation and unlimited use of the provided satellite dish, VCRs, and classroom TVs. Channel One Communications owns, maintains, and insures the equipmentand repossesses it if the school drops its contract. Two minutes of each daily 12-minute program contain commercials for which corporations pay over $800 million yearly to deliver their propaganda to 8 million captive students (Rockne). Companies also make exclusive agreements to sell or use products, mostly with companies like Pepsi and Coca-Cola. So-called "shoe schools" arise from athletic shoe agreements with corporations like Nike and Reebok-and add unintended stress on schools that compete for students in open-enrollment districts. These agreements can be dangerous because of the offers the companies make. In the Colorado Springs school district, schools will receive $8.4 million over ten years from its deal with Coca-Cola &...