Hikado

This weekend, I watched a documentary about the corporate marketing trend spreading into into Canadian classrooms. Schools are increasingly being tempted to allow these big box corporations into their schools in exchange for some desperately needed funding.
It was evident that the state is failing to provide the essential money schools need to teach their students. Several American school districts have found them selves in such dire financial circumstances that they have allowed corporations to air their 10 minute commercials in classrooms and students are forced to subject their minds to these news segments everyday. A very, sad, but true fact as illustrated by the documentary.
The most shocking example was focused on an elementary school in Surrey, BC where the school agreed to allow McDonald's and the 2010 Olympics to sponsor a fitness event, and in exchange this school would receive $200 dollars to replace old inadequate fitness equipment in their school gymnasium. At first it appears to be a nice corporate gesture, but when you realize how the company is actually manipulating the minds of young children not quite old enough to challenge this notion it is troubling. The documentary never mentioned whether parents and faculty members got a chance to discuss this project ahead of time. Because a through forum would have revealed that this project could have some repercussions afterwards for the school.
Personally, I would not mind if a corporation wanted to make a contribution to my school and maybe have a plaque or name put on the wall for their donation, but I think the line has to be drawn when there is aggressive marketing involved in the scheme to push their corporate slogans into the faces of students. Students have the right not to deny companies access into their classrooms. Elementary school children especially should be protected from the corporate marketing in their school environment since most of the students are not old enough to understand the possible implications associated with this issue.
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/globalshows/globalcurrents/Corps_Classrooms/index.html