
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 21, 1995                   TAG: 9504210083
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SELLOUT?

ANOTHER disturbing report on our public-education system: It's slowly being taken over by some of the same folks who help turn children into junk-food addicts and clotheshorses demanding $150 pump-up sneakers and designer jeans.

In an 18-month study released this week, the Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine, found that commercialism is creeping into curriculum, textbooks, school playgrounds and school buses at a pace that could threaten the integrity of education in America.

The study, entitled ``Captive Kids: A Report on Commercial Pressures on Kids at Schools,'' confirms the obvious: Increasing buying power of kids has heightened competition among companies to reach the youth market. The schools, meanwhile, continue to suffer chronic budget problems. So administrators are often enticed to cut deals. They allow schools to be used as billboards to hawk businesses and products in exchange for classroom materials, equipment and other resources.

To be sure, the schools have long used current-events materials such as magazines and newspapers (ours included) that contain ads. But those ads are geared to the general public, and those materials are clearly recognized as an ``outside'' resource. Quite different are materials produced specifically for the schools, with ads specifically targeting schoolchildren, and with the products and services advertised therein carrying the implied endorsement of the schools. Particularly troubling was the nonprofit Consumers Union's finding that advertising has seeped into and distorted curriculum with educational materials that contain biased and incorrect information.

It is appropriate that schools ``privatize'' to the extent of forming alliances with businesses, and drawing on businesses' help and resources. But there shouldn't be contractual obligations to regularly interrupt education for commercial breaks.

Educators must take care not to make Faustian bargains, selling students' minds to the highest bidder. And they must make certain they maintain control over school curriculum and material, making their choices on the basis of what best serves educational needs, not because it's free or comes with goodies such as video or ballpark equipment. In general, if schools need educational materials or equipment, taxpayers should provide it.

by CNB