Left to fend for himself after budget cuts, His tests cost over $500 a year to print, but this year he only got $316, one calculus teacher resorted to selling ads on quizzes and tests to cover his printing costs. $10 for quizzes, $20 for tests, and $30 for a final.
After a local newspaper featured his story, the offers rolled in and he sold out his semester. Most of the ads are positive messages bought by parents, while others are from local businesses.
While the story is charming and plucky, it does raise the concern that other schools and teachers might get inspired and start renting out space to more sophisticated clients, like McDonald’s or Coke.
“The advertisers are paying for something, and it’s access to kids,” said Robert Weissman, managing director of Commercial Alert, a non-prof that combats commercialization in the classroom.
But if the teachers keep the advertising local and in the style of the school yearbook, is it really so bad?
Ads on tests add up for teacher [USAToday] (Thanks to Joanne!)
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How in the hell can anyone think this is a good idea? Corporatism should be banned from all schools in any form. It’s should be a place to learn and not a place to be influenced by advertisements. Schools are underfunded because of all the crooks and overzealous spending in our government. Kill the crooks and curb the spending if you want to see some changes in our educational system.
@kaptainkk: Too late there is advertising in schools now- sometimes subtle but it is there…
Excellent idea!
@SJRNWT: It is an excellent way to draw attention to the shameful situation of public schools undersupplying their faculty. Pretty ballsy if you ask me, and I mean that as a compliment. Teachers should not have to resort to such stunts to do their job, but I admire this one’s dedication and creativity.
As others have observed, it’s a crappy idea as a long-term strategy. I hope the school board does the right thing and invests in some office supplies, so this demonstration can end.
While I don’t think this is a “bad idea”, I do think it’s pretty sad that this is what the state of our education system has come to. I must say that I’ve been lucky; I attended a public school in a very well funded district, I attended a well funded public university and I now attend a private graduate school. Until (relatively) recently, I’m not sure I really understood how bad our education system in this country is. I was pretty isolated in the upper-middle-class midwest. But when I read stuff like this it just saddens me. First, kudos to the teacher for being creative in finding a way to fill the gap in funding. That said, I find it reprehensible that this has been allowed to occur in this country. I suspect some of it is because there are indeed communities that simply don’t value education and could care less how well their schools are funded, they just don’t want their taxes to go up. Moreover, what really infuriates me is the states and communities that desperately need money for education, but refuse to allow business that have the potential to generate huge tax revenues operate (like Casinos) because of moral opposition. The people and politicians in those areas are lifting up their morals on the backs of teachers and their students. I think teachers are grossly underpaid, which drives some who would teach into other professions. I also think it’s terrible that they are not reimbursed for all of their out of pocket expenses. What job in corporate America expects you to pay for office supplies out of your own pocket? And to the commenter above who said something about having to go to the local copy store to get tests copied, how does your school not have a copy machine or a laser printer? It’s beyond me that teachers can’t even print their necessary materials in-house. // end rant.
For ten to 30 bucks i would put in nmonic(sp) devices
Teachers can’t even get money to print out tests for children, what is wrong with our education system? Thanks, No Child Left Behind!
Are these the same businesses which would want tax credits to stay in an area or relocation credits to relocate to an area?
And then the same businesses getting tax credits, etc complain that the workers who are products of the local school system are crap and need remedial help…
Then businesses can sponsor the local town hall and so on just like those government owned stadiums which get a sports team millions of dollars in advertising revenue…
Wasn’t there a move to put adverstising on the orange school buses a few years back that was squashed due to some conflict of interest????
The fact that this occurs in America is a real testimonial to the lip service given to education. When ads have to be sold on tests to pay for the printing costs, then it shows just how little Americans value the education of their children. Property taxes (which pay for education) should be raised, parents should contribute to the expenses equally, or the parents should pay for materials outright.
I don’t have a problem with what the teacher did as he’s doing what he needs to do to get the job done. I’m just appalled that this is the state of public education in the U.S. today. This contributes far more to a sense of hopelessness about America’s future than the poor economy.
Welcome to the United States of Blackwater, where your tax dollars go to enrich war profiteers, and not to educate your children — those kids don’t need much of an education, they are just fodder for the profitable war machine.
Ads have in school for years. Don’t any of you remember ChannelOne in the 90′s? My school so SO excited to get a TV in every classroom, that we sat and wasted 15 minutes every school day watching one-sided news reports and soft drink ads.
Now you have Bus Radio, which essentially holds kids captive to a commercial message en route to school each day in exchange for “free” tunes.
Commercialization of our schools is nothing new.
selling ad space is actually a pretty decent idea. a few years ago, my high school was really hurting for money. so at the beginning of the year, a lot of my teachers were offering extra credit to students that donated a ream of paper to the class
I don’t like this for reasons I’ll go into below, but the fact is that schools have no money, teachers have no money, and if this teacher needs to pass the hat then go him.
But I don’t like it because by the time kids hit high school, every minute of their past sixteen lives, someone has been screaming at them to buy this, be that, absorb, assimilate. School as an institution is supposed to be neutral. Now when they look down at their quizzes every week, or tests every three weeks, they feel like school wants a piece of them too. The problem with this emerging generation is the ennui and emptiness, the lack of connection wrought by cold consumerism. They don’t trust people who want their money, and now it seems schools are at least in bed with people who want their money too.
This doesn’t seem like a huge stretch from company-sponsored scholarships.
I think it’s offensive that schools actually expect teachers to use their salary to accomplish work in the classroom. Ridiculous.
@synergy: It amounts to a pay cut.
“Come into any McDonalds and enjoy this tasty burger after a hard day of work!”
-AD
What’s so bad about that? It teaches kids to release stress with food. Not healthy and will cause more obesity problems…
It’s an idea that’s been done before. I mean really, why can’t they just print the tests/quizes out on one transparency and put that up and have the kids write on binder paper, staple, and turn it in to the teacher. Or how about take home quizes posted online?
Great part about this article is that that was my high school teacher Mr. Farber. He taught me Algebra 3-4, but he’s a great AP calculus teacher too.
Keep it local, keep it off to the side and I don’t see anything wrong with this. Schools need the money. And I must admit, I do love the idea of a parent giving their kid a word of encouragement on the test itself.
This is one of those ideas that seems nice in theory, but it’s only a matter of time before the spam and pr0n start showing up.
I realize that’s an exaggeration, but I hope everyone knows what I’m getting at.
I don’t find this that horrible. I think that as long as they limit the ads and they aren’t cnotradictory to the “pillars of education” (ie. no Taco Bell ads when the school crows on about healthy eating), it’s fine by me.
The fact that no one is really surprised is wrong wrong wrong. How can we simply accept this? We’re so used to the idea that our educational system is a huge failure that we see this and think “Wow, that’s a pretty smart idea so he doesn’t have to pay out of pocket!” rather than “WTF?! Why aren’t we allocating more resources to teachers!?”