Consuming Kids and schools

[fuzzywuzzy]

How much commercial advertising is in your kids school?

How many commercial companies "HELP" in your schools and how many times is it mentioned to your children?

I picked a up a fundraising magazine sent home from the school a week ago. I looked through it and thought Yeah I might buy that and that if it helps the school.

I watched this show/doco the other night and had another look at the magazine.



I flicked through it properly and found the name of the company I used to work for . I then looked again at the products that I was going to buy ........to my horror they weren't the products that were going to earn the school points and therefore money......I found the products that were to earn the school points were the more expensive products. basically this was not a fundraiser by any standard but a simple marketing ploy using the parents as a means to an end and counting on their emotions towards the childrens education.

here's the trailer but please proceed on to the whole documentary it was an eye opener and something we see creeping into our own schools

[fuzzywuzzy]

I was watching a programme called Insight on SBS television last night. Our government wants to overhaul our school system. It stank of politics and the closing of schools. the government was basing their overhaul and the publication of test results on a formulation of what happened in New York schools that were not producing good students. (Basically lower socio economic kids) it was disgusting he was talking about closing schools that didn't perform to a standard devised by the government. this individual from New York said it had worked . But I'd like to hear from teachers in your country as to how this worked and what were the real results.

There was a cat amongst the pigeons though . A literacy consultant/teacher slammed the plan of what the education department did in New York , saying that students were spending 7:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon learning for tests rather than education itself. And still coming out with low grades. Also the schools were not taking into account the other issues children had in their lives.

the government was saying they should close underperforming schools like they did in New York but the teachers were arguing that moving kids to other schools was inducing maxed out class sizes and very little in the way of individual students learning anything . Instead of being 'Freddy in in the fourth row' they were becoming numbers literally........Just numbers on a piece of paper.

I was talking to a friend of mine in queensland saying how his daughter has been suspended for the second time because she has no respect for teachers. She at a school with 3000 students in it ...That's insane!!!! She wouldn't be able to reach her teacher as an individual if she tried anyway the teacher would be too overwhelmed with so many other students ........Hence as I see it no respect. I'm not saying kids at my sons school don't get suspended but they know hteir teachers intimately even to the point of the teachers private lives ...The teachers and may I dare say the principle are human beings to these kids and very rarely are children expelled. the difference? 240 students in my childrens high school. Around 18 children per class size .

this whole thing happening to our kids makes me so mad!!! Our schools don't need an overhaul our curriculum does . I knew my timestables by grade two all of them . Everymorning the class sat in front of the blackboard and learnt them .

My grade sixer is still learning ............I kid you not ........."the essence of his tables." WTF? learn the bloody things long before you get to high school!!!!!! it's been left to me to teach my kids their lessons in basic education. that's it!!! I want a teachers wage!!!!!

Here's something sad and now I'm glad I took my boys overseas ....I once asked Brett "where's Rumania? where's Thailand? he responce what's a rumania? don't you do geography? "..............what's 'geography'? I told him it's about maps and places and learning where things are . he again responded " oh yeah we do a bit of that in SOS ...social sciences :-5:-5:-5:-5:-5

It's not hte teachers they teach what they are told to teach ..................it's the idiots in Government trying to keep our kids from knowing anything .......We used to get taught everything in school why does my child not know where Thailand is?

[Bill Sikes]

fuzzywuzzy;1231915 wrote: How much commercial advertising is in your kids school?


Virtually none. The Headmistriss did send around a flyer advertising a firm who sell "Distance Learning" kits and support, though. I looked it up, and found out that the price was high (£800->£2,800 ISTR), reviews were not at all favourable (little result for the £££), there were lock-in clauses of dubious morality and legality, and the school received money for sending out these flyers. In view of the bad reviews I complained about this to the Head., and was told it was OK as they were not recommending the package. I don't think it was - people tend to want the best for their children, and if they'd lashed out on a high-cost package of little actual worth, it might have gone hard with some parents.

I don't think there should be advertising in schools.

[mikeinie]

It is so true,

This is why I love this song, it sums up what is going on with people these days and the false sense of what success is driven by shallow consumerism:

YouTube - Lily Allen - The Fear

With Lyrics

[Nomad]

Consuming Kids



Consuming children is cannabilism and that is just plain wrong.

[fuzzywuzzy]

mikeinie;1231992 wrote: It is so true,

This is why I love this song, it sums up what is going on with people these days and the false sense of what success is driven by shallow consumerism:

YouTube - Lily Allen - The Fear

With Lyrics

YouTube - Lily Allen - The Fear + Lyrics


Yep love that song Mik.



Consuming children is cannabilism and that is just plain wrong.


Oh god 'the great one' has spoken ..............yes that was sarcasm, and no I don't think you're 'the great one':rolleyes:



I would seriously like to hear from teachers though. And parents.

[chonsigirl]

They do fundraisers at my school, 2 or 3 a year. (I didn't watch the video, I don't usually watch them)

The fundraisers we do are supposed to help the PTA for specific school supplies, which we no longer receive having lost our Title I funding. It runs about a 50% of the price profit. There is usually some type of incentive for the students to sell this merchandise.

So, some kids sell the stuff, some do not. Their families couldn't afford to buy it, it is luxury items for them.

I dislike this part of the school year, because I am not in merchandise but into teaching. So taking time out of my day to track money, make sure it gets to the office and I don't loose it and become responsible for it, is a big pain.

Does it help the kids? Well, probably sure. But not much. Usually the teachers themselves just buy the supplies we don't have, a hefty sum as the year progresses. I just take that in stride, as part of being a teacher.