In the article “Every Nook and Cranny: The Dangerous Spread of Commercialized Culture,” by Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor, the concern of commercialism, the emphasis on maximizing profits, is expressed. The section I am focusing on is the section on commercialism entering the schools. After reading this article, commercialism in schools solely benefits the companies advertising something.
Most students do not realize that their schools are filled with advertisements from companies that claim to have an educational meaning behind advertising on campus. Ruskin and Schor researched when commercialism entered schools and found that advertising only entered a few decades ago. In 1989, Channel One offered to loan schools TVs if they were allowed to play whatever they wanted during the times the students were watching TV (PCI, 942). Because of the desire to increase, other companies chose to copy Channel One and began advertising on campuses. The invasion of commercialism has hurt students instead of increasing its educational environment. Due to junk foods, like candy and soda, obesity has increased in schools. As an act of preventing this to continue, many states have made the decision to ban candy and soda from schools to promote a healthy environment for students.
Companies this issue brought more issues along with it. Since corporations were in support of the anti-tax movements, they stole funding away from schools. The education in the United States is not as great as it could be. By taxing corporations, there will be more funding for schools and decrease the country’s deficit.
Commercialization has hurt student’s education more than increasing a strong learning environment. Corporations are taking funding that could be used towards improving the country’s education and using it to increase their profits. Allowing commercialization to enter schools and allowing it to stay is a mistake on the school systems fault. Schools are beginning to understand this and are slowly removing advertisements that do not benefit their student’s education.
