Corporation Involvement in Public Schools

Corporations seem to always find a way to stick their nose in everything, specifically in public schools. Since public schools are dealing with declining budgets, they must get financial support from U.S. corporations. Some critics debate whether these corporations getting involved actually aid or disturb students to succeed. Corporations are using public schools as a platform for advertising their brand in exchange for some type of support for the school. This, I believe, is potentially significant to both the corporations and schools. Corporations getting involved in public schools is very much beneficial because it gives the corporation increased visibility, expanded workforce, ways to create incentive programs, fundraising, and gives public schools the funding they need for a better learning environment, improved test scores, training opportunities, and internship programs.

Corporations that become involved in public schools sometimes become a distraction for students. Schools focus on the funding situation rather than the students well being. This can result in students making unhealthy lifestyle decisions. Teachers and parents feel thst corporate involvement undermines a school’s efforts to teach adequate academics and allows marketers to target children. For example, Scholastic Magazine’s donations of computers, book covers and interactive materials to schools appears to be genuine; however upon further investigation, these contributions reveals that this only helps the corporation increase sales. These corporations are saught out to help the schools, but they tend to not focus on the importance of education. When students are forced to watch the Channel One News, which is a schoolhouse commercialism program, for ywelve...

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... revealed that it increased SAT and ACT scores by thirty percent and an eight percent rise in college attendees. With many successful inentive programs, public schools and corporatons show that working together has created numerous positive results.

Fundraising is another way for public schools and businesses to come together to make money. Even though the business are the ones raising the money for the schools, the business still receives tax benefits and visibility. Major retail store Target offers fundrasising to thousandsof schools with its Take Charge of Education program. They pledge five percent of its income to the local schools. But in order for people to participate, people must use a Target credit card, which is an additional benefit for the company. One of the most reconizible fundraisers is th Box Tops for Educatioin, which is offered my General Mills.