For instance, Cubic Corp., an engineering company, is in its fourth year of providing extensive assistance to De Portola Middle School in Tierrasanta. During the tours, students get hands-on instruction on operating Cubic' s futuristic products. Our goal is to show them how math and science affect their lives. A recent national survey by the marketing firms Cone Inc. and Roper Starch Worldwide found that 83 percent of consumers polled have a more positive image of a company that supports a cause they care about. Two-thirds of those questioned said they switch brands to companies that engage in charitable work if price and quality are equal.
Businesses also can obtain tax breaks for money and employees' time donated to the classroom.
But such businesses are in the distinct minority. Schools aren' t operating to sell products on the backs of their students. Businesses involved in San Diego schools' Partnerships in Education say they benefit indirectly by picking up chalk and pointer. Mike Skibinski, a spokesman at Boyle Engineering, said the company' s work at Kroc Middle School in Clairemont occasionally has given it a slight advantage when competing for contracts with private companies and government agencies. Boyle' s partnership includes bringing students to the company' s local headquarters in Kearny Mesa for a day to work on actual engineering projects, and later trying to sell their concept in mock sales presentations.