I was the only one of the consortium's 17 board members to vote against it. The reasons are not simple, and indeed, the issue is not a simple one. But gradually, I changed my opinion. Now I can no longer accept the notion of our schools becoming brokers for advertising space or, worse yet, middlemen in the merchandising of products directly to our students.
Public education has an agenda that is already crowded enough.
When we become marketers and distributors, we confuse our mission. I worry about a time when our educational goals might be influenced or even set by private companies targeting our students with their own narrow messages. We are opening the floodgates of consumerism. We have all become inured to the constant barrage of advertising, but for me, consumerism is a real problem. The pressure to buy and measure our success in life through the things we acquire is overwhelming.