We can learn a lot about how society functions and sustains itself by knowing how it treats its younger generations. There are many old sayings about society's responsibility towards children and their future. With the Brad Allison fiasco and the recent voting not to raise taxes to build newer schools, these sayings could not be more appropriate and valuable than today.
I had absolutely no clue that such a vote was to take place and wonder if that was a problem for others, since only about 13 percent of the population actually voted. If we would have received as many calls updating us on the state of our local education system as we do from companies selling credit-cards, then our voter turnout would probably have been a little better.
The state of our public schools is obvious when we talk about how vouchers are being encouraged as a possible remedy. Vouchers remove money from public schools to pay for some of the student's way to private schools. What seems to be even more alarming is how more and more public schools become so desperate for resources and good training of teachers, that districts turn to for-profit companys such as Edison Schools, which makes money from managing schools.
Even though this seems unfathomable, 37 public schools in New Mexico might be turned over to Edison or some other company because of their bad performance and lack of resources, with 163 schools on the verge of following the same path.
Trying to comprehend how we could have reached this sad predicament to where our public schools are just barely making it, I ran across something else that I think we should be aware of. Did you know that advertisements for shoes, soft drinks and a whole array of other commercial items are at an all time high in our public high schools and even middle schools?
Recently, several senators requested a study into this matter. The 52-page study by the General Accounting Office, which actually looked at a high school in New Mexico, documented how "in-school marketing has become a growing industry." The report documents countless cases in which lack of resources has spurred many schools to allow company's to put up their ads on school billboards and banners, jerseys and textbooks.
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For example, the Channel One company has donated thousands of televisions, VCRs and satellite dishes to schools across the country that have agreed to air its daily 12-minute news broadcastings and two minutes of commercials.
As of 1999, Channel One was being watched every day by 40 percent of American teenagers. Many educators across the country have accused Channel One, as well as a multitude of other companies, of using high schools and middle schools as a space to increase their revenue by surrounding kids with advertisements. Are our schools and kids really benefiting from this?
I would think that there are enough commercials on regular televisions and on every street in the United States to remind our youth that there are plenty of Pepsis or Cokes waiting for them in the fridge at any local store. Why do we need more advertisements in schools, or in theaters before the movie starts?
While we sit through this roller-coaster ride of hyper-commercialism, the needs and issues that confront our public school systems zips past our eyes and ears. As the adds fill the corners of our eyes, another year goes by in which a greater proportion of our Gross National Product is being spent on advertisements than on education.
When are we going to reclaim the meaning of education and put as much money and effort into public schools as we do with presidential campaigns? When will our taxes be more directed toward youth schools and programs, than for making and maintaining prisons and bombs? The way a young person learns and describes life is much more meaningful and important than what combo of new pants and shoes they look good in.
by Maceo Carrillo Martinet
Daily Lobo Columnist
Questions and comments can be sent to Maceo Carrillo Martinet at conuco8@unm.edu
