School Fundraisers Are Making Our Kids Shill
While she was jumping around the kitchen, I pulled the notice from school out of her backpack, and I quickly figured out what she was talking about. It was another school fundraiser.
My kids attend an elementary school is in a comfortable suburban community, but like many public schools today, their school holds fundraisers frequently to supplement all sorts of educational-related goals. This one happens to be for the fifth grade class graduation programs.
Now it may well be that the state government is underfunding schools, leaving them no recourse but to fundraise. It also may be that parents in certain upwardly mobile communities have heightened expectations and want to finance little extras that should be funded with private dollars.
But what I really object to is when schools have these fundraisers through private companies--often big corporations, despite folksy names like Sally Foster---which turn our kids into little Willy Lomans. (Child magazine also ran a fascinating story on this in September 2005 issue, but unfortunately, it isn't online.) My daughter told me that her lunchtime was taken up by listening to a pitch from a representative from one of these companies (which sells the usual candy and treats). And this sales pitch stressed that the kids who were the highest sellers could spend 30 seconds inside a "hurricane" where they could grab prizes....like $20 bills and TV sets. The shill also suggested that these kids ask their teachers(!!!!) to buy stuff from them, as well as asking their parents to ask their coworkers.
In this case, only 40% of the purchase price will actually go to my children's school. The rest will go to a large business, probably owned by Barry Diller or some other corporation titan.
So I did what I recommend others do:
--I educated my daughter and did the math with her. I explained first that more than half of the money wouldn't go to her school (she was shocked) . Then I told her that the amount of money she'd need to soak from grandparents, us, and other relatives to win a TV would probably be in the hundreds of dollars....while the TV would be worth about $100.
--I wrote a check to my school, comfortable in the knowledge that the full amount would go to her school.
Stumble It!
posted by pam at 10:04 AM
1 comments
links to this post
