Turning schools into billboards

Advertisements are everywhere – on televisions, on giant billboards and on the outside of trains and buses. School was one of the last advertisement-free zones, but now that’s changing too.

Several schools in California and Colorado have started allowing companies to advertise on their floors, walls, benches, tables, and lockers. And Pennsbury School District in Philadelphia has just allowed companies to put $400,000 worth of advertising in its 16 schools.

I know schools need money. Politicians have cut school funding to pay for things like the Iraq War, which they must think is more important than education. But that’s no reason to sell out pupils.

School should be a place for teens to escape the commercial world and focus on more important things, like learning who they are, finding ways to express themselves, and of course getting an education – not feeling pressured into buying the latest smart phone.