RR #1

                In 2002 Michael Moore published a book entitled Stupid White Men… and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation. In this ridicule of the absolute cluelessness of the United States of America and the citizens that reside within it, there’s a section of the book that’s focused on the poor state of the American public education system and how said system is a very strong and pressing component of what is contributing to the American obliviousness that exists today and the lack of progress being made to remedy it. This section of the book draws on several different aspects of what’s taking place today in the modern educational system and how each of these ever increasingly deteriorating at the effectiveness and usefulness of what once could had been a successful and thriving system for education.

            One of the topics that Moore really tries to draw on in this exert is the ever increasing role that large corporations are taking on in the public schooling system. Moore references a variety of instances in which corporate America has infiltrated public schools using a variety of tactics, like giving incentives for academic achievements and by sponsoring various school events like sporting events or a geography bee. Some of the examples Moore uses in his writing include, “…’Book It!’ (a) program to encourage children to read. When students meet the monthly reading goal, they are rewarded with a certificate for a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza…” (140), Moore also refers to the General Mills’ “Box Tops for Education” in which schools can “…earn up to $10,000 a year. That’s 100,000 General Mills products sold…” (140). He didn’t go particularly into detail about how much advertising went along with each program, although he did mention that “Pizza Hut  suggests school principals place a “Pizza Hut Book-It!” honor roll list in the school for everyone to see…” (140). Moore continues on to describe the increased influence that soda companies have taken on the public education system and how “Two hundred and forty school districts in thirty-one states have sold exclusive rights to one of the big three soda companies” (140). In these incidences some schools are awarded “grants” by Coke for exceeding a certain number of sodas sold, others schools, who are sponsored by Pepsi, partake in a science course partially developed by Pepsi that’s called “The Carbonated Beverage Company” in which students taste test and analyze colas, watch a video tour of a Pepsi bottling plant, and also visit a local plant.

Given these examples it seems that, aside from Pizza Hut’s suggestion for an “honor’s list”, the initial corporations referenced don’t seem to be terribly invasive, they’ve merely set up programs that encourage education, while simultaneously giving them a potential tax write-off, allowing them improve their public standing, and while also giving themselves a competitive edge over other businesses through said reputation. On the other hand, in the instances of Pepsi and Cola, we see private organization act in a way that directly interacts with the school, the students and the classroom setting in more than just a suggestive way; schools are given incentives to sell products to their students, and to dedicate classroom time to the direct advertisement of companies all to receive added funding. When you think about it logically, it does make some sense that corporations would take part in the funding of the educational system, simply given that in our capitalist society it is been tradition for our economy and, in turn, our livelihood to be based on business and our ability to sell a good or service to better our own economic well being. Even with this said, it seems that the extent to which we have taken our capitalism and the influence we’ve allowed it to have, has toed the line between what is disruptive and what is simply “good business”, compromising the what integrity our school systems still have left.