BLACKBOARDS AS BILLBOARDS

Susie's day at Anyschool, U.S.A., begins with a geography lesson in which she locates major cities according to where Tootsie Rolls are made and sold. Then she turns to her reading: if her class makes enough progress in The Berenstain Bears at the Teen Rock Cafe, they will win a party at the local Pizza Hut. Her science lesson--Scientists and the Alaskan Oil Spill--comes to her courtesy of none other than Exxon.

In today's classrooms, corporate logos and learning often go hand in hand. A 1995 report by Consumers Union found that many of America's 43 million school-age children are being...