Classrooms for Sale

Solve this problem: The staff and students of School District 11 in Colorado Springs, Colo., drank 30,000 cases of Coke beverages last year. District 11 has a 10-year, $8 million contract with the soft-drink company that calls for the yearly consumption of 1.68 million bottles of Coke products. If a case contains 24 bottles, which answer is correct? A) District 11 met its goal, and its students will sing back-up to Aretha Franklin in a new ad campaign. B) District 11 is 960,000 bottles in the red. C) Students should drink lots more Coke.

The best answer is B, but a District 11 administrator chose C. "If 35,439 staff and students buy one Coke product every other day for a school year," wrote John Bushey in a September missive to area principals, "we will double the required quota." His advice: allow Coke products in class and place vending machines in easily accessible areas. "Location, location, location is the key," he wrote, signing his memo "the Coke Dude."

Schools need money. Students have plenty of it to spend: $72 billion for all kids through high school, according to the most recent figures from Consumers Union. Those twin economic pressures have led to a disturbing trend on school grounds. In the past nine months, public school exclusivity deals with cola companies have soared 300%, to a record 150. And that's just the most obvious signal that schools are open for business. Calvin Klein models pout on the covers of textbooks; homecoming may be sponsored by Dr Pepper; Taco Bell dishes up burritos at a school cafeteria near you; and that new overhead projector may be just one company's way of saying thanks--for eating Campbell's soup.

Commercialism in classrooms has become so rampant that last week a California education committee voted to restrict the use of brand names in taxpayer-funded textbooks. Parents were upset about a McGraw-Hill math textbook that is filled with references to products like Volkswagen automobiles, Jif peanut butter and Beanie Babies. McGraw-Hill representatives point out that the company receives no compensation for mentioning the products, which are used simply to get kids' attention. "The practice of using real-life examples is a technique that's been around for 12 to 15 years," says Roger Rogalin, president of the publishing company's school division. "We live in a branded society, and these are the things kids are talking about."