etrrrcs linc.

he good news is, we don'thave to wait for the debut of

Chris Vhittle's for-profit Edison

Project to get a glimpse of 2lst

century American education.

Hundreds of prototypes for to-morrow's "marketdriven" schoolsare aheaAy conveniently in place,

and future National Merit

Scholars arcdrady enjoying theirfirst taste of coqporate-schml part-nershiP-comPlete with freesamples, if also strings attached.rilfho says serious leaming cant

also be scrumdiddlyumtious? Just askthe middle school students dl across thenation who've recently studied volcanicactivity with the aid of Gushers@,General Mills'new candy that spurs liq-uid from its center. "Compare those sug-ary spufts with real erupting geothermicphenomena," a handy teacher's guide

an unlimited supply of free teachingmaterials: texts, teacher's guides, home-work sheets, and ready-made quizzes.Here, at last, is a sensible model forAmerican school reform: industry ex-pens passing on their own special brandof knowledge.

"Clear-cutting removes allcrees...co creare new habitats forwildlife," eager young environmentalists

90 SPYJLIY/AUGUST 1994

I||uo$li[0 llt 01il' Yoil||

sussests. with corporate support/The same company also sponsors

the helpnrl'Grow-up!' ffi;i"dlil today's g fatis educationalsist elementary students'und;lstandinq material iS nOt only alive ly_?:t*

("foresters") don't killof the l ink between nutrit ion and : '- '

'-. ' :- forests, butraov them.

growth, se-lerous t"ppr;;; ;;; F; w i th i a m h i C pe n ta m ete r, " when no one harvests, " G-P teach-

l*l#,L:,ffi:'"ilH,9,',ff'ltJ: but also comes in a palette of ;:Hf.T'J."5#:il:::'ifftil:serving: less than two percent of U.S. NiCkelOdegn-esque COIOfS*?io.',

with the sugary snacks come and pfggnant metaphor'

learn from Proctor * Gamble's in-class"Decision Earth" program. "P&G usesthis economically and environmentallysound method because it most closelymimics nature's own processes. Clear-cutting also opens the floor to sunshine,thus sdmulating growth and providingfood for animals."

Similarly, elementary school materi-

als sponsored by the Georgia-Pacificlumber company explain in languagekids can understand how modern-dav

ments. Very old trees will not supportmany different kinds of wildlife becausethe forest floor is rco shaded to grow theground plants animals need." S7"hen G-P plants new trees, the text continues,they dont just replant rees. They plant"sutrrrtrees."

The business communiry is out toprove that free-market schools will notonly be efficient, but also educationallyhip. G-P's 'Tree Trunk Activities Kit,"designed for science class, also includesthe following inspirational kiddie-verse:

I

eTnrCS lin0.

must serve the needs of the communi-cator first. But it also mlusthave puceiuedualue in the classroom." [Emphasisadded.l

Smut and its peddlers have alwaysbeen around, though, and always will.It's the corporations' eagerness to pene-trate the last great commercial-free zone,the classroom. that has enabled theseniche marketing ogres to thrive. Nowthat the floodgates have opened, compa-nies find the opportunity simply irre-sistible. Imagine-your target marketnot only reads your ads, they get testedon them.

"They are going to be part of thislschoolJ system, whether they like it ornor, for the next 12 to 16 years," e4plainsDon Baird, president and CEO ofSchoolProperties USA. "When you have a cap-tive audience, the message you give themcan be [heard] for the next 10 years in apositive environment. Its not a 10-sec-ond thing."

P&G, the company that inventedthe soap opera as a vehicle to sell theirwares, has (not surprisingly) already dis-tinguished itself in this new field. Theirbox-o'-curricula is a teachers' loungegrab bag, with a little something foreveryone: the Civil \War; The GreatDepression; \forld r$Var II ("Attention

tends to focus on. ..grear. deeds and bat-t les. . . . Add depth to your d iscus-sions...by helping students discover thelesser-known role of the business com-munity," i.e., the U.S. army engagingP&G as a secret munitions manufactur-er); and more modern, practical topicssuch as "Facts about dishwashable sur-faces."

Fnou P&G's "How ro CrEaN"TEACHER's HANDBooK,' Cboose theRight Produa n Saae Time and Monq

Ask the students to do the follow-ing:) Describe a laundering and a cleaningjob they regularly do. rtr7hat kind ofproducts do they use...how do they de-cide what product to use?) List four specific cleaning jobs and the

rype ofproduct you would use to removerhe soil or stain.

llf hy can't M&MlMars teach nutri-I f tion? Whv sbouldn't a coalition of

manufacturers be able to have the defin-itive word on waste issues. even if their"rVaste: A Hidden Resource" pamphletdodges all incineration issues? r$fhy

sbouldn't Orville Redenbacher be addedto the list of history's all-time great in-ventors, along with Gregor Mendel (fa-ther of genetics), Louis Pasteur, andGeorge rtrTashington Carver? (Reden-

bacher is, according to his own "Kernels

of Knowledge" booklet, a pioneer incross-breeding popcorn). It is, after all,these American success stories that driveour consruner culture and have the mostat stake in the future of Generations X.Y.andZ.

"The kids we're reaching are con-sumers in training," explains JosephFenton, director of cooperative market-ing at Donnelley Marketing. "You wantto reach consumers at their most forma-tive point." Lifetime's invasive kiddie-demographics elaborate on this point inexcruciating detail: "Research showsthat children begin to make brand deci-sions at age four... . Teens buy for self-image. They adopt brands as personaltrademarks and choose products thatcarry a built-in sense ofstyle. They careintensely...how a product wil l affecttheir social life. \7ord-of-mouth is apowerful force in all their purchasingdecisions."

r$7e have seen the future, and itwears a happy face. In the 21st cenruryschool, l i tt le consumers discover thevirtues of pizza, coal, and polystyrene.Homework is not only easy and fun, italso tastes terrific. The environment isimportant, but theret no reason to fret;reryding umAs, atuytbing is undzr control.And students get to,experience the firstpangs of market competition in a safe en-vironment: while the American SoftDrink Association's curriculum assureskids not to worry so much about sugarand salt-and advises that soft drinksshould be considered apart of a balanceddiet-Nutrasweet's curriculum arguesthat the sugar they're getting in snackfoods and soda is a real problem.

Iilfho o believe? Break out the samoles.

ll nd nout a word fron our sponiors. ..Fl"Imagine mill ions of students dis-cussing your product in class. Imaginetheir teachers presenting your organiza-tion's point of view. Imagine your corpo-rate message reaching their parentsthrough literature the students takehome. At Lifetime Learning Systems, wedon't just imagine. \7e create the award-winning educational programs that makethese marketing strategies work. ALifetime karning Systems teaching kitis a marketing tool that opens minds."Lifetime's clients include:AcE Hanowans ConponarroNAuEnrcaN Expnrss Corr.tparwCasrrr Rocr ENTERTATNMENT

Coca-Cora ConponAtror.I

DC Corr,rrcs. Inc.

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