It's not easy to dodge the saturation of commercialization these days. Everywhere we go, so does advertising: in the media, on transportation, even the address tags that are put on luggage. Advertisement in these places is expected for the most part, but commercialization in our public schools? As ludicrous as it may sound, such exploitation among our youth is a very real matter within Seattle's public schools.

In October 1998, the Seattle School District exclusively signed a 5-year vending machine contract with the Coca-Cola Corporation. The public was outraged over this deal, emphasizing concerns over schools encouraging children to consume an unhealthy product.

Since then, the Seattle School District has signed another contract with N2H2, an Internet filtering service that prohibits kids from visit "unsuitable" websites. This deal waives a $500 per month fee for the service,

and allows an ad banner to be displayed on every web page that students visit.

The reason why this commercial activity is permitted is simple: Seattle Public Schools need the money. In 1996, the District faced a budget deficit of $35 million, so the "Advertising and Corporate Sponsorship Policy," (which would allow for corporate advertising and sponsorship within Seattle schools) was passed. The Seattle School Board passed the policy in hopes of helping schools produce funds to reduce the District's deficit. After months of public outcry, the policy was rescinded. A subsequent "Committee on Commercial Activity and Advertising in the Seattle Public Schools," with a businesswoman as chair, met for eleven months and submitted recommendations that were utterly ignored. Four years later, there is still no policy on either allowing or banning commercialism in schools.

So what's wrong with a little endorsement in the school environment? Everything. Not only are we encouraging our kids to be materialistic, we are also teaching them to want things they don't need. Although the District may not intentionally try to exploit our children, the whole experience damages the overall quality of education, not to mention the accountability of the educational system. And it gives the appearance that the schools--government-funded institutions--are endorsing private corporations and their products. If anything, schools should be the one place where our kids can escape commercialism.

To resolve this problem, a group known as The Citizens' Campaign for Commercial-Free Schools (CCCS) has drafted a recommended policy, which will be proposed to the Seattle School Board. The policy calls for Seattle Public Schools to be "commercial-free zones." Not only would the District and individual schools be prohibited from accepting paid and non-paid advertising, logos would appear on items solely for the purpose of identification.

CCCS can be contacted at www.scn.org/cccs; 206-726-4142; 3724 Burke Ave. N., Seatle WA 98103; cccs@drizzle.com.

Debbie Shih