Essay 2

Q) Some people think placing advertisements in schools is a great resource for public schools that need additional funding, but others think it exploits children by treating them as a captive audience for corporate sponsors.

Choose which position you most agree with and discuss why you chose that position. Support your point of view with details from your own experiences, observations and reading.

A) I agree with the view that placing advertisements in public schools for additional funding exploits children by making them a captive audience for corporate sponsors. These advertisements could be good or bad. Children are like clay, they shape into whatever they are molded to. They cannot independently think for themselves and must be kept at a pure and education enhancing place rather than as a business commodity.

Children are quite immature to think about this matter. It is therefore the duty of the school and parents to think about it. Large corporate sponsors may be enticing to schools on one hand, but on the other hand outweigh the additional income by their inappropriate and irrelevant advertisements to children.

For instance, I studied in a public school. The school had very little money that was generated as revenues for other activities apart from operational costs. We used immensely constructive ways to generate additional revenues. We conducted inter school debate competitions and putting up a ticket or an entry fee for it, organizing sports tournaments and music festivals as well. The point to be made here is that schools can generate additional income from various non destructive sources as well. They do not have to put students as a captive audience for those large profit seeking corporate organizations.

To put it in a nutshell, corporate sponsors should not be allowed to place advertisements that may or may not be relevant to the child’s future and growth. Moreover, these companies want to fire their using  children’s shoulders as a support. Children should be kept at a place where growth and knowledge is encouraged and not be made business aspects for other company’s growth just for some additional revenue.