Alex Molnar

The commercialization of public education is upon us. With much fanfare and plenty of controversy, plans to cash in on our public schools are popping up all over the country. Educator and award-winning commentator Alex Molnar has written the first book to both document the commercial invasion of public education and explain its alarming consequence

If you strip away the rosy language of “school-business partnership,” “win-win situation,” “giving back to the community,” and the like, what you see when you look at corporate marketing activities in the schools is example after example of the exploitation of children for financial gain. Over the long run the financial benefit marketing in schools delivers to corporations rests on the ability of advertising to “brand” students and thereby help insure that they will be customers for life. This process of “branding” involves inculcating the value of consumption as the primary mechanism for achieving happiness, demonstrating success, and finding fulfillment. Along the way, “branding” children – just like branding cattle – inflicts pain. Yet school districts, desperate for funding sources, often eagerly welcome marketers and seem not to recognize the threats that marketing brings to children’s well-being and to the integrity of the education they receive. Given that all ads in school pose some threat to children, it is past time for considering whether marketing activities belong in school. Schools should be ad-free zones.

If you strip away the rosy language of “school-business partnership,” “win-win situation,” “giving back to the community,” and the like, what you see when you look at corporate marketing activities in the schools is example after example of the exploitation of children for financial gain. Over the long run the financial benefit marketing in schools delivers to corporations rests on the ability of advertising to “brand” students and thereby help insure that they will be customers for life. This process of “branding” involves inculcating the value of consumption as the primary mechanism for achieving happiness, demonstrating success, and finding fulfillment. Along the way, “branding” children – just like branding cattle – inflicts pain. Yet school districts, desperate for funding sources, often eagerly welcome marketers and seem not to recognize the threats that marketing brings to children’s well-being and to the integrity of the education they receive. Given that all ads in school pose some threat to children, it is past time for considering whether marketing activities belong in school. Schools should be ad-free zones.

Auch der erfolgreichste Pädagoge ist irgendwann einmal mit "seinem Latein am Ende": zum Beispiel, wenn ein Kind immer wieder seine Hausaufgaben nicht macht, ständig zu spät kommt oder dauernd in Streitigkeiten mit anderen verwickelt ist. Obwohl diese Probleme oft gar nicht so schwerwiegend erscheinen, zermürben sie und untergraben die Effektivität der schulischen Arbeit. Die Autoren zeigen, wie eine andere Sichtweise der Probleme eingesetzt werden kann, um Veränderungen zu bewirken: Dabei wurde ihr Ansatz stark von den Erfahrungen der Familientherapeuten beeinflusst, die auf der Basis verschiedener Modelle der Kybernetik, Systemtheorie und Hypnose praxisbezogenes Wissen darüber gesammelt haben, wie Menschen bei ihren Problemlösungen geholfen werden kann. Da diese Ideen darauf abzielen, bei der Veränderung der Problemsituation selbst zu helfen, statt eine bestimmte Art von Problem zu diagnostizieren oder zu behandeln, sind sie bei einer großen Anzahl sehr unterschiedlicher Probleme in Schulen einsetzbar.

(orginally published by Jossey-Bass 1990)Changing Problem Behavior in Schools presents an innovative approach to dealing with classroom behavior problems that can be used successfully by teachers as all grade levels, counselors, and administrators. The authors draw on techniques and strategies developed by family therapists to show how behavior can be changed and chronic problems eff ectively addressed. They off er numerous examples—drawn from the authors’ research on over two hundred cases—to illustrate problemsolving methods used successfully in classrooms, lunchrooms, and a variety of other school settings and situations. They suggest ways to build on successes and maintain an ongoing system for handling problem behavior. And they provide guidelines for analyzing unsuccessful attempts at changing behavior and off er advice on how to handle relapses.The book examines ways to overcome a wide range of student problems, such as fighting, sleeping in class, and tardiness. It also includes advice on solving staff relations problems such as disagreements over student placement — as well as problems between the school and the community such as a lack of cooperation from parents. A valuable resource section includes practice activities that provide step-by-step instructions for applying each of the book’s specific problem-solving techniques in the school or classroom.The approach to problem behaviors in the school described in this book is called "ecosystemic" because problem behavior is viewed as a part of, not separate from, the social setting within which it occurs. The book is divided into three parts. The three chapters in Part One describe the ecosystemic framework used to explain problem behavior. Chapter 1 analyzes how social, personal, and professional factors influence individuals' perceptions of events and contribute to keeping their behavior in problem situations from changing. Chapter 2 describes the usefulness of the concept of ecosystem and explains how problems and solutions are viewed from an ecosystemic perspective. Chapter 3 focuses on how to recognize and use ecosystemic clues to help develop the flexible approach to problem solving. Part Two of the book, consisting of chapters 4 through 9, presents ecosystemic methods for promoting change in problem situations. Each chapter is devoted to a different ecosystemic technique. Each chapter follows the same format: the technique is described, case examples are presented and discussed, and the essential elements of the technique are reviewed. The three chapters in Part Three encourage readers to implement techniques from Parts One and Two. A resource section concludes the book.

Pizza Hut's Book It! program rewards students with pizza for meeting their reading goals. Toys R Us paid a Kansas school five dollars for each student who took its toy survey. Cisco Systems donated internet access to a California elementary school, asking in return for the school choir to sing the company's praises while wearing Cisco t-shirts.Kids today face a barrage of corporate messages in the classroom. In School Commercialism , education expert Alex Molnar traces marketing in American schools over the last twenty-five years, raising serious questions about the role of private corporations in public education. Since the 1990s, Molnar argues, commercial activities have shaped the structure of the school day, influenced the curriculum, and determined whether children have access to computers and other technologies. He argues convincingly against advertisers' assertion that their contributions are a win-win proposition for cash-strapped schools and image-conscious companies.From the marketing of unhealthy foods to privatizing reforms such as the Edison Schools and Knowledge Universe, School Commercialism tracks trends that are more pervasive than many parents realize and shows how we might recapture schools to better serve the public interest.

Pizza Hut's Book It! program rewards students with pizza for meeting their reading goals. Toys R Us paid a Kansas school five dollars for each student who took its toy survey. Cisco Systems donated internet access to a California elementary school, asking in return for the school choir to sing the company's praises while wearing Cisco t-shirts.Kids today face a barrage of corporate messages in the classroom. In School Commercialism , education expert Alex Molnar traces marketing in American schools over the last twenty-five years, raising serious questions about the role of private corporations in public education. Since the 1990s, Molnar argues, commercial activities have shaped the structure of the school day, influenced the curriculum, and determined whether children have access to computers and other technologies. He argues convincingly against advertisers' assertion that their contributions are a win-win proposition for cash-strapped schools and image-conscious companies.From the marketing of unhealthy foods to privatizing reforms such as the Edison Schools and Knowledge Universe, School Commercialism tracks trends that are more pervasive than many parents realize and shows how we might recapture schools to better serve the public interest.

The commercialization of public education is upon us. With much fanfare and plenty of controversy, plans to cash in on our public schools are popping up all over the country. Educator and award-winning commentator Alex Molnar has written the first book to both document the commercial invasion of public education and explain its alarming consequences. Giving Kids the Business explains why hot-button proposals like for-profit public schools run by companies such as the Edison Project and Education Alternatives, Inc. taxpayer-financed vouchers for private schools market-driven charter schools Channel One, an advertising-riddled television program for schools and the relentless interference of corporations in the school curriculum spell trouble for America's children.Imagine that the tobacco industry may be helping to shape what your son and daughter learn about smoking. Imagine that your son is given a Gushers fruit snack, told to burst it between his teeth, and asked by his teacher to compare the sensation to a geothermal eruption (compliments of General Mills). Imagine your daughter is taught a lesson about self-esteem by being asked to think about "good hair days" and "bad hair days" (compliments of Revlon). Imagine that to cap off a day of world-class learning, your child's teacher shows a videotape explaining that the Valdez oil spill wasn't so bad after all (compliments of Exxon).Anyone interested in how schools are being turned into marketing vehicles, how education is being recast as a commercial transaction, and how children are being cultivated as a cash crop will want to read Giving Kids the Business .