Posting Ads on the sides of School Buses?

[jmattbassplaya]

I try not to get my news from Yahoo, but I couldn't help but find this one worth checking out:

School buses become billboards to save budget. Brilliant or bad idea? on Shine

Of course, this sort of thing is nothing new. Similar stories have been reported in the past in regards to textbooks using brand names in their lessons and whether not the lowered cost of books was worth the constant bombardment kids would receive from advertising companies.

So what do you guys think? Is this a good source of easy revenue for school systems? Is this, in essence, "selling our kids' education to the highest bidder?" Is this just one of many signs showing us how messed up our school systems have become? None of the above? A mix of the above? Carrots?

[colcifer]

Trying to avoid the politics of it, school districts don't need more money, they need to spend it better. Public education is the third worst run enterprise, behind only usps and british leyland.

[Kwesi]

I'm all for it as long as some decent percentage of the money goes towards the bus drivers. Hopefully, that'll be incentive enough for them not not be such douchebags.

[knumbskull]

etc

[VincentSalizeri]

I'm cool with it. For one, it's not like advertising is anything new to children, it's everywhere nowadays. Also, it's a staple on pretty much every form of public transit, so it's really not a major surprise.

[pedroims]

Make sense, if they can make money with that and spend it in our kids, why not? its not like we the parents will paid for the billboard and the company will get publicity for free. My only complain will be if the publicity start to be related to alcohol, tabacco, underwear...

[Jon_West]

What's wrong with it? It's just a goddamn harmless picture on the side of a bus that kids don't even care about looks wise.

Why is this even controversial? Oh yeah, because people like to bitch about things.

[MakiSupaStar]

This is just the beginning.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

So what do you guys think? Is this a good source of easy revenue for school systems? Is this, in essence, "selling our kids' education to the highest bidder?" Is this just one of many signs showing us how messed up our school systems have become? None of the above? A mix of the above? Carrots?

Im not a big fan of advertising, but Im also not delusional enough to think that its going to go away just because I dont like. That said, it doesnt really seem like all that bad an idea to me. Its obvious that schools are facing a lot of budget cuts, and the extra revenue will certainly be useful. As far as it being a case of "selling our kids' education to the highest bidder, I dont think so, not in the least bit. Theyre using available space on the sides of buses, stadium scoreboards, and school district websites for ads, I dont see that interfering with the education. Now, this is more an idealized version of how it should work, but sooner rather than later Im sure greed will enter the picture, and there'll be some backdoor business dealings going on where one company may offer $xxx,xxx amount more than another, on the terms that theyre company gets ads placed elsewhere in schools, or is mentioned in the classroom. Human nature, greed will always end up corrupting what started out as an honest way to bring in some revenue.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

This is just the beginning.

Yup. I read the post above yours and my onlt thought was this person knows nothing of advertising. The proposed idea in itself isnt so bad, but thats just the foot in door to a much wider range of bad practice.

[Eric Perry]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

This is just the beginning.

That was my first thought as well.

[Ziltoid]

This segment of your history class was brought to you by Coca-Cola, CoCa-Cola you can't beat the real thing.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by colcifer

Trying to avoid the politics of it, school districts don't need more money, they need to spend it better. Public education is the third worst run enterprise, behind only usps and british leyland.

Yep

[yodedude2]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

This is just the beginning.

..of the continuing privatization of public education.

how long until public education is a memory? 20 years? less, perhaps?

[fhm555]

Originally Posted by yodedude2

...how long until public education is a memory? 20 years? less, perhaps?

And not a minute too soon.

I personally think widder wimen schoolmarms living off the largess of the community within walking distance of a schoolhouse is the best public education model ever devised. Since it's really all about being a trusted baby sitter and not about enrichment of our children, why not a nanny handling children in wholesale lots rather than a bunch of pretenders trying to bluff us into buying the idea they are actually educating the next generation?

Make the material available and make it self paced, add in a system where the eager beavers help the not so sharp tools, and along with an education they can also learn a little humanity in the bargain.

Public education reaching kids is not as hard as many would have you believe. Look at how well the Mcgruff the crime dog campaign worked at getting kids under 10 to turn in their folks for smoking pot.

[Richland123]

[Bongolation]

In that I'm currently shopping product placement revenue for my video, I can't even convincingly pretend to care about this "issue."

Monetize the experience however you can.

[ADbassman]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

This is just the beginning.

Nope, that started years ago when soda companies began advertising in lunch rooms and high school stadiums. Come to think of it, my high school stadium was jam packed full of advertisements and I don't think anyone was worse for it. I'm of the opinion that people, and children, can think for themselves. If they're that persuaded by an advertisement, clearly the school isn't doing their job.

[Nobody]

Originally Posted by fhm555

Make the material available and make it self paced, add in a system where the eager beavers help the not so sharp tools, and along with an education they can also learn a little humanity in the bargain.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not but this actually sounds like the school my kids(a 1st and a 5th grader) will be attending this coming year. It's a charter school in our district and their goal is to try new things like project based learning and give the rest of the district new ideas to implement. Both my kids are "sharp tools" but only one is an "eager beaver" so it will be interesting(and a little scary) to see how they do in this type of environment.

Sorry to go off topic.
As far as advertising goes, I don't mind it but as someone mentioned before I'm not very confident that the money would go to good use. From what I've seen too much money goes to administration. Throwing more money at problems is not always the best solution, sometimes wisdom in spending is needed.