Graycie of Today’s Homework, still in a state of disbelief, tells how her seniors her were taken out of class for an hour for a presentation by a company that sells class rings and other commemorative trinkets and clothing items:
Now, I know that kids want stuff. And if their parents can afford it, fine. And if they earn the money themselves and choose to spend it on this sort of gewgaws, also fine. But. Don't make time during school class time to pack them into the cafeteria and show them slick catalogs and fancy power-point shows of all the junk they can buy above and beyond what is basic.
I foam at the mouth when I talk about things like the peer pressure involved when several hundred teenagers are packed into the cafeteria and bombarded with consumer ads. Or the appropriateness of allowing a company to use class time to market their stuff.
Well, we’ll assume that everything in the state’s standards had already been covered. ...
