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Bill Bosher
Richmond Times Dispatch
(Reprinted with permission)
October 8, 2000
Friday night high-school football games have changed in many
ways over the past 25 years. The hype over the film “Titans”
has reminded baby boomers of the wonderful bond created in
communities that centered their attention on high- school
athletics. As demonstrated by Alexandria’s celebrations kicking
off the movie depicting the ’70s state champion T.C. Williams
football team, those memories underscore the excitement of
the past and its contrast with the present. The crowds are
not as large today, and the competition for family interests
is great. Truly the times have changed, but some aspects of
the Friday-night event have transcended the years.
Young football players still work out two or three times
a day in the summer sun to prepare for that first late-August
or early-September game. Cheerleaders practice new routines
that now require gymnastic skills to punctuate the sound and
motion of enthusiastic fans. The band has early-morning rehearsals
and drills to perfect the halftime show that now includes
flags, rifles, and occasional pyrotechnics. Coaches, band
directors, and their respective boosters continue to argue
about what the crowd has actually come to see.
IN SOME stadiums, beyond the goalposts, remains the most
enduring symbol of high-school football - that scoreboard
with the words Coca-Cola or Pepsi. It is perhaps through this
nostalgia that we highlight yet another question growing in
our schools: Have we become overly commercialized? Have we
moved from the civic-minded con- tribution of a scoreboard
to the overt use of schools as marketing opportunities for
aggressive companies that understand the buying power of young
people?
In 1990 Chris Whittle introduced to schools a new company
called ChannelOne. Schools would be given televisions and
network infrastructure in exchange for promising to show a
10-minute news program to their students. It sounded like
a great deal, but how would it make money? Very simple: Whittle
sold advertising to companies that wanted exposure to young
people who, while in a captive environment, would watch Fifth
Avenue pitches for shoes, make-up, and jeans. This is certainly
good business, but is it a good use of school time?
IF YOU GO to the ChannelOne web site (www.ChannelOne.com)
you will find this statement: “ChannelOne.com is part
of the ChannelOne Network, a Primedia Inc. company. The Channel-
One Network is a learning community of 12,000 American middle,
junior, and high schools representing over 8 million students
and 400,000 educators . . . .” The homepage to which
young people are drawn after their initial exposure in participating
schools includes articles that appeal to students. On October
1 the topics included, “Are you a teen with a gambling
problem?” “Do you have a question for Death Row
inmate Sonia Jacobs,” and a multiple part series on “Why
is the U.S. out of step when it comes to the death penalty?”
The free technology may be great, but what is the true cost?
Clearly it is good business and goodwill for the corporate
community to support its schools, both public and private.
It is also smart for school leaders to seek the endorsement
of those who make the market-driven economy a reality. The
caution is simply one that is understood by every adult who
has ever worked in a middle school: Any young entrepreneur
who wants to make a dollar needs only to fill his pockets
with candy and offer it for sale. Lunch money is the first
to go and kids are left with only “junk” to eat.
Let’s keep our focus on why children are required to go to
school in Virginia. Let’s make sure that partnerships are
not confused for profit. Schools have much that is positive
to sell. Let’s make sure that even with the best of intentions,
we don’t relegate our students to “junk.”
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