So it’s that time of the year when one of our giant grocery supermarket chains is conducting something that they call ‘Earn and Learn’. I’m hardly the expert when it comes to grocery shopping – I’ll admit that – but there’s something that troubles me about this idea. Basically, as I understand it, parents of school children go to this supermarket, and for $10 or so they spend, they receive a sticker. These stickers can, in return, be cashed in at some time in the future for school or educational equipment – sporting goods, technology etc etc.
So far, so good, right? I mean, how is it different to having a school fete or a walkathon to raise money for the school or something like that? Well, not exactly. The problem I have with ‘earn and learn’ is that it preys upon parents natural desire for their children to succeed at school. There are very few parents that I know – and in more than 15 years in education, I’ve met my fair share of parents – that don’t want their children to succeed at school – and parents are generally willing to do what they can to help their children. That’s why you have P&Fs ,and parent fundraising bodies and parent helpers in classrooms. Not all parents can give their time or have money to give, but what they can give, parents, by and large, do.
And now, perhaps in a way that is not surprising, this particular company has found a way to cash in on that desire to help. A parent’s hope for his or her children has now become capitalised – how much you care about your child will be determined by how willing you are to shop at this particular chain. In other words, if you don’t shop there, you don’t care about your child’s education as much as those who do.
And of course, this is before we even get into the discussion of why corporations – giant, country-spanning entities – are getting into the business of providing educational supplies to schools. Surely, surely, public schools should be well enough equipped and supplied that they don’t need to rely on the goodwill of these less-than-stellar corporate citizens? After all, if they can afford to spend large sums of money to purchase this equipment and then give it away for free to schools, then perhaps there’s an argument to be made that we’re not taxing companies enough?