Commercialism in America's Schools Continues Upward Trend.

MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 13, 1999--

UW-Milwaukee Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Education

Releases Second Annual Report On Schoolhouse Commercialism

"Cashing In on Kids," the second annual report on schoolhouse commercialism issued by the Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Education (CACE) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Education, was released today.

The report finds an increase of 11 percent in the number of citations related to schoolhouse commercialism between 1997-98 and 1998-99. Overall, the report found that between 1990 and 1998-99 the number of citations relating to schoolhouse commercialism showed an increase of 303 percent. The study is available on the Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Education Web site at www.uwm.edu/Dept/CACE.

CACE, which was established with support from Consumers Union (publisher of "Consumer Reports"), serves as an informational resource on issues pertaining to the nature, scope, and impact of commercial activities in schools.

"These findings suggest that, to an unprecedented degree, commercial activities now help shape the structure of the school day, influence the content of the curriculum, and may determine whether or not a child will have access to a variety of advanced learning technologies," says Alex Molnar, director of the center and UWM professor of education.

Molnar acknowledges that commercial activities may seem like a good deal both to businesses and to school administrators desperate to find extra money to respond to the needs of their schools.

However, according to Molnar, "Mixing commercial activities with public education raises fundamental issues of public policy, curriculum content, the proper relationship of educators to the students entrusted to them, and the values that the schools embody. Furthermore, very few educators are trained to assess the impact of commercializing activities in their schools."

He also notes that there is little discussion of schoolhouse commercialism among educators in professional publications.

"Cashing In on Kids" is the result of database searches on seven categories of schoolhouse commercialism covering the period 1990 to 1998-99. "Although the number of citations that relate to commercializing activities can provide only a rough approximation of the scope and development of the phenomenon, the results are, nevertheless, sobering," says Molnar.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Alex Molnar will be available after 1 p.m. CDT Monday, Sept. 13 at 414-229-4592. Molnar has discussed educational topics on NPR's "Market Place" and "Talk of the Nation," and has been featured on "60 Minutes, "The NewsHour," CNN reports, and the "TODAY Show," among many others.)