Content area
Full Text
Schools of Markets? Commercialism, Privatization, and School-Business Partnerships Deron R. Boyles, Editor Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005
Do you know parents, teachers, administrators, staff, and district personnel who have participated in the buying or selling of merchandise in schools? Does your son or daughter sell wrapping paper, candles, cookies, or other gadgets as part of school fundraising? Many of us have either participated ourselves or had family members engage in these activities. In our minds, we may have assumed that doing business with corporations and businesses is the best option for addressing school budget shortages. We think of ourselves as helping our communities and children have opportunities that they would not otherwise have when we earn monies for school endeavors.
Schools and Markets, a collection of essays edited by Deron R. Boyles, provides us with the opportunity to look behind the curtain of these activities as well as many other school-business partnership activities. Looking behind the scenes we learn more about school-business relationships that are rarely questioned or acknowledged by the general public. Easy to read, Boyles' book covers a wide spectrum of themes, ideas and resources, and it allows us to hear the different voices of distress, disagreement, and resentment-voices we may have never heard before-caused by the influence of businesses in public schools. These voices invite us to analyze and evaluate our potential actions before making decisions. The contributors to the book, in conjunction with Boyles, ask us to stop and think before allowing corporations and businesses into our schools. They advise us to be cautious of schoolbusiness partnerships as part of the solution to increasing school funds. They share their opinions and critical points of view, thus allowing the reader to see that the "book focuses on the central theme of commercialization but does so via such a distinctly multiplicity of examples that readers will arguably be struck by the sheer breadth and reach...