*Transcendental *Logic

Hello again [TEACHER],

I would like to ask you about a display in [KID]’s classroom. According to my husband and mother-in-law, there is an "alphabet" display for the children that represents the letters of the alphabet as corporate logos.

[ED. NOTE:

]

If that means what I think it means, that our community’s kindergartners are being taught to recognize brands as part of their early language-education, it concerns me very deeply. Too much exposure to advertisement, and focus on obtaining consumer goods, has already been shown to cause negative psychological consequences in children. Needless to say, for [KID]’s generation, this problem will be even more acute, since children her age have been exposed to more advertising from an earlier age than any children in history. As parents, I think it’s very much our responsibility to mitigate any psychological damage or bad habits this could cause. To this end, I have always worked to control [KID]’s exposure to advertising to the extent that I am able, and to talk to her about it when I can’t.

I do not see how learning brand names and their associated logos benefits [KID]’s education, and I do not think the "benefit" of grooming her to be a loyal consumer is a legitimate one. I think it does more harm than good to children in the long run to be taught such things as part of their primary education. If you disagree with me, I would of course be interested in your point of view.

Furthermore, I understand that supplies for the classroom don’t grow on trees, so I’m offering to replace the display in question with one of comparable size and value. I have seen alphabet displays which feature butterflies, plants, animals, people in different poses, famous landmarks, and many others that I believe would be of greater educational value than corporate logos. If you’d like to pick what type you’d prefer, I would happily buy (or make) it for [KID]’s classroom.

Thank you very much for hearing my concerns. I hope we can resolve this situation in a way that benefits all the children involved.

Thanks!
[ME]

This entry was posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 9:53 am and is filed under consumer warfare, psychology, science!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.