My Year with Nike

 

    This was a story of corporate sponsorship, branding, and ethics in public schools. A Title I school, where most kids are learning English and live in low-income homes, in Beaverton, Oregon were made an offer from Nike that they felt they could not refuse. Nike selected their school to participate in a new elementary health and fitness program. They offered many things like four paid field trips, including the buses and helping them meet their physical fitness standards. Their school would also receive money for each hour spent at the Nike Campus, to be used for new P.E equipment. 

Who Can Relate?

    How many of us would also not think twice about an opportunity like this? I think that many of us who work in Providence public schools would jump at this offer. We know the costs for field trips and on top of that, the costs of bussing. This year my students were not able to take any field trips and it was devastating because we should be able to provide our students with unforgettable experiences. Fundraising is never easy and if there was a way to avoid it I think it would be a huge weight off teachers shoulders.

Partnership or Marketing. . .

    Nike had proposed this opportunity as a "partnership". They were aggressive with daily emails and phone calls. Rachel shares her irony that haunted her with the Nike partnership. How Nike operates exploitive sweatshops that keep communities poor and voiceless in some of the very countries from which her students' families had migrated. How these companies perpetuate injustice in developing countries by paying workers a minimum wage that is not a living wage. In addition to all that workers could also be exposed to dangerous conditions, independent unions were outlawed or attacked, and environmental regulations, when they did exist, they were not enforced. 

    On the first field trip, Nike's "request" was that all students wear the Nike shirts that were donated to them. On this first day, students were handed each a can of soda and spent an hour watching not yet released commercials. When program directors were asked why the students were watching commercials, they responded, it would help "rev them up" for their upcoming soccer game. Rachel felt powerless at this point to question anything. Soda and commercials were not appropriate for a health and fitness program. The next day students were given juice and trail mix as a snack.

 Branding the Children

    Rachel admits that not all of it was negative. She was appreciative of the experiences her students were given with trying new things like swimming, hip-hop dancing, rock climbing, yoga, and tennis. It was very clear that branding the children was a not-so-hidden agenda of Nike's partnership. After every field trip, Nike sent students home with a plastic bag full of trinkets and gifts. 

Proposal

    Rachel does not believe that it's all bad. She believes that we do not have to five in to a corporations every demand. She also believes that schools or school districts should develop guidelines for relationships with corporations so that when they are approached by a business they are prepared and more likely to get their needs met. Above all, there must be plenty of opportunities for honest discussion and careful decision making, always asking: What is really in the best interest of students. If there is any genuine interest from a corporation in supporting communities, they could undoubtedly afford to donate money with no commercial strings attached. They could encourage their employees to volunteer. As teachers, we love volunteers and visitors. Come read to our children!