13. "Big Business Hustles Kids in the Schools"

Big business has come into America's classroom to teach the children about nutrition, energy, and air pollution.

The objective, very simply, appears to be to socialize young people to support the interests of big business.

Teachers, books, and public-interest ideology look tacky compared to some of the slick new classroom propaganda provided by large corporations.

Children are taught about nuclear power through attractive booklets such as those distributed by Westinghouse Electric, a major force in the nuclear industry.

Children learn about the values of "Clear Air" from a booklet distributed by the Ford Motor Company.

Besides these "educational" booklets, which also are tax write-offs for the corporations, there are many cartoon characters used by groups such as Exxon and the American Iron and Steel Institute which publish "comic books" for kids.

In many countries, the corporate use of such comic characters as Mickey Mouse, Goofy, or Donald Duck are unlawful. In the United States, these cartoon favorites are spokesmen for big business in the socialization of young people. And it happens in the classroom.

The media's failure to let the American public, or, at least, our nation's parents, know how big business indoctrinates our children in the classroom qualifies this story for nomination as a "best censored" story of 1978.

SOURCE:

Mother Jones, September/October, 1978, p. 7, "Look! Look! See Kids Get Hustled!" by Zina Klapper.