Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Enabled by Schools, Students Are Under Constant Surveillance by Marketers

  • 05/17/16

Boulder, Colo. — Schools now routinely direct children online to do their schoolwork, thereby exposing them to tracking of their online behavior and subsequent targeted marketing. This is part of the evolution of how marketing companies are using digital marketing, according to a new policy analysis.

In the National Education Policy Center’s 18th Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends, Learning to be Watched: Surveillance Culture at School, Faith Boninger and Alex Molnar describe how schools facilitate the work of digital marketers. Google, for example, subscribes over 30 million students and educators to its Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and tracks students when they shift to Google applications not explicitly part of the GAFE suite (e.g., YouTube). Facebook tracks whenever its users browse to any page housing a “like” button, and uses that tracking information in its ad targeting systems.

The policies that enable and encourage these practices connect today’s children and adolescents to monitoring and to marketers. Moreover, because digital technologies enable extensive personalization, they amplify opportunities for marketers to control what children see in the private world of their digital devices as well as what they see in public spaces such as streets, ball fields, and schools.

Schools’ embrace of digital technology augments and amplifies traditional types of education-related marketing, which include: (1) appropriation of space on school property, (2) exclusive agreements, (3) sponsored programs and activities, (4) incentive programs, (5) sponsorship of supplementary educational materials, and (6) branded fundraising.

These practices, Boninger and Molnar explain, threaten children’s right to privacy as well as their physical and psychological well-being and the integrity of the education they receive. Constant digital surveillance and marketing at school combine to normalize for children the unquestioned role that corporations play in their education and in their lives more generally.

The report offers a number of recommendations, including that policymakers enact enforceable legislation rather than rely on industry self-regulation to protect student privacy, and that they eliminate the perverse incentives that encourage parents, teachers, and administrators to sacrifice student privacy in order to be financially able to provide educationally necessary school activities.

Find Learning to be Watched: Surveillance Culture at School, by Faith Boninger and Alex Molnar, on the web at:
http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/schoolhouse-commercialism-2015

Featured

  • Construction Begins on 100+ Acre K–12 Campus Designed for Lakota Culture

    The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (CRST) and the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School District in Eagle Butte, S.D., recently broke ground on a new K–12 campus that will cover more than 100 acres and serve students and families across 1,600 square miles, according to a news release.

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Announces Acquisition of JJCA

    Wold Architects & Engineers, based in Minneapolis, Minn., recently announced that it has acquired JJCA, an architecture firm based in Nashville, Tenn., according to a press release. JJCA specializes in healthcare and education design; the partnership allows both firms to expand their presence across the country while building on existing strengths.

  • California District Opens New Robotics Center

    The Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) in Cupertino, Calif., recently held a Grand Opening ceremony for a new, district-wide Robotics Center, according to a news release. The 14,500-square-foot facility was designed by Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA); Landmark Constructors served as the builder and Blach Construction as general construction manager.

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.