Since our 18 June 2008 AGM conference session on “The Importance of Quality Early Childhood Education Programs in Schools”, presented by Dr Lennie Barblett (ECU), we have had great feedback from parents interested in the proposed implementation of such programs. To this end, we invite parents to have their say and ask any questions they may have.

To start off our discussions, we are asking for feedback on the Scholastic Book Program being run by many P&F Associations. We invite all parents to let us know what you think.

Margaret says,

MARKETING TO CHILDREN THROUGH SCHOOLS

I want to bring to your attention the issue of teachers selling to their students, in particular the Scholastic Book Club. There is growing concern amongst parents and teachers about the quality and appropriateness of products included in this scheme.

Although the club contains many excellent books, a very large proportion of the products are toys and trinkets or purely movie/tv tie in books (with story lines and narratives taken directly from the movie and illustrations from the movie set, rather than quality children’s literature originating from genuine children’s authors and illustrators.

At the end of last year, some parents in my children’s school raised concerns about the ‘book’ club. Consequently, the school has withdrawn from the club. This is great news for the families at our school. However, a parent at another local school has complained about the scheme and been unable to get the book club removed from their school.

I feel a responsibility to pursue this issue on behalf of other parents and children. I know the Federation works tirelessly to protect the welfare of children and I would appreciate it if you could provide me with any feedback you may have received from other parents in our schools.

Carol says,

I am the Scholastic Co-ordinator for my children’s primary school. When I was teaching, I found the books that Scholastic supplied were good and they supplied many useful teaching resources and free posters about a wide range of subjects. The children loved purchasing the books which were well priced and they were being exposed to literature. Since becoming a parent I still find they have a great range of books which are very well priced and which I know are levelled at the right age for my children. My children are steered away from trinkets and toys, and are always told “we buy for the book not for the toys”. We have purchased books centred around movies, but I don’t see this as an offence, sometimes these are great for weak or uninterested readers.

Jenny says,

I am a parent and on P&F committee at our school. Last year I instigated the withdrawal from the Scholastic Bookclub for our school based on the following reasons:

a) I did not appreciate the fact that my child was being advertised to
without my approval via the brochures which were handed out in the classrooms to all children.

b) I objected to the way in which my children would then discuss the
brochures with their friends prior to being collected from school and would have already decided what books they wanted (mostly the junk within
the brochure).

c) The fact that my children would then try to pester me into purchasing these books for them because “My friends get them” or “everyone else does” and then when I refused each time was having to explain my reasons behind
the decision and put up with grumpy kids all afternoon.

d) The content of the brochures is a disgrace.  They are not selling literature they are selling rubbish which will not help with the education of my children – Bart Simpson and Bratz (Rated PG and M) are not appropriate.

e) My children are 6 & 7 and should not be advertised to within a school
environment in this way.  They are not old enough to understand the cunningness behind the advertisers and the fact that they don’t care about
the people just the sales.  They are not old enough to make wise decisions when it comes to making choices of what to buy and they do need my help as their parent to make these decisions.  Scholastic should be ashamed of what they have turned in to and just stick to the Lexile programme (which also could be improved in terms of appropriateness of material).

The head of primary also added that the benefits of being members for the bookclub were not great and was more than happy to can the whole thing.  YAY! a sensible person who cares about our children.  There are other ways to raise funds for schools than this.

If parents want to buy their children books to read, take them to a bookshop where everyone can enjoy the experience of browsing through the books and making sensible decisions together.  If they can’t get to a bookshop do the same thing online with the child and a good result can be had by all.

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