Will your kid attend Thomas Jefferson-Microsoft High School?

[trof]

First it was the Nike 'swoosh' on every piece of pro sports equipment possible.
Then naming rights for stadiums.
And now it's schools.
:eyes:

Vote alters school sign
New sign will link Spanish Fort Middle to surrounding development
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
By JOSH BEAN
Staff Reporter

BAY MINETTE (AL) -- Three words will be added to the sign at the new Spanish Fort Middle School, ushering in the era of corporate naming rights for county schools.

At last month's school board meeting, the seven-member Board of Education voted 6-1 to accept $15,000 from International Paper Realty to add "at The Highlands" to the sign at the new campus, linking it to an adjacent development. Board member Bob Wills cast the lone dissenting vote.

The Highlands of Spanish Fort -- an 11,000-acre tract with a master plan that includes numerous neighborhoods, school sites, 180 acres of parks that will be donated to the city of Spanish Fort and 1,000 acres of nature preserves -- is being developed by IP Realty. The area could eventually be home to as many as 60,000 people, according to developers.

The sign change serves as an "implied endorsement" of the sprawling new development and "opens Pandora's box" for similar requests, Wills said.

"That's their subdivision. If they want to put up the biggest, nicest entry sign they want, it's great for them to promote and market their development," Wills said. "I just have a little heartburn with us getting involved in that process. It's troublesome for me because if we do it for them, why aren't we going to do it for everyone? And I think that's really the root of what I'm trying to stress."
http://www.al.com/news/press-register/baldwin.ssf?/base/news/1207127732148770.xml&coll=3

[taterguy]

1. This is what happens to kids who attend schools named after corporations

Ben Folds

RJ Reynolds High School, Class of 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pWB2N0_TxM

[TheUniverse]

5. Wow there actually is a RJ Reynolds highschool.

I thought you were joking until I googled it. http://rjreynoldshigh.com/ How in the hell is it legal to name a highschool after a cigarette company?

[taterguy]

6. It's not legal. I created a fake web page and you linked to it

I'm a prankster with far too much time on his hands.

[TheUniverse]

7. And its wikipedia article?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_J._Reynolds_High_School

[taterguy]

8. I created that to make the other fake page more credible

[TheUniverse]

9. And did you create the ineternet to host those webpages?

Al Gore is that you?

[taterguy]

10. If I was Al Gore would I be wasting my time here?

I don't think so

[rurallib]

2. All I can think of is jokes

like - The Viagara High School Lancers
- the AT&T Spies
- the Blackwater Enforcers.
====================================================
This is really sad. People don't want to pay taxes so corporations step in and use this as a way to burnish that image.

[PA Democrat]

3. The Exxon Pigs.

I agree, it's sad.

[chat_noir]

4. "Jennifer Government" - fiction becomes fact

In the horrifying, satirical near future of Max Barry's Jennifer Government, American corporations literally rule the world. Everyone takes his employer's name as his last name; once-autonomous nations as far-flung as Australia belong to the USA; and the National Rifle Association is not just a worldwide corporation, it's a hot, publicly traded stock. Hack Nike, a hapless employee seeking advancement, signs a multipage contract and then reads it. He discovers he's agreed to assassinate kids purchasing Nike's new line of athletic shoes, a stealth marketing maneuver designed to increase sales. And the dreaded government agent Jennifer Government is after him.

Free enterprise runs amok in Barry's satirical near-future nightmare: the American government has been privatized and now runs most of the world, including "the Australian Territories of the U.S.A.," where the book is set. American corporations sponsor everything from schools to their employees' identities, and literally go to war with one another.

http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Government-Max-Barry/dp/1400030927/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207138305&sr=1-1