COLUMN: Math, brought to you by Nabisco

From Dina Bass', "No Loss for Words," Fall '99 From Dina Bass', "No Loss for Words," Fall '99And now it's time for geometry class sponsored by Nabisco, makers of Oreo and other fine packaged cookies and crackers," booms an enthusiastic eighth-grade teacher. Is this type of promotion coming soon to a classroom near you? Maybe not yet, but a new McGraw-Hill math textbook teeters perilously close to this near-farcical situation. You see, McGraw-Hill, in an attempt to make math more relevant to sixth-graders, has included numerous brand names in the math problems found in the book. In addition to the brand name references, the text features photos of the products mentioned. And the companies are described in terms that would make a PR woman glow. The text, first published in 1995 and revised this year, is used in 15 states, including California and Texas, and has been approved for use in New York. But parents are livid at what many see as blatant commercialism even though McGraw-Hill did not accept a penny for the publicity. One word problem in the text include the following: "The best selling packaged cookie in the world is the Oreo cookie. The diameter of an Oreo cookie is 1.75 inches. Express the diameter of an Oreo cookie as a fraction in its simplest form." Another problem, using the Land's End catalogue as an example, sings the praises of the mail-order retailer: "Consumers can purchase unique clothing and accessories and products for the home." Sure, countless education studies have demonstrated that children assimilate word problems better if they can relate to them. But the book goes way too far. First of all, I am not certain that younger students can relate better to the problem by knowing that the cookie in question is an Oreo, rather than any generic chocolate-sandwich cookie. And even if the brand naming is helpful for kids, do they really need a full color picture, such as the one accompanying a problem involving Nike running shoes, to help them further visualize the problem? Not to mention the fact that egregious praise of various companies makes the book sound like an advertisement. Upset parents claim the text amounts to product placement in the most subtle, and thus successful, form because kids are influenced by the book's messages without even realizing. Parents are right of course. Many companies would kill for this type of exposure. In fact, my gut reaction is that whoever at McGraw-Hill decided to publish ads for free should be shot. Maybe McGraw-Hill should abandon all pretense of intellectual objectivity, sell these "ads" to the highest bidder and donate the money to schools that need new computers or something. Penn would be wise to adopt this strategy as well. After all, the University often sells things like buildings to the highest bidder. We could offer a Microsoft-sponsored text in marketing and predatory pricing or have the makers of Excedrin and Jolt Cola sponsor calculus class. Seriously though, there is a negative side to all this. Elementary school math classes should be about education, not advertisements. Even if McGraw-Hill did not intend to advertise on behalf of certain companies, the book clearly hits impressionable kids with subtle positive messages about the companies. It would seem that McGraw-Hill's efforts to make math manageable for kids are a bit overdone. Brand names should be used in textbooks only if there is no other way to allow students to relate to the product. For example, if the same understanding of the math problem can be conveyed by referring to a pair of running shoes without their brand name, there is no reason to identify Nike or Reebok. More importantly, even if brand names are used, care should be taken to omit glossy pictures of the product or laudatory descriptions of its service to mankind. Let's save these types of messages for college-level marketing classes.