Sure, times are hard. And school districts are creatively cutting costs. But one teacher, trying to raise funds to offset higher classroom expenses, is thinking outside the box—way outside the box. Tom Farber, a calculus teacher at Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego, began selling ad space on student exam papers to come up with additional funding after budget cuts put a crimp in his annual allowance. Farber says without the additional revenue he can’t afford to photocopy enough exams and assignments for his students.
Businesses can place ads at the bottom of the first page of exam papers, and Farber says the additional revenue will be used to print class materials. He sells ad space for $30 for placement on a final exam, $20 for a test, and $10 for ad space on a quiz. Farber says the decision to sell ad space is a sign of the economic times and not something he wishes to continue long-term.
While an interesting idea to generate revenue, my concern is that students might find the ads distracting enough to limit their performance on a quiz or exam.
It seems to me that the ads are visible only to the kids. If they’re good, well-designed ads, then they will indeed be distracting, and the kids shouldn’t be the target audience even of bad, poorly designed ads during their tests.
Farber has essentially come up with a gimmick for getting donations from businesses which he assumes wouldn’t be willing simply to give donations. I have to wonder whether he tried asking for donations first.
Real advertising could be done on newsletters that go home to parents — either they’d give the ROI an ad should, or they’d inspire enough outrage to get parents to step up and do some fund-raising.