Free Enterprise Education?

On June 27^th I posted the following through my usual social media channels:

“#ISTE Challenge: have deep discussions about education WITHOUT the vendors and their money in the room. Good luck!”

A friend and employee of a major ed tech vendor replied to my posting: “Ouch!”

Me: “Nah its only an ouch if you find you are spending all your time with commercial interests....”

Her: “or if you are technically a vendor.”

Me: “That's a vendors job to talk to educators! I'm simply asking educators to make sure they are making time ASIDE from vendors!”

Commercial companies are no longer being sheepish about crossing the line...it's actually getting rather brazen...how dare I or anyone push back as they try to insert themselves further and deeper into our pockets? In an age of entitlement, even vendors feel entitled! Of COURSE they want to be in the room when you’re having substantive talks about education. It allows them to both assess our needs and push the discussion towards how they can get involved…not altruistically…not because the line is blurred between personal and professional contact…because it feeds their bottom line…ka-CHING! It's their job...it's why they're in business.

So what’s wrong with that? Nothing! God bless the free enterprise system! But there are different degrees of allowing commercial interests to engage you professionally. Consider these levels:

• Commercial Loyalty - you love the products; they are high quality, reliable and last a long time…a good value…you get your money’s worth…so much so that you look to this certain company first and even work together to get pricing down so you can justify purchasing its product over competitors. When a better competitor’s product comes along, you are still willing to switch.

• Commercial Empowerment - you participate in professional opportunities provided by a company including professional development, professional networking, company-created honors and awards, company endorsement of your work…because it takes you outside of your school-role silo and makes you feel connected to a larger community.

• Commercial Influence - you accept benefits and perks from a company above and beyond brand loyalty and professional empowerment, including free products, airfare, lodging, meals, stipends and honoraria, free speaking opportunities, paid speaking opportunities, and/or working as a consultant to demonstrate and promote company products.

• Commercial Investment - you partner with a company in planning and implementing educational policy and practice for your classroom, school or district, allowing them to have a seat at the table and a say in discussions about challenges, opportunities, priorities and decisions being made on behalf of your students and their education.

All these things are taking place daily between commercial interests and educators. It is insidious in how it attempts to permeate all our discussions, especially on social media where so many of our colleagues are acting as agents for commercial interests. Sometimes they fully disclose this and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they’re not even being honest with themselves about it. It's time to be aware, open and honest with ourselves and each other...

Here’s my thinking: ethically, the free enterprise system has to stop at the schoolhouse door.  We love our vendors and we need our vendors, but they do not belong within our sphere of professional responsibility as educators. We all know this, vendor and educator…we are not unwitting participants dancing in the dark…

So…given the four categories above…where do you draw your ethical line?

On June 29^th I posted the following follow-up on my usual social media channels:

“#ISTE11 challenge: in distilling your conference experience, what have you acquired that is meaningful and useful to transform education?”

It is my sincere hope ISTE attendee responses (and the responses of conference-goers everywhere) are not being driven by commercial interests…