School Sports Funding

Thesis: While it is true that money from corporations can come with strings attached that work to benefit corporations, ultimately, corporate sponsorships of schools are acceptable because of the economic benefits they can provide schools if those sponsorships either come with no strings attached or any strings do not force students to learn content based on the views of the sponsoring corporation. 

Corporate sponsorships give school access to funding, which is necessary for both education and extracurricular activities. Some schools do not get enough funding from their local governments because they are in poorer communities. Because schools don’t get enough funding they look to other opportunities in order to provide their students with a quality education and meaningful extracurricular opportunities. Corporate sponsorships are a way to fix this problem. For example, suppose that McDonalds donates money to a school that needs money because they don't have enough money for football uniforms on the condition that the school puts the McDonalds logo on the uniform. Without the funding from McDonalds, it is unlikely that the school would be able to provide uniforms to the students. Without these uniforms, students would be unable to play. Because the school cannot pay for the uniforms easily, students would either have to pay for the uniforms themselves, which would be unlikely because they are in a poor community, or any money the school spends on the uniforms would be money that would also likely be needed for school supplies, meaning that the quality of their education would be negatively affected. Simply putting a logo on a uniform fixes this issue, allowing more students the opportunity to play a game they otherwise wouldn’t be able to while also ensuring that money isn’t taken away from their education. 

Counter argument: 

Of course there are limitations to this argument. Money often comes with strings attached. For example, if Chick Fil A sponsors a school they are more likely to have the ability to influence schools and students. Chick Fil A is known for their conservative christian viewpoints. They could give you money to buy textbooks but only if schools buy the textbooks that they want them to buy. Chick Fil A might require schools to give the students textbooks that match with their values, this would give students a biased education rather than having an unbiased education. This is a valid concern, which is why sponsorships are only okay when they aren’t influencing the content of students education. A Mcdonald’s logo on a uniform is not harming students and their education and also benefits the corporation through advertising. There is nothing wrong with advertising the problem is when it impacts their education