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Rating: 
Summary: BRAND NAMES IN TEXT BOOKS
Review: Once upon a time, math class was a turgid, formulaic affair full of abstract concepts that meant nothing to kids. Factoring, long division, planar geometry: it added up to a snoozefest.The writers of a popular new American schoolbook have changed all that. They're making math fun again by making it relevant. They understand that the world of postmodern kids isn't, as the old textbooks depict, some place where anonymous Dicks and Janes skip down generic streets. It's a place where Michael Jordan eats Whoppers and Leonardo DiCaprio relaxes at the Viper Room. To gain access to the quicksilver minds of today's youth, the successful educator must "think different." You can lead the kids to water, pedagogically speaking, but if you want to make them drink, you must sweeten that water with Kool-Aid-brand crystals. Mathematics: Applications and Connections (McGraw-Hill), currently in use by sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students in at least 16 US states, folds prominent plugs for such products as Barbie dolls, Big Macs and Oreo cookies right into the math problems - bringing them vividly to life. ("Will is saving his allowance to buy a pair of Nike shoes that cost $68.25. If Will earns $3.25 per week, how many weeks will Will need to save?") The textbook - published in 1995 and revised last year - is thus superior to earlier books that merely concerned themselves with dull conceptual mechanics. Little wonder the California State education department recently gave Mathematics a hearty thumbs-up. Executives at Mattel, Nike, Sony, Spalding, Disney, Burger King and other multinationals whose products are mentioned in the book have also expressed their satisfaction. Without even asking, they have been given guaranteed access to kids still forming life-long brand allegiances. by Bruce Grierson
Published in Adbusters magazine (Summer 1999, pg. 33).
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