A Texas English teacher was reportedly fed up with Nike after the sporting goods company asked educators to volunteer as “certified essay readers” for their Nike HSI Scholarship Program.
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In an email, Nike asked teachers who wanted to make a difference in their community to volunteer as certified essay readers for the scholarship program and said educators can do the work from their homes, as long they have internet access, by evaluating 25 essays between now and Dec. 31. Teachers who are interested as required to apply and complete a short, online certification course.
However, one teacher replied to the email and told Nike how she felt about them asking teachers to grade essays for free. The teacher, only identified as Danielle, writes: “I want to clarify that you are offering athlete endorsements to $60 million a year, athletes that already have mountains of money, but you refuse to offer compensation for over-worked and under-paid public school teachers? With the demands of my job and the mountains of essays I need to grade, I should receive compensation for replying to your inappropriate request to grade your essays, too.” The screenshot was originally posted by X user @_PanamaGold.
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“Honestly, I wonder how your company can justify asking for volunteer work all in the name of doing this for the love of kids. Our love of kids does not pay the bills, and quite frankly, neither does my teaching salary,” she continued. Danielle also asked if Nike could use some of the money from Michael Jordan’s profits to pay the teachers to read student essays and make a difference.
“This could have been an opportunity for Nike to lead by example, but as no surprise to me, Nike took the low road. Imagine if Nike took just one million of Michael Jordan’s 60 million dollar endorsement and dispersed it to the teachers you are asking to work for free. You could make a difference in many lives. Although I am not looking for a handout, I would like compensation for my time.”
“Currently, my school district pays $40/hour for extra duties, so in 15 minutes it took me to process the absurdity of your request and plan a thoughtful response, I am already $10 in the hole. If you’d like to issue a reimbursement, please remit check payable to Danielle,” the email concluded.
Although it was unclear if Nike would respond to the email, many X users agreed with Danielle’s statement and said teachers should be fairly compensated.
