海角大神

Your message here? Ads come to the math quiz.

When a teacher decides to sell space on his calculus tests, most students approve and the media beat a path to his door.

San Diego

Tom Farber is the kind of guy with whom you wouldn鈥檛 mind sharing a hot tub conversation. Silver-haired, fit, and gregarious, he鈥檚 telling his tubmate at a condo complex that he is a teacher. Been in the profession 23 years, 17 at Rancho Bernardo High, in a tony suburb of San Diego. As he talks over the noise of jet-propelled bubbles, his story turns to the underfunding of California schools.

This is how Mr. Farber鈥檚 15 minutes of fame 鈥� perhaps extended to half an hour 鈥� begins.

The chance conversation, with a neighbor who鈥檚 a magazine editor, turns to the way Farber is bridging a classroom budget deficit.

Realizing he couldn鈥檛 afford all the paper he needed for his calculus tests, he decided to get creative. On Back to School Night, he asked students鈥� parents if they would sponsor tests. That鈥檚 right, pay to put ads at the bottom of the first page.

He collected $270 that night 鈥� enough to meet the cost of producing quizzes, tests, and a semester final.

As the two men talk, the neighbor senses there鈥檚 a story here. It first appears in San Diego Magazine. The story is picked up by the local NBC-TV affiliate, and followed by an article in The San Diego Union-Tribune. USA Today then puts Farber on its front page. After that, a media maelstrom ensues.

His tale is told on national network news programs 鈥� ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN and AP send reporters and cameras to his classroom. Producers get in touch from The Bonnie Hunt Show and Dr. Phil. Canadian TV crews and Japanese newspapers send requests for his time.

Farber estimates he鈥檚 fielded more than three dozen such inquiries 鈥� and counting. He grants about a dozen interviews. He even takes a day off from school to 鈥渄o media.鈥�

From the mid-November day the story first appears through the second week of December, he says, he gets two or three calls a day from radio stations. He turns many down, but he does agree to do a program by a fellow educator in Nebraska: Teachers have to support teachers.

鈥淭he exposure this has gotten has gone beyond anything I would have believed,鈥� says Farber. He feels stress from holding down two jobs, being a divorced dad to a 19-year-old daughter, and acting as a media figure. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 let this be a distraction to taking care of my kids in the classroom. I鈥檓 happy to talk about the ads on the tests. But the message is underfunded schools. As a nation we have to focus on this. We can鈥檛 mortgage our future. And as it is, we鈥檙e setting kids up for major problems.鈥�

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Along with the media requests, Farber gets messages from about 50 individuals and companies from around the country that want to buy ads. One line of text 鈥� the 鈥渁d鈥� can be an inspirational quote or a plug for a company 鈥� costs $10 on a quiz, $20 on a test, or $30 on the semester final.

Even in the face of high demand, Farber keeps his pricing structure intact. He estimates he has more than $1,000 in pledges. Some advertisers 鈥� an orthodontist, an online retailer of prom dresses 鈥� really want to get their products in front of high school consumers.

Most also want to support a teacher who thinks outside the box. Travis King first sees Farber鈥檚 story in The San Diego Union-Tribune. The Marine staff sergeant owns a bargain-priced outdoor sports gear company called TNTRide.

He says his company tries to be community oriented, and believes Farber is of the same mind-set. King sends him an e-mail, and Farber replies with an ad request form.

鈥淲e live in Rancho Bernardo and my daughter is in this [Poway Unified] school district,鈥� says Mr. King, a veteran who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq and now is battling a brain tumor. 鈥淢y daughter is always talking about her school not having enough money.鈥� King spends $30 to put TNTRide ads on a quiz and a test.

A number of teachers contact Farber to talk about enacting similar programs. Dana Schaed first sees Farber鈥檚 story on Yahoo.com. Assistant principal for student life at St. John Vianney High, a private school with 1,035 students in Holmdel, N.J., she says keeping tuition low is always a priority.

She corresponds with Farber, and aims to get board approval for ads on tests.

鈥淲e鈥檒l probably keep pricing the same as [Farber鈥檚],鈥� says Mr. Schaed. 鈥淲e like the inspirational messages approach. She is also contemplating offering product placements: Local companies could pay to have their name used in, say, a math word problem.

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Farber鈥檚 students are mostly unaffected by the ads, or the media attention. 鈥淎cademically, it didn鈥檛 affect me,鈥� says 16-year-old junior Alex Flood. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 like it if huge companies started doing this in public schools. I鈥檓 OK with local stores doing it.鈥�

But the ads saddened 17-year-old senior Kristy Foss. 鈥淚n an ideal situation, society 鈥� the state 鈥� would provide enough funds for schools.鈥�

California school officials say the state鈥檚 allotment for education is at least $3 billion short. In this weak economy, cuts may be on the horizon that would make the gap worse. Faced with a budget crunch, many schools, like Rancho Bernardo, opted to keep teachers and trim programs. Poway Unified superintendent Don Phillips says the school district reduced the allocation for supplies by 30 percent 鈥� a drop from $272,000 to $190,000.

And that鈥檚 why a calculus teacher 鈥� who gives a test and a quiz for each of the seven chapters he teaches on things like applications of the derivative and advanced integration techniques 鈥� can鈥檛 pay for paper without hitting up parents and the public.

Sensitive to the advertorial encroachment on his tests, Farber polls his 165 students. All say the inspirational quotes are acceptable; 92 percent aren鈥檛 bothered by ads. On the next test, Farber will give students a choice 鈥� with or without the bottom-line mentions? Ten percent say they will opt for the ones without ads.

Farber warily believes his practice could evolve into a profit center for schools. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 done on a small scale, I recommend focusing on the quotes,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f this were to be done on a bigger scale, schools or districts would have to be more proactive.鈥�

To anyone who disagrees with ads on test, Farber responds: 鈥淚 tell them to complain to their local politicians that schools need to be better funded. Or I tell them to make a donation to their local school.鈥�

Above all else, Farber treasures the notion that his actions have allowed for the proverbial 鈥渢eachable moment.鈥�

鈥淚 tell my students to see what one person can do,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 solved a problem, and I鈥檓 getting a message out. This got bigger than I could have imagined. But my students are seeing that one person does have a voice. Don鈥檛 ever think your voice 鈥� or your vote 鈥� doesn鈥檛 count. It does, and it can.鈥�

Even if you鈥檙e just chatting with your neighbor in your hot tub.