Truth in Advertising

Aside from being a pretty awful ad, where the first thing we see is the 'check book' graphic with the amount left blank — this ad shows the utter desperation on the part of the school to keep 'lifers' who are threatening to leave at bay.

I'm sure many who have to pay the burden of expense may be rejoicing that SJS is finally lowering their price ... but how smart of a move is this from a business standpoint?

Think about it. They are offering discounts up to 50% off to those people who will probably already return to SJS, and alienating those who have not spent enough years at SJS that such a discount would make the difference of staying or leaving. Odd.

Would not a more practical and balanced approach be to offer an early enrollment incentive so that EVERYONE can enjoy the price break? Maybe then they wouldn't have to discount the tuition by 50% but
keep it at a more reasonable and sensible rate of 10%-15% off? I mean let's be real here. I'm all for making tuition affordable, (we all could use the break), but what is the cost of such a discount? What 'rainy day' funds would it deplete?

What I found most ironic was the last sub copy line where it states "Top quality education is within reach at ..." How can they make this claim when they don't have a full-time professional upper-school principal in place? So far as I know, none has been announced to replace Dr. Jenkins - sure Jorge says he'll do it, but come on ... it's a full time position! Something is going to suffer!

So there you have it ... SJS has been reduced to discounting its tuition to keep or attract students/parents to attend the school. Pity. There used to be a time when the school advertised its strengths and focused on its 'trump' card — providing the best education on Guam. Now it's more or less a slick ad packaged to make SJS look like a good deal because it's now cheaper! 'I never would'a thunk it!'

But then again, nothing that happens at SJS surprises me much any more. The other week I was told that the Headmaster was planning to install 'webcams' inside the PRE-K class — and possibly in every class as well. It is odd that this Headmaster and the current SJS BOT would apply 2004 technology with such an 1984 mentality...what's next? Vchips surgically installed inside every child? Sounds like a good idea ... next thing you know, the headmaster and the SJS BOT will want to add a mute button to all the students. I can go on, but I'll stop since I'm afraid of giving them any new ideas they haven't thought of yet.


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