Beware of All the Education 'Snake-Oil' Salesmen

Today, I received another one of those sales-pitch emails from some company using deceptive tactics to promote their products. They made it appear in their email that my failure to complete their survey would have some kind of consequences. I marked their email "Spam" and simply replied:

"I am not sure it is good practices to give potential customers "deadlines." Your email deceptively makes it appear I have to answer. I am not interested in your deadlines nor your products."

Their reply was to simply say that they would take me off their mailing list. I can't help but wonder how I ended up on their list in the first place. But, nonetheless, that is a prudent action on their part, because I honestly would never purchase a product from a company that has to resort to deceptive tactics to sell its wares.

I can't help but wonder how many millions of precious educational dollars are wasted to companies like this who make big promises and deliver nothing. Educational leaders need to realize they do not owe these companies nor their salespeople anything. Maybe the best educational practice in these times is simply to discard and ignore any unsolicited sales pitches.