Y'know, it's easy to yell at the school officials.

[conuly]

But that "measly $5000 a year" is a lot when they are chronicly underfunded. Teachers shouldn't have to buy basic school supplies out of their truly meager pay, nor teach large classes. Instead of yelling at how horrible it is that the schools are doing this, why not ask why they feel they have to do this?

And an older, but related article.

Comments

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Funny, my cousin's boy was given a list of school supplies to buy for the whole classroom. (Parents were strictly enjoined against labelling items with their child's name, as these supplies were "for the whole classroom.")

I strongly disapproved of this, but his mother didn't want to "make waves."

[conuly]

It's the same thing. The teacher can't afford the supplies, and the school can't, so they ask the parents to do it.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

The part that offends my sense of fitness is the part where the poor kid doesn't even get his own pack of crayons.

When I went to kindergarten, the school didn't spend money on crayons for everyone in the class. Neither did they ask everyone in the class to bring enough crayons for eight kids but not to "own" any of them.

Each student brought his/her own crayons, paper, pencils, erasers, etc. And yes, Virginia, they were supposed to be labelled with the child's name. If said child broke/lost the stuff, Mumsy and Daddykins went out and bought more (and Junior got a chewing for being careless).

Supposedly the communistic system in use today encourages sharing, but I don't like it. There's a world of difference between "Billy, share your paper with Susie, please" and "Billy, that's not your paper, you don't own any paper."

[conuly]

When I was little, we got our own crayons BUT we also shared crayons. It was a mixed system.