August 8, 2007

School Supplies

I never realized that so many parents resent having to buy school supplies until reading a couple of threads on a message board about it. Now, my kids are not old enough for me to worry about this yet, but I opened the thread anyways to see what the big deal was. I was completely in shock. If Megan were sent home with a school supply list, I may raise an eyebrow at the amount of items to be bought, but I would not think to question it or to not buy it. Apparently there are some parents who know better than their kids teachers what supplies will be used throughout the school year and just choose not to buy the items.



One poster had the best response. These teachers are being entrusted with our most prized possessions for 8 hrs a day. Wouldn't you want to make their job as easy as possible? Teachers do not get paid enough as it is, and already purchase supplies out of pocket to cover what the school board does not cover. Just buy the supplies that they ask for, and give them a gift card to an office supply store for Christmas. They really do not need another "apple" themed gift.



Ok.. I just had to get that out!



5 comments:

jennifer said...

maybe schools will get more with the times, like my daughter's school. They have an on-line ordering for school supplies. I just point and click for which grade, (about $50.00), pay with credit card and the supplies show up at school on the first day. It's awesome. Now granted, I sort of want to take her to Target to pick out supplies like when we were little...nah....good luck!

April said...

well you already know my opinion since you stopped by my desk that day to vent LOL
I agree -- buy the stuff and keep the teacher happy. And LOL on the apple themed gifts! No joke!

Jenner said...

Since I'm a teacher, you know what my reaction will be! :-)
I know those lists can get long and be expensive, but without funding teachers are stuck paying for so many extras that students use in the classroom. Since I taught high school, I just gave extra credit when students brought extras like tissues, hand sanitzer, and other things. Doesn't work so well for elementary school though! :-)

Rachel said...

I love school supplies so much I will probably be the parent that sends my kid to school with WAY more than what they need. I am with you though - the sad thing is those are probably many of the same parents who view school as a convienent free babysitter. Grrrr....

KC said...

Oh, I don't know about that. Sometimes they do get a little out of control. I'm sure you're talking about the elementary school lists, but last year when the middle school lists came out we ended up needing to buy 20 dividers! 20 dividers for 7 classes is a bit much. Each of the teachers had worked out, ok, I want one for comp, one for lit, one for grammar, it was insane! And of course, we didn't get these lists until after school started and Wal-Mart was completely sold out of dividers. Of course, I finally found some at OfficeMax and bought them, but the reality of the situation is that they weren't used at all. I can't wait to see what they're going to tell us to get this year.