Had our meet n greet with our kid’s teachers today, and find out all of their required school supplies, minus their scissors and pencil box, are not to have the students name written on them. Well too bad we already did because we already knew that was coming. I got a big ole Sharpie a couple weeks ago and put their name on everything.
We don’t go out and buy our kids about $75 worth of stuff each so some cheap parent can mooch off what my kids brought. They keep journals so we bought our kids nicer ones with plastic coverings as opposed to the cheap spiral ones with cardboard covers. The cardboard covered ones don’t last a school year, and the cheap metal spiral part is easily bent.
I get that crayons and stuff are going to mixed up, and the teacher has better things to do than try to keep that stuff organized by student. Would be impossible anyways. I just don’t like that the kids don’t have their stuff checked off. I mean someone could cheap out on everything, and then that kid is mooching off everyone else’s stuff. Someone is going to come up short.
We are generous with helping the teachers with requested classroom items. We always get double what they ask and pick 2 or 3 things off their list of wants. Im going to be volunteering this year and will be more involved.
But this school supply stuff for the students strikes a nerve with me, and if someone doesn’t bring in what they are supposed to they should go without. If a kid doesn’t bring in crayons he doesn’t use what other people bought for their kids and should get a lower grade for not completing his assignments. I don’t want the notebooks we paid a premium for so they last the year going to another kid while mine gets stuck with the cheap one we intentionally didn’t buy.
I push a cart down the school supply aisle every year, and for a moment or two during those trips I share your point of view.
Then I think about the homes of some of the kids that sit next to mine. I think about the empty cupboards and fridges they look for food in, the piles of clothes on the floor they dress from, the rotten mattresses they sleep on, and the beer cans and feces some dodge on their way to the bus that helps them escape for awhile.
There are several in each of my kid’s classes. I know their names. I’ve been to their houses.
If letting them draw from a communal pile of school supplies gives them one less thing to worry about, and one less way to stick out, I’m okay with that. Their parent’s struggles, inability, or unwillingness to provide something decent for them isn’t their problem.
That’s a respectable opinion to have. A church here was giving out free school supplies. A backpack and most of what was on the supplies list. It’s not like the community here is turning their backs on poor kids with less than stellar parents. We live in a good community who isn’t going to let a kid go without one way or another. Our grocery chain also donates a lot of stuff.
I just don’t want the nicer things I bought my kids going to someone else’s kid. I bought that stuff for a reason. We bought more than our fair share of classroom supplies. After our meet n greet I went out and got $50 worth of extra stuff for the teacher after I found out what she was needing.
And if you want to decide to provide for those kids, that’s an admirable decision but one that shouldn’t be made for you.
I’m with Belmont31R on this one.
And sure it isn’t the kids fault, the kids of irresponsible people are always the ones who suffer. But that doesn’t mean everyone else’s kids should have to suffer with them.
Our daughter doesn’t start school for another 2yrs., but this is an issue wife and I have discussed. She will be in a private school and she will be our first to attend school(have an infant as well), so we don’t know what to expect. Having someone else decide that our purchases are to be shared with others simply will not fly for us. I believe that falls into the socialism-communism area.
We just went through this annual issue here. My take is this, there are needy kids. So just ask for donations that will be given directly to those needy students. The every kid can have their own things and personalize them and have a sense of ownership. Promote the idea of voluntary charity, not mandatory confiscation.
Very good to see such decency and sanity. Couldn’t possibly agree more.
Belmont isn’t this the second thread you’ve started regarding being upset about children sharing school supplies? The country is getting ready to implode as the rest of the world burns, yet here we are talking about what again?
It’s this sort of every man for himself mentality that makes libertarians unpopular. Or wait, now it’s every man, woman and child alike because damn it no kid is getting something free from you.
What if it was your son? What if you took your hard earned dollars and bought him decent school supplies like the responsible parent you are and then discovered he was forced to use some dollar store crap in school that was of such poor quality that it made it difficult for him to perform the tasks the class is given?
And wouldn’t giving your son “the crap school supplies” (because he is from a more wealthy family than some) cause the exact same psychological hardships that they are presumably trying to prevent with the less advantaged kids?
Bottom line is, if you give some kids the “good stuff” and other kids have to use the “junky stuff” kids only see it in terms of self worth. The only question is which kids are we going to treat as “second class.”
The only alternative is for every kid to have exactly the same, but then you will have parents of poor families complaining they can’t afford that stuff and somebody needs to buy it for them and parents of means will be upset because they will want to give their kids “the best” and it isn’t allowed because it might make other kids feel bad.
My wife is an educator and trust me every year she forks over her hard earned money to stock her classroom with necessary and required supplies. The district doesn’t reimburse her nor the students/parents. She does it so the kids who brought there own aren’t accosted by the ones who go without. The demographic for her JR High is affluent to living out of a motel or car parked at a rest stop. It sucks, and I argue with her that why should our family invest in children who will end up criminals or addicts and hookers. She just smiles and says, “I do it so they have a chance”.
I’m with Belmont, my girls both start in next 1 and 2 years and they will not be handing over their stuff to the collective. But I’m sure my wife will donate to said communal store.
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need…”
Sounds familiar and it is always wrong, unless done voluntarily. Involuntary charity is theft, not charity.
Teaching Socialism right out of the box. Sorry, I can’t buy that. Mark your own stuff, bring extra to go into the community bin for those unable to provide for themselves (charity) is completely different. A shame that some can’t see the distinction, but it’s a HUGE one…
I already said our community donates a lot of stuff. A church here was giving out free backpacks and supplies to anyone who walked up.
I just don’t want my kids stuff taken and go without or have to use the crappy stuff someone else gave their kid.
There’s a big difference between being charitable, and having your stuff taken to be given to someone else. If that makes an ideology unpopular…then so be it.
Might have mentioned this topic before. It’s becoming more and more popular in schools and talking about it raises awareness.
Never heard of such a scenario and not sure if you understand how this type of thing usually works. You buy items for your child and they keep everything for themselves except for certain items that may have potential for common use. It’s not like everybody buys for their kids, the kids throw everything in a big box and then the kids take everything back out of the box randomly. Obviously that would be essentially pointless.
Shared items often tend to be things like extra pencils, hand sanitizer, tissue boxes or paper folders.
I really don’t see it as any different than if they took your kids lunch and have it to another kid. Or you buy your kid a nice bike to ride to school and he comes back with another one that’s a piece of crap. Theft is theft and the school has no right to redistribute my kids stuff out or take my kids stuff to give to another student leaving them short on their supplies.
This is teaching kids bad habits and its ok if someone takes their belongings to give to someone else. Maybe this is a symptom of why this country is as messed up as it is because kids are learning early on authority figures can take their property and give it to someone else. Kids are being taught its ok to show up without what you are supposed to and someone will just give you what you don’t have. This is a microcosm of larger societies problems with wealth redistribution and leeching off others that they’re teaching to 7 year olds as acceptable.
Normally it’s called sharing, a positive action in the eyes of most. And as I stated above many of the items will likely stay with them all year anyway, as usually only some are used by the whole.
Either way your child will always have what they need and to me worrying about the quality of the paper scissors my son may use during the day at school is inconceivable.
If there was a problem I’d address it as needed. No problem, no concern.
