The smell of freshly sharpened pencils and glue sticks are in the air. It’s that time of year, it’s Back-To-School Time!!! Most of my friends have been packing lunches and sending their kids off toward to the fluorescent lighted hallways of grade school. Here in the DE we have two more weeks until school starts. I’m quite excited about Awesome A going to 4-K (maybe a little more excited than he is right now) and I was excited about back to school shopping until I saw the supply list which induced an involuntary “what the heck”. I did a little Google research and looked at kindergarten supply lists and the search returned a bunch of lists that were straight out ridiculous. As I thought back to the numerous back to school shopping trips I’d made with my mom and Aunt J I couldn’t remember either of them ever buying batteries or enough glue sticks to line a football field especially not when I was in elementary school. Some of these lists required students to have 40 glue stick, 6 packs of crayons and 21 folders. Really?!?!?! A great number of supply lists required students to supply teachers with their supplies for example construction paper, chalk, dry erase markers, printer paper and ink cartridges and schools with things like toilet paper and light bulbs. Yes you read that correctly light bulbs. I can’t imagine a teacher ever saying, “sorry class this month we will have to read in the dark because little Randy’s mom didn’t buy light bulbs”. Some of these school lists had the nerve to be brand specific. I know that funding for schools is inequitable in the United States and that poorer school districts lack supplies, but it seems like the majority of schools are trying to get over on parents with some of these supply lists.
School Supply Lists: Pencils, Paper, Crayons, Bricks, Mortar, Kitchen Sink
Another thing that made me raise an eyebrow and give a long distance side eye to a few school districts across the US were their request that parents do not put their children’s names on the items they buy. Say what!?!?! This just confirms what I already knew, that these lists are meant to supply the entire school and make sure that every child has the necessary supplies. I already pay taxes and I’m all for giving a helping hand. I will gladly donate supplies voluntarily, but what I buy for my children should be for my children. I spent a little extra on notebooks with Dinosaur covers and train erasers because my son loves dinosaurs and trains and he should not have to worry about his teacher taking them and putting them in the community lot.
Well, that’s my opinion. What do you guys think of these school supply lists and idea of communal school supplies?
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