Tell me what you really think.
I, too, loved the hunting for, the discovering of, and the using of my own school supplies each year. I can take a deep enough breath right now and remember the smell of all the new supplies. I guess it's not unlike that new car smell that's recognized by (near) everyone.
When my kids started school several years ago, not only were we told they did not need to bring their own supplies, but we were told they could not bring their own supplies. The PTA funds each student's own set of goodies for us, though, so at least they get the joy of having their own supplies. I'm just sorry they miss out on the other parts of it.
This is exactly how it is for my nephew, who's in kindergarten. My sister bought all the supplies for him, which were dumped into a big ol' communist barrel. Lovely. One of those small joys of childhood - gone. I'm with you...
I can't believe they actually do this. You can't help wonder if this doesn't contribute at least in small part to the sense of entitlement some high school students have, or to the lack of guilt over shooting another kid for his sneakers... they truly believe the shoes are theirs.
New school supplies are one of the great memories of childhood. I would have been very upset had mine been thrown in a communal pot. You are right; kids need to learn responsibility for their belongings. What better way to start?
*heh* As a H.S. teacher, I've found a beautiful way to convince students they want to bring their own pencils to class - and that I WON'T just hand them out for free.
I need something in trade. ID card, ring, keys, shoe... their choice, as long as it's something they'll come back for. (I've only gotten one shoe... but now everyone tells those without collateral to pass over their shoes. And everyone remembers to bring SOMETHING to class!)
And I always get my pencils back!
You've hit on one of my pet peeves today! I teach high school, and it amazes me how many kids show up with no supplies. I had a student show up for an English exam with no pen or pencil. Seriously.
I start each term with a pot of cheap pencils, and I tell the class that once those are gone, that's it for me. Bring your own stuff. And DO NOT ask me if you can go to your locker 5 minutes into class. No pencil? No paper? No friend to borrow from? Tough shit, my friend. I guess you'll be doing today's work at home for homework!
I don't think it is the "rare" teacher who does not combine supplies. Not a single teacher in my building has community supplies.
I LOVED school shopping! In fact, I still (at 50+) love to go to the stores when all the supplies are out - I think what I loved the most about the notebooks was knowing they'd be filled up soon with things I didn't know before.
Unfortunately, it seems that indoctrination rather than teaching seems to be the order of the day in some schools - isn't the community basket of supplies the first step to "the state owns everything, we'll just let you use it for our benefit?"
This school just takes it a step further: http://www.tcsdaily.com/article....aspx?
id=022107C
"The teachers decided its (the lego building) destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership." According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation."
Socialism at its finest.
Once upon a time, I suffered under a principal who routinely informed her staff that we could not require any student to have the supplies they needed for class. She never supplied us with the supplies our students needed for class. Thankfully, she is no longer involved in education.
"I learned, to my horror and dismay, that many teachers do not allow their students to have their own supplies now; the little sack of a child's very own things is taken from the child on that first day, and dumped into the community pot for all the kids to dip into and out of."
And this is precisely why my brother and sister-in-law took their son out of the public schools. He attended the first day, and all his belongings were confiscated. My brother didn't want his son to learn that stealing was acceptable.
Wow...that's insane. When my son was little, the school he went to provided ALL supplies--I didn't have to buy anything, so nothing was ever taken from him. Later schools the supplies were our responsibility, but they were still his (with the exception of the 2-box tissue required "donation" at the start of the year...)
I think I would have gone a bit ballistic if they'd taken away the supplies I paid good money for. Almost as ballistic as I went when one of the high schools took away his cell phone...
Happily, my children's school does not make the children share supplies. And the PTA was able to get donations and provide the children who were not able to afford supplies with everything requested by the teachers, including backpacks and packs of Kleenex.
The other extreme I have heard about is where the teacher gives a school supply list to each child that specifies brands and sizes of supplies, often brands that are not common and much be purchased from specialty stores. It makes me wonder if they're getting little kickbacks from the store owners.
When I was a child, all the basic supplies were provided, except for the old shirts to be worn during art projects. Occasionally, parents would donate towards special projects. How old am I? I remember a parent donating computer punch cards to be used for projects.
Since others have mentioned communism and capitalism (human behavior will always undermine a social system, no matter how well-intentioned or -designed), once again, when all supplies are shared, those with power will always have the best supplies.
My kids are in a title I elementary school. We purchase supplies and they go into the community pot. Our PTA stinks and corporate sponsorship only goes so far. I know for a fact that if teachers and those families who can afford it didn't bring supplies, there'd be no supplies.
And, of course, not all that many teachers will read this, or heed it. Too bad.
My girls had teachers that insisted on communal supplies. I bought my girls the cheapest crap the Dollar Store had to offer and told them to give those to the teacher. After they turned them in we went to the Office Supply store and bought decent stuff which they kept in their backpacks. Cheap sissors don't cut and cheap crayons are so waxy they won't color.
I can feel your pain... the other day at work, somebody helped himself to a box of mints I'd just bought. Not a mint or two or ten... I came into the office, and the whole freakin box was gone!! WTF?
I think our elementary school had a lil bit of both... half communal supplies, half your own. Never heard of communal brown-bag lunches, and hopefully never will! That's just wrong.
By golly, I think you've hit the nail on the head. This is a major problem in my room and in my school. Wait until next year, sister.
Wow, that's sad. And I do think that maybe has some effect on the sense of entitlement and "what's yours is mine" that we're seeing - along with students who are NOW IN COLLEGE who kind of expect the profs to supply them with pens and paper.
The other thing - and this is something I've observed from years of living in areas where there are lots of "rent houses" and other property-people-do-not-actually-own is that people feel much less hesitation not keeping up a place (or for that matter, hesititation against trashing it outright). My dad always said that one reason Communism didn't work is that people won't take care of things they don't feel that they OWN.
I've also seen this in children that live on my street - they leave their toys and bikes out in the street, leave their teddy bears out in the rain, don't seem to take care of anything. When I was a child, the toys I had - I took care of them. I was mortified if they met with some accident - because they were MINE and I felt I was responsible for them. (And I still have one of those childhood "lovies" sitting on my bed today, some 30 years later...)
It's all about power and responsibility together. Some people think that if a minority of people lack the latter, the former should be taken away from everyone.
But then all you'll have is even more disenchanted people, who want power.
And if they get it, they won't know what to do with it anymore.
NO!
No, no, no, no, no!
Nobody woulda taken my new pencils from me.
No way.
I didn't realize this was so common. I've never worked in a classroom that had community supplies. There were community supplies available from the teacher in some classrooms for students who were without, but never supplies made up of the students' belongings. I would go the dollar store route, too, if that were to happen to my children.
Of course, the exception there would be the tissue supplies, but as a kid I always thought it was so cool to have the tissue box I picked out sitting on the teacher's desk. I loved getting the ones with a bus on the side or a really pretty pattern. You always knew who didn't have much money or parents who didn't care, though. They brought in those boxes of tissue that were so paper-thin, you needed three tissues for one sneeze. You could always tell who took theirs from hotels, too.
It's not like that in many schools nowadays. I learned, to my horror and dismay, that many teachers do not allow their students to have their own supplies now; the little sack of a child's very own things is taken from the child on that first day, and dumped into the community pot for all the kids to dip into and out of. There are no "my scissors," there is only a rack or box of scissors for everyone.
As in "The People's Scissors"?
Or...
"Resistance is Futile. Prepare to be Assimilated..."?
Once again, Mamacita, I owe you:
http://californiateacherguy.blog...macita-
for.html
Mamacita
You said so eloquently what I blatantly told my kids (juniors in HIGH school) that they were stealing (or borrowing with no intent to repay) from their friends when they come everyday without supplies. It must stop-no questions about it. So far-no kid has come to me and asked for materials this week though I have one or two who are still trying to sneak borrowings from their mates. I wondered where this lack of responsibility comes from and you have hit the nail on the head. I hate buying "community" supplies for my daughter unless it is things like paper towels, baby wipes, and the like. I am more than happy to donate these kinds of things to the teacher, but not plain, old everyday school supplies the kids should have and use on their own. RESONSIBILITY. Are the teachers the only ones being asked to meet this requirement?
I too have had the burden of students showing up to exams with no pencil.... they think I should just hand it over. So, I made a beautiful little pot of fake flowers that have pencils taped to the stems. No little jerk can walk away with a giant sunflower taped to my pencil. Its beautiful and it makes me happy to look at my flowers.
One day, one little jerk decided to unwrap the pencil from the flower because "it was too hard to write with." No one will ever make that mistake again! I ripped him a new one. "too hard to write?" - you little baby, then bring your own friggin pencil!!! You destroy my stuff ever again and you'll rue the day. They all learned a lesson that day. Bring your own shit, because beggars can't be choosers!!!
Mamacita,
I love school supplies and shared your joy in picking them out.
I can't figure out why you are assuming that it's more convenient for the teachers to have communal supplies. Wouldn't it really be a lot more convenient for the kids to have to have their own and just get them out of their desks when they needed them?
What are you assuming that the teachers are doing this for selfish reasons?
I agree with NDC...the teacher are often blamed for things like this when really it is "school policy", which sadly enough is oftentimes set by administrators who do not ever ask the teachers' opinions. Or, and I have run into this also, it is a school policy that was set a good many years ago and never changed for whatever reason!
I prefer the students keep their own supplies, for all the reasons you mentioned above. I have been forced to do community supplies by my principal. It would sadden me to think that parents were angrily blaming me for something I have no control over.
I can see confiscating a cell phone and giving it back after school, if confiscation is the school policy. But taking someone's personal property and giving it to others? Wouldn't happen on my watch.
I wonder what would happen if, just for a day, those of us in California actually obeyed the law, which forbids us from requiring students to bring *any* supplies to school.
Which is worse: stealing property, or violating the law on a regular basis?
As long as my kids have been in school they have always had to turn over their supplies to the community bin. I don't like this, but what I really don't like is supplying the teachers with their supplies.
I don't mind buying school supplies for my kids, I even don't mind buying a little extra for kids who can't afford supplies. However I do mind buying dry erase markers and copy paper, just to name two items that are always on my kids supply lists. I think that the school district should supply these materials for the teachers.
Also, some of the amounts that are asked for are ridiculous. In K-6 my kids are only asked to bring in two packages of notebook paper, but then in the seventh grade that number jumps to six.
Also, I really don't think my child is going to go through 48 pencils.
Commenting by HaloScan
