What's upsetting you today?

[morethanpretty]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I would suspect the other guy was uninsured.

We did too, but they handed over their insurance to the cop when she arrived. So they were just being silly and didn't want to give it to me.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

"When I was a kid" speech. . ..

We were expected to show up to school with notebook paper (preferably in a notebook) and/or spiral notebooks, along with some pens and pencils. There was no such thing as a "school supply list." If we needed something particular, the teacher would say so at the time. ("OK, next week we're going to start on geometry. Everybody needs to get a protractor." etc.)

Now we get extensive, detailed lists. (3 1-inch thick binders and 1 3-inch binder.) To add insult to injury, in some cases stuff that was on the list was never used! (4x6" post-it notes??? We couldn't find any--we "made do" with 3.5x5" and then they never used them.)

I'm convinced Staples is paying off teachers.

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

The thing that irritates me is when they use parents to cover their janitorial supply budget. Among other things, our list included two boxes of Kleenex, two tubes of Wet Ones, and a box of quart-size Ziplock baggies with EZ sliders. But my mother-in-law (who is a preschool teacher in another city) says they have no choice--the school says they simply don't have the money to stock Kleenex for them anymore, so either the parents buy it or the teacher buys it all herself.

Yesterday was the first day of school. We sent the kids off with all their tons of stupid required supplies. Last night, talking at length about how their day went, our daughter mentioned that about half of the supplies we bought for her were dumped into a communal bin. We got her a nice protractor. Not expensive, but a color she liked. She had labeled it with her name. Into the communal bin it went. Same with the scissors, the 6 boxes of sharpened pencils, etc. etc.

What if we teach her not to be wasteful with her supplies, when the kid in the corner who gets crayons stuck in his nose is constantly breaking pencils? He doesn't care. There are more in the communal bin. We are paying for his pencil breaking habit.

It's a little microcosm of capitalism vs. communism/socialism right there in the school. We're providing pencil welfare and promoting waste.

Oh, and last year, we had to provide something like ten glue sticks. They went into the communal bin too. And then in March or so, we had to provide something like 4 more, because so many of them had dried up from sitting in the communal bin with their caps off. If our kid had her own supply of glue sticks, she would use one until it was gone and then pull out a new one. None would dry out.

[lookout123]

We did/are experiencing the exact same thing. Lil Lookout had to have 84 presharpened pencils to turn in. 23 kids x 84 = 1,932 pencils. That's kind of a lot of pencils. On top of that Lil Lookout likes "fun pencils" so he takes his own $.25 in every Tuesday and buys a fun pencil for the librarian. He'll never even use any of those 84 pencils.

Of course we had to send in cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer and all that stuff too. The weird thing is I had to make out a $20 check to the teacher for "additional supplies". I know teachers are underpaid and I absolutely don't want her spending her personal money for classroom supplies... but it just feels weird.

[Cloud]

car towed to dealer this morning. leak in roof.

bah!

[lookout123]

Hopefully those are unrelated or you have some 'splaining to do.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by glatt

we teach her not to be wasteful with her supplies
It's a little microcosm of capitalism vs. communism/socialism right there in the school. We're providing pencil welfare and promoting waste.

Obviously a wasted effort. I call Bullshit! At my kids school they are all responsible for their own supplies. If they lose something or use it up each kid has to replace it. We are not, nor should we be a communal society.
More of the entitlement mentality - It's ok, use waste whatever.... someone else will GIVE ME more. Fuck that!

[Cloud]

no; unrelated but concomitant

[lookout123]

con,con,concom... are youcalling me a communist?!? freaking hippies...

[Cloud]

simultaneous then, ya doof!

[DanaC]

...but don't we all try to teach our kids to share nicely with their friends too?

I think it's downright digraceful to insist parents provide their children with these provisions then confiscate them for the communal bin. That's not communism, it's a racket to make up for funding deficits.

[classicman]

I wonder if they do it knowing that only half the kids will actually bring stuff...

[lookout123]

Honestly it doesn't really bother me with pencils and stuff like that. If there is a kid in class who eats his pencils then I want to make sure he has plenty to eat. I'm a giver like that.
Compass and protractor though? Hell, no. I've instructed Lil Lookout to stand on his desk and declare "I'm a conservative! You can only take what is mine if you are bigger, stronger, and have more friends than I do!"

[classicman]

OR are duly elected

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by lookout123

Honestly it doesn't really bother me with pencils and stuff like that. If there is a kid in class who eats his pencils then I want to make sure he has plenty to eat. I'm a giver like that.
Compass and protractor though? Hell, no. I've instructed Lil Lookout to stand on his desk and declare "I'm a conservative! You can only take what is mine if you are bigger, stronger, and have more friends than I do!"

bastard. I just choked on my tea lol

I think they may indeed be expecting some kids not to turn up with stuff, in which case the school should have a small supply ready from which those children can use (labelled as school property in the case of compass and other more expensive/larger items, and uniformly the same in the case of pens and pencils.) A note to their parents or a word when they come pick them up would hopefully have them bringing their own.

If these are state schools that parents are already paying for their children's school through taxes. Covertly making them pick up the slack is dishonest. I bet they could even invite parents to send their kids in with their full kit and a'donated item' for the class box for use as spares. That at least would be honest and the kids would have the lovely experience of contributing to their class (building a sense of camaraderie, ownership and class responsibility) without actually stealing their stuff.).

[DanaC]

What's upsetting me today...well actually upsetting is probably the wrong word. Just winding me up and making me feel uncomfortable. Eczema flare. 70% coverage . Hot hot.