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Post by Outlaw85 on Aug 22, 2006 20:43:04 GMT -6
Just got home from my daily Wal Mart run for schools supplies. Yes, I said daily because everyday so far this week one of my kids has come home and he/she needed this certain thing for this certain class. Typical beginning of the school year goings on. On this trip I'm after gym shorts and the "special" science notebook. Why was it special? Well like many items you come accross at a store ,there was no price for this "special" notebook. So off we go to find one of the remotely placed scanners that Wal Mart provides for those items with unknown prices. You know the scanners, the ones that are rarely in the department you are shopping in. The good thing is, this scanner wasn't located in the lingerie department. Back to the point of this tale. We find the scanner and scan the "special" notebook. I know now why it is "special", 8 freaking dollars!!!! No way am i paying $8 dollars for a notebook! I've already spent way more than I think I should have for supplies and now this teacher wants me to spend $8 for a notebook? I ain't happening!!! I may get a note from the teacher tomorrow, if so I will take my vent to the school. It is utterly ridiculous to for a teacher to expect a parent to shell out $8 for a notebook. Sure I had the money to buy it but I didn't and I won't. Granted school supplies are needed but teachers shouldn't expect a parent to spend so much. Many parents today are single parents or low income and can't afford to be spending $8 on notebooks.
I'm venting about an $8 notebook but there are other "special" things that some teachers require. Last year i had to buy "special' calculator. I mean REALLY SPECIAL!! $100 special. I griped about that one but with 4 kids coming through I will get my money's worth out of it, or I hope I do.
My point is teachers should be reasonable in their supply lists. Many familes have 2 or 3 kids in school and buying supplies for all can be a burdon especially if their is only one income. Times are hard enough on people these days.
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Post by heathwaldrop on Aug 23, 2006 21:36:59 GMT -6
Outlaw, I think that a lot of this stuff is state-required these days. My parents had the same gripes when I was coming through school, though. Most of the time (at least back then) it was about catering to the idosyncrasies of some particular teacher who didn't like TrapperKeepers, or demanded ONLY Zaner-Blauser ruled paper, or thought that black ink was the only color that students were allowed to use by international law. I don't blame parents for beign hacked. How does a three-ring binder with a transparent slipcover help you learn anymore than one with a metallic interior clip? Why did I have a teacher who demanded that we use brown paper bags and ONLY brown paper bags for book covers (using anything else resulted in points off our grades)? The truth of the matter is that teachers are some of the most ticky, particular, eccentric beings on the face of the planet. And I'm a journalist, so it takes one to know one.  The difference is that journalists don't tell people that only wooden rulers, and not plastic ones, are allowed in their classrooms. |
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Post by Mr. C on Aug 24, 2006 10:16:16 GMT -6
I was surprised at my first day of college yesterday that not one teacher told us what supplies we needed, lol. I guess we're supposed to be 'mature' enough to get our own stuff or something maybe. I was also angry that I found a nice yellow sheet of paper on my windshield because I forgot to stick my parking tag to my back window  |
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Post by heathwaldrop on Aug 24, 2006 12:50:49 GMT -6
Welcome to college!!!
College profs don't give a rip about what kind of notebook you're carrying. One reason (among many) why college is so much preferable to high school.
I'll never forget going to class my first week of college and sitting beside this older guy who had been in school before. Middle of the lecture he pulls out a bottle of Coke and starts drinking it. I about flipped out, like "You're going to get in trouble!!!"
Mr. Naive, that was me...
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Post by Kim_Day on Sept 6, 2006 18:26:57 GMT -6
Last year i had to buy "special' calculator. I mean REALLY SPECIAL!! $100 special. I griped about that one but with 4 kids coming through I will get my money's worth out of it, or I hope I do. Did you know that they actually have a "class set" of these in the room....students can check them out. |
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Post by Outlaw85 on Sept 6, 2006 19:02:07 GMT -6
Last year i had to buy "special' calculator. I mean REALLY SPECIAL!! $100 special. I griped about that one but with 4 kids coming through I will get my money's worth out of it, or I hope I do. Did you know that they actually have a "class set" of these in the room....students can check them out. Where were you last year when I forked out the big bucks? LOL |
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Post by Kim_Day on Sept 6, 2006 21:00:38 GMT -6
I am sure that is nice for each student to have their own, but it is ridiculous to ask parents to spend that much money! A colleague of mine has two students with teachers that wanted these $130 calculators! She about had a stroke! They can't penalize students for not buying them. It is actually written into our ACSIP that every class have a class set and a student loan policy in place. The problem is most parents never question these things and these teachers continue to require these expensive supplies. They need to get rid of these calcuators anyway! I am mentoring a new teacher this year who happens to have a PHD in mathematics and she breaking alot of hearts by not allowing them to do simple adding and subtracting of integers on these $100 calculators....b/c truthfully that is what they are using them for!
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Post by heathwaldrop on Sept 6, 2006 21:22:59 GMT -6
There's nothing that ya'll do on those things that I can't do on my trusty abacus.
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Post by Eddie Goodson on Sept 6, 2006 21:24:49 GMT -6
There's nothing that ya'll do on those things that I can't do on my trusty abacus. If that fails, you can use your ten fingers and eleven toes. |
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Post by heathwaldrop on Sept 8, 2006 9:33:25 GMT -6
If that fails, you can use your ten fingers and eleven toes. Ten toes...now. I wanted to be like Darren McFadden. |
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The difference is that journalists don't tell people that only wooden rulers, and not plastic ones, are allowed in their classrooms.
