Target wants to help teachers stretch their back-to-school dollars on more than just supplies for their classrooms.No way will I be participating in this. Yes, I'm part of the 94% of teachers who spend some of my own money for my work, but I'm not going to plan on it.
For the second year, the Minneapolis-based retailer will offer teachers a weeklong 15% discount on select items starting July 13, officials shared exclusively with USA TODAY Wednesday...
This year, in addition to school supplies and essentials, which include disinfecting wipes and food storage bags, adult clothing and accessories, Pillowfort furniture and Bullseye’s Playground items also are included...
According to the National Center of Education Statistics, 94% of teachers report spending their own money on supplies. Here are some stores that offer savings throughout the year.
Here's the problem. At least here in California, and probably in a good many other states, public education is supposed to be entirely free. In fact, California education code even requires school districts to supply paper and pencils to students--how many comply with that? (Ans: zero, most likely). School districts skirt the law because parents and teachers pick up the slack. California teachers who post "school supplies lists"? Not in accordance with the law! The school district is supposed to provide those supplies.
So while I might pick up some ink for my personal (old) printer that I've taken to school because I want to have a printer at my desk rather than one per building of 7-8 classrooms, I'm not going to buy notebooks and pencils and such for my students. I have 165 students, that's just too many. And besides, if I were to be doing that, I'd be enabling the school district to continue to flout the law.
The old joke is that teaching is the only profession in which you steal office supplies from home and take them to work. I've taken 2 desk chairs, a monitor (I can barely read a laptop display!), a printer, an upright fan, and who knows what else to work for my use--but I can always bring them home, sell them on Craigslist, or whatever. But I'm not going to pay to outfit my class with stuff my district should pay for. And neither am I going to ask for so-called donations, either--and I'm certainly not going to give academic points to students who bring in a box of Kleenex!
Either public education is public, or it's not. As individuals we need to stop trying to subsidize it.
I may get criticized for this but I believe that some of this expectation from the parents and schools--that teachers pay for so much of the things the school should provide--comes from the fact that so many teachers are women. I think it also has to do with the low pay for so many years. We've used our own funds for so many decades that it's one way we show our "greatness" or some fool idea. I'm talking generalizations here, not individual people, but I don't see the men in our high school or anywhere buying pencils, paper, kleenex, markers, etc. Heck no, they send their kids to our rooms to "borrow." If men had been the majority of teachers in our schools, do you think they would have settled for the salaries?
ReplyDeleteThe old joke is that teaching is the only profession in which you steal office supplies from home and take them to work.
ReplyDeleteTry being a cop pal. Gun, bullets, flashlights, mace, improved body armor....the list is not quite endless. So I feel your pain