Okay Shard! Cute link, but why do people think I am into child torture and humiliation? *taps forehead and ponders*
Nok, those are all great observations. I am not sure when you went to school. The need for supplemental supplies kicked in in the very late 80's in some states and now is pretty much the norm.
I drive my children to school because there are no sidewalks and the traffic is insane. There is also no safety in walking since there are no other children walking(because there are no sidewalks along a 45 mph road).
With fewer people actually home during the day that safety network called a neighborhood where people are watching and know everything that is happening rarely or does not exist at all any longer. Communities are larger and society is more transient than in years past. Before when I was a child we knew to stay away from Mr. [insert name for town weirdo here] because he wasnt right in the head and wanted to play doctor with the neighborhood kids. You don't know your neighbors as well now. I do not know the name of each person that lives in each house on my child's route. I don't like that.
As for the school supplies, I agree they are ridiculous. We are now asked to provide dry erase markers,dry erasers, erasers, highlighters, sticky notes,markers, crayons, pencils, papers, brad folders, kleenex, ziploc bags???, construction paper, scissors, ruler, manilla paper, glue, glue sticks, spiral notebooks, water color paints.
The three items that really chap my ass that we are asked to provide are disinfectant hand gel, baby wipes and new on the list this year was 'clorox disinfectant wipes'. *blink*
Then you find out they put most of it in a school store room and even have the appaling nerve to share it with other schools within our district!
So now I just buy the obvious things and then skip on most of it and ask the teacher if they really really need this or that. By waiting until after the open house for most of the school supplies I figure I saved a good $50.00 on all my kids supplies combined. I swear, they never come home with stuff made out of half that crap I send each year. I mean exactly where is the manila paper mountain at? I had a teacher even tell me "ask before you buy, I have more manila and construction papers than I know what to do with."
In some ways I agree with the government when they talk about waste of funds and they want schools to be more accountable and use their funds wisely. It's just that the cutbacks are affecting us in our wallets since we are expected to provide the extra items that the schools are not getting funded for. bleh