My kids go back to school tomorrow. I’m not thrilled about
it, tbh. There is still so much summer to be had! It won’t really start cooling
off here until September, if even then, and I wish the kiddos all still had
some time before they had to report back to school. Getting out at the end of
May isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, you know. And as shocking as it may be, I'm rather fond of spending time with them.
That aside, we have been trying to fit in as much fun and activity
we can before school starts. Part of that fun was buying school supplies the
other day. Let me tell you, it was a cart full of paper, pencils, binders,
notebooks, pens, and markers. It took a lot of time to gather everything, and
it wasn’t cheap.
The day was less fun when I got home and happened upon some
strong opinions on social media about the amount of supplies requested for
classrooms. People were commenting about the fact that they never had to buy so
much for schools, and they were sick of sending in classroom supplies that
other kids might use. Gasp! The horror of sharing school supplies!
Listen, I get it, but there is a lot happening behind the
scenes that no one really knows about. Teachers are already buying their own
supplies for their classrooms whether you realize it or not. They are spending
hours in their classrooms preparing for your babies to come back and learn.
They are spending hours upon hours reevaluating curriculum and changing it to
meet new state standards or to meet the demands of parents who cry to the
school board about “inappropriate material” even though the same parents have
to sign off on the classes their kids are taking. And, of course, teachers are
doing this all without pay.
(I’m going to take a quick pause here to tell my dear
readers not to even consider coming at me about teacher pay because I will
happily grind you into the ground. Cheers.)
I’m not telling you that you can’t be angry about having to
buy school supplies or the amount; what I’m saying is not to be angry with the
teachers because that’s the wrong audience. The teachers aren’t the people who
are begging for more standardized testing and less actual teaching time. They
aren’t the ones who are asking to give up teachable moments in the classroom
because there are certain topics that certain people don’t want discussed. They
aren’t posing with a happy thumbs-up at the thought of another year without a
pay raise or the fact that it’s a thousand times easier to go to school sick
than it is to prepare for or even find a substitute. The most maddening things about education are usually decided by people who have either never stood in front of a group of kids or someone who has chosen to forget that part of his life.
Teachers are asking for supplies because the budgets are dwindling. Unfortunately, there are parents who are scrambling to get those supplies this year now that the free lunch funding has gone kaput. That might not be a big deal to some, but we live in a place where we pay book rental fees in the hundreds of dollars a year for our kids to go to public school. Add in the continuation of the global supply chain issues and inflation, and there are going to be some hungry kids in classrooms. In addition to buying chalk and tissues and lots of other things for their classrooms, teachers are also buying snacks so that their students don’t have to try to learn with grumbling stomachs. Yes, I know there are programs that help, but they don’t serve everyone and they’re simply not enough.
So maybe the teachers are asking for more supplies than usual, but they're doing it for our kids, the future adults in our communities. Teachers are doing everything they can to make a successful year for your kids, and they don’t need constant pushback on what they choose to do. They're all trying to help or they wouldn't be teaching: trust me. No one goes into education for money or fame or even recognition, but it sure doesn't feel bad to be supported.
This is all a long-winded way to remind everyone to be patient and kind. If you can’t do that, at least keep your negativity to yourself. And if you can’t even manage that, go back to school, get your teaching license, and show us what you’ve got.
