The school year has officially begun. I had the first of what will be many kids come to the door selling things to help raise money for their school.
This time last year I wrote a letter to the local paper asking for them to take the lead and print a detailed school district budget. Nobody in this city really knows what it is. My school taxes here are double what they were in Dallas. And Tyler. So it isn’t an issue of city size. And the private schools I’ve worked with and for always seemed to manage on a much smaller budget.
They weren’t interested in even publishing the letter. And the school board likes to hold meetings during the day, probably to minimize the number of people who attend.
My #2 son played in a high school band which was selected to play in the Tournament of Roses Parade one year. We spent the entire twelve months prior to the event raising money. But we didn’t go door-to-door. We did a lot of different things to earn the money. I ran the biggest, which was the concession stands at the AAA Baseball park. Seventy home games, and I had to find manpower for four stands for each game, and manage hours worked as well as the inevitible problems within the group and with the team management. That was only one of our fundraisers. Everyone put in time, including the kids.
Schools send out children to beg. That’s all it is. We are rearing a generation of beggars who think they need only go next door and all wishes will be granted. Today was simply the first. And how do you turn down a kid you know, one who is pleasant and polite, and under the gun to bring in the most money so he can get some cheap prize?
I don’t know- but it pisses me off but good. My kid goes to a private school- whose tuition is paid in whole by ME. It’s the equivalent of a hefty car payment. It’s the only decent school in the area. And my tax dollars STILL go to the local HS which is pounding out the morons like the trailer trash down the street who sell crappy, waxy candy bars for two bucks.
Comment by og — August 29, 2004 @ 9:22 am
I agree completely. I cannot stand these fund raising efforts. Worse, I cannot stand the pressure they put on my children. We do not take the flyers to work. Nor do we allow our children to go door to door hawking over-priced crap to earn cheap trinkets. Yet they are constantly under pressure from their teachers and leaders to meet some huge goal in order to help the school. It is that burden that I most dislike. (I have watched this continue even after I carefully explained that I did not wish to see my children exploited in this way and that I would make a direct donation in lieu of my child’s participation.)
I refuse to buy the arguement that hawking junk teaches children valuable lessons about economics or anything else. (Particularly when it is the parents who seem to be doing the real hawking for the big ‘winners’.) I am constantly asking my kids how much does that prize cost in the store? How much do we have to spend to ‘earn it’? How much more could we get for our money if we gave the store value of the prize to the school and bought the trinket directly? The value of the prize is usually equal to or better than the return on product and our family finances are always better off.
Comment by Punctilious — August 29, 2004 @ 2:34 pm
And I don’t buy things at work.
But there is always some kid at school bragging about how much he sold, and there will be an assembly to “recognize his hard work.” The peer pressure is exactly the tool used by school administrators to achieve their goals–money and indoctrination.
Comment by Bunker — August 29, 2004 @ 3:31 pm