School Supplies and Socialism

Posted by Lorren on July 26, 2008

Now’s the time of year again…

to buy school supplies and give them away!

Here’s a list that second graders in one school are supposed to bring… it seems to be a fairly typical list:

• 2- 16 count boxes Crayola crayons
• 2- boxes Crayola Classic Colors markers
• 1- pkg. dry erase markers
• 1- 4 oz. bottle of white school glue
• 4- Dozen yellow #2 pencils (sharpened if possible) *seriously, who has the time to do that!?*
• 3- packages of small pencil top erasers
• 5- Black and white sewn composition books
• 4- 2 pocket folders
• 1- large box Kleenex
• 1- package 500 sheet loose leaf notebook paper
• 1- clipboard
• 1- package baby wipe refills (unscented)
• 1- Bottle hand sanitizer
• 1- Bottle anti-bacterial hand soap
• 1- Pair Fiskar pointed scissors
• 1- 3 lbs. bag of white rice
• 1- Roll paper towels
• 3- packages Clorox wipes
• 1- package assorted heavy weight (non-glued edges) construction paper
• 3- Red ball point pens
• BOYS: 1 box gallon size Ziploc bags
• GIRLS: 1 box quart size Ziploc bags

Of course, the 16 count crayon boxes never go on sale for $.20 at Wal-Mart. I wonder if they’d expel your kid if you sent the 24-count boxes that do go on sale? And what’s up with 4 dozen pencils? My dd might have used 10 last year, and that includes those that she lost.

When you bring all these items to school, of course, you end up giving them to the school. Your kid doesn’t use 4 dozen pencils in a year? Too bad. There are other little kids in the class that like to take the pencils and throw them up into the ceiling, have swordfights with them, or over-sharpen them down to little points, and you’re providing extra pencils for these kids as well.

Second graders are old enough to learn to start taking care of their own things. I remember in first grade we had our own things. We did have to give a box of tissues to the school… all of us kids having those runny noses and the like. But some kids would bring in the big 64 count boxes of crayons, and some of the rest of us could only afford the smaller boxes. But that’s life. Nowadays, the schools want to teach your kids socialism, so you have to give all the supplies to the school.

But there’s a problem with bringing all those supplies to share. Kids don’t take care of their things if they are not *theirs*. They’ll make paper airplanes with the paper. They’ll have swordfights with the pencils. Who cares if those things are not yours? You can just go to the community supply and get more.

But if you have to buy your own pencils, paper, and crayons, that’s another story. You start making paper airplanes or otherwise waste your own paper and your parents might start asking why you’re going through so much. You break too many pencils and the same thing will happen. If it’s yours, you’ll take better care of it. And if you’re paying for your own paper… I really don’t care if you want to make airplanes or waste your paper. I’m not paying for it.

Right now, our country isn’t really interested in individual property or anything like that. So for another year, another group of parents will moan and complain about the excessive amounts of paper and pencils they have to sent to school with their second grader on their first day of school. And until people wake up and say no, the cycle will continue next year.

I buy a lot of supplies myself. I bought 8 pocket folders (on sale for $.01), 10 24-count boxes of crayons for $.20 each, a couple dozen pencils, 8 70-page notebooks (for $.25 each), 4 notebooks ($.25 each), pens, erasers, glue, etc. Kids (and adults) need to use this stuff. But the big difference for me is, if I don’t use all these supplies, I’ll have them next year. If next year I see another crop of really good sales and I have more notebooks than I need, I can give my extras away to whoever I see fit. Public school parents that are slaves to these lists and forced to subsidize for those kids that either don’t have or don’t care for their supplies don’t have that option.