More Moola for Schoola

The same supplies box I used in 1st grade. 

When I entered public first grade in August of 1977 I carried with me a small colorful cardboard flip-top box. I picked it out myself at the local drug store. It contained a box of crayons, a bottle of glue, a couple of No. 2 pencil, and extra cap erasers. When I got to my classroom that box went in my assigned desk, where it stayed until the following June. My classmates brought similar supplies. I don’t know if any kids didn’t bring anything at all that first day, but I suspect there were a few. But no big deal, the teacher had extra pencils and a box of broken crayon odds and ends. The big lined paper on which we learned to write was already in the storage closet.

In this millennium, however, parents are emailed an ever-growing list of required school supplies that includes everything from antibacterial hand gel to toilet paper. We’re not talking just one per kid, but multi-packs of each item. With multiple kids in one family, these supplies can really put a dent in the weekly budget. 

This morning a friend whose son just started first grade lamented about what he saw when he delivered his boy and accompanying bagful of reinforcements to the classroom. 

“I’m already pissed off,” he said. “They dumped all the supplies I bought for him in separate bins for all the kids to be used throughout the school year. Some parents didn’t buy shit. So I have to pay for some other kid’s supplies?”

Yes. You do. I’m sorry. Our schools’ budgets are cut so badly that the very essential tools students need have vanished from the supply closet. Teachers are spending their own salaries not only for classroom needs but also for food for some of their students. And they have to ask you, the parent, to spring for essentials. You understand this, and you comply because you’d do anything you could to ensure your child’s success in education. But when it comes to the kid sitting next to him you’re less than enthusiastic.

And you’re being selfish and entitled for thinking that way.

Here’s why:

That mom who always used to help out but now has backed out of every volunteering position? She has lupus, and some days she cannot get out of bed from the pain and fatigue, let alone organize the Halloween carnival.

That dad who usually donates money and auction items from his own business to the fundraiser…the one who says he can’t donate anything at all this year…(and why NOT? He owns the business, it’s a tax write-off you say)…he hasn’t drawn a salary for himself in six months in order to keep payroll going for all of his employees after a decline in business this year.  

And that new mom who drives the nice SUV and has the pretty diamond on her hand, the mom who only has the one child in school so what’s the big deal of buying the school supplies that are on the required list? She’s new to your school because she just upended her entire life to move cross-country so she can take care of a sick relative. She really, really can’t afford the $60 worth of handiwipes and laminated folders.

In every nice neighborhood near every A-rated school there is a family that doesn’t look like they’re struggling, but they are. And yes, you as the keeping-your-head-above-water-at-least-for-now family will be asked to cover for them in some manner. Please don’t complain about it. Please remember when someone helped you out somehow when you were at a lower point in your life. I guarandamntee you somebody did.

Would it make you feel better if your child had three boxes of crayons but the girl next to him didn’t have any? If so, I dare say you are teaching terrible values to your son need to reevaluate your thought process.

Don’t complain to me about this being “socialism at its purest form.” This is humanism. This is giving everyone an equal chance. Do what you can, and stop complaining about being able to do so.

America's Biggest Threat: Little Girls

It’s been a tough week for 8-year-old girls in America.

In Virginia, Sunnie Kahle was denied return to her current Christian school for not being girly enough. In a letter to her grandmother--her legal guardian--the school inferred that Sunnie’s alternative gender identity was causing confusion among other students and that it was not in line with the school’s biblical teachings. Administrators admitted that she was a very good student and that they “love” her, but I guess not enough to let her keep learning in their institution…unless she wears a dress and grows her hair. 

In South Carolina, Olivia McConnell asked her state representative to sponsor a bill making the Wooly Mammoth the official state fossil. With strong historical and scientific support behind his young constituent’s proposal, Representative Robert Ridgeway brought it to vote in the House, and it passed 94-3. All was a go until Senator Kevin Bryant insisted on amending the bill to include a passage from the Bible explaining the creation of life…which is another banging-head-on-desk essay for another day. Olivia’s bill is currently stalled, not for lack of historical significance, but because a Christian fundamentalist cannot remember that religion has no place in our government, or that the earth is over 6000 years old. He must've missed third grade.

And in Colorado, Kamryn Renfro was suspended for shaving her head, which she did in support of her best friend who was bald due to the effects of chemotherapy treatments. Her crew cut was deemed courageous and supportive dangerous and distracting by school officials.

So we’re punishing young girls for being themselves, for honoring scientific discovery, and for standing with those who are too weak to stand themselves. We’re alienating them, diminishing them, and telling them to hush up and sit pretty.

What. The. Heck.

At an age where these girls should be encouraged in their research, individuality, expression, intelligence, initiative, and ability to connect with others, these schools and politicians are stifling their mental and emotional growth which so necessary is to become well-adjusted adults.

I don’t know the circumstances that led to Sunnie being raised by her grandparents, but situations like that rarely arise because the actual parents are doing an awesome job. So let’s assume she has had some emotional discourse in her past. If she does indeed have gender identity issues, kicking her out of school and away from her friends is not helping the situation. Remember, this is a Christian school... I guess they forgot that line in the Bible about “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Nothing in that passage about just the pretty ones.

Kamryn said she shaved her head “because it seemed like the right thing to do.” And it was. That sense of empathy is to be applauded in a child, because it shows strong character. Instead of being sent home, Kamryn should have been given an assembly in which to explain her action and inspire her classmates.

And really, Senator Bryant. Leave your Bible where it belongs, in your church of choice and your own home. Keep it out of Congress. Try to learn something from this third-grader today. Olivia will lend you her science book. 

Don’t banish these girls for their haircuts and their boyish t-shirts. Don’t dismantle their budding interest in government and science while hiding behind your Bible-shield. The times, they have a-changed. 

Keep at it, girls. When grown men in positions of power are threatened by your drive, your passion, and your fortitude, you know you’re doing something right.