LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Supplying the school

To the Editor
As another school year approaches parents are trying frantically to prepare their children for a successful academic experience. According to most of our children the real importance lies in who has the coolest Hannah Montana backpack and only top of the line footwear. After you’ve spent an entire week’s paycheck on everything from jackets and jeans to socks and underwear you can finally breathe a sign of relief. That is until you remember what is your kids actually do at school and it doesn’t involve a red carpet. You need school supplies. You know the learning tools necessary for your children’s educational excellence.
Apparently I’m not the only one who’s gotten carried away with all this back to school excitement as the list of supplies required reads more like store inventory. Since when are baby wipes, Ziploc bags and disposable camera considered school supplies? Paper towels used to be supplied by the school and came in a big brown roll. Perhaps they’re not the most luxurious way to dry your hands or most efficient way to clean up a spill, but they did get the job done and still do in most public facilities.
As I continue to scroll down the list I found out that due to space issues my child can’t reuse her pencil box from last year and will need a pencil pouch. I guess there’s not much room after the 40 boxes of tissues, 20 rolls of paper towels, 20 canisters of Clorox wipes, 20 boxes of baby wipes and multitudes of other supplies roll in on the backs of parents.
We’ve come a long way from your basic pencils, paper and rulers now that we, the parents, are responsible for teaching supplies and a communion, if you will, of classroom supplies. I know that my child does not personally need a stockpile of tissues, pencils and 10 glue sticks on the first day of school. It may be good to have all of these items on hand in case a child comes to school unprepared, but an important lesson is being lost her by denying the students personal responsibility. I guess chalkboards are out of style too, because a lot of teachers are passing on another expense to parents by requesting dry erase markers and erasers.
I recall a day not so long ago when the janitor roamed the halls with only Pine Sol and Lysol in his arsenal against germs and hand sanitizer had a different name, soap and water. Since the war on germs in schools began with mandatory hand sanitizer for every student in America, my daughter has contracted strep throat four times in a six-month period resulting in a tonsillectomy and that was just Pre-K. Everyone can draw their own conclusions about the effectiveness of hand sanitizer but the real question is “What exactly are all those taxes and state lottery funds being spent on?” All I know for certain is what they’re NOT being used for according to the needs of Wythe County teachers.
As parents our main concern is our children and we want them to have the best education they can possibly have, but in a public school system, it should have nothing to do with what parents can or can’t afford. In an unsympathetic world where we are squeezed by the oil companies, the retailers, and our utility companies, it is a shame for an institution intended to be free and equal for all children to take advantage of parents in the name of education.
Empty pockets and a mouth full,
Christal White