Made my weekly visit to Target today. It's back to school time in Arizona. Crazy, I know! They start school August 9th in several areas here. Boo for the children! But...I did enjoy perusing school supplies. As Kathleen Kelly says in You've Got Mail, "bouquets of sharpened pencils..." Except she said it about the fall in New York. It's a little harder to romanticize when it's 116 degrees and mid-July.
I've always loved buying new school supplies. Even though my parents were pretty poor, I got new pencils and notebooks. I don't think schools required so specific of lists in my day. I think there was only one kind of pencil, eraser and notebook then.
I remember one year when my daughter was in grade school, we got the list, shopped for the special style of pencils, glue, Kleenex, notebooks, etc. Everything picked out with attention to my daughter's desire. We put her name on everything with cute "Rachel" stickers and sent her off. She stormed off the school bus that afternoon mad as a little hornet. (Yes, she has a temper a little like her mother's.) The teacher had taken all the supplies purchased by the students, piled them in the middle of the room, and said that all the children would share from the community stash. Oh my gosh. Communism prevailed in second grade at Perrine Elementary. Now, I might have been fine with that if I'd known ahead of time. I'd have purchased generic, utilitarian supplies and been fine. BUT--we bought cute, child-specific items with the NAME carefully labeled on each thing. We have never forgotten that "lesson" of life. Do not assume anything with those dang teachers. They're a finicky lot and can't be trusted.
Supplies now are elaborate and pretty darn fancy. There is hardly a # 2 yellow Ticonderoga pencil to be found. There's all colors of ink in the pens and one that even comes out clear and turns different colors after you write with it. Sigh!! I was one of those stifling teachers who required students to use blue and black ink only and NEVER use spiral notebook paper with the ragged edges unless you cut off the messy border. (Don't you judge until you've read 150 junior English essays about the mysteries of Walden Pond. Those rough edges stick together and pink ink gets lost in the midnight lamp light after the 100th essay.)
The notebooks now have Twilight characters, generic vampires and other icons that I'm not even familiar
with. I'd hate to try to buy anything for a child today without them along to approve. Heaven help that we should be equipped with lame supplies. (I doubt "lame" is still the word denoting out of style, however...)
Oh, and I also came across a news article that was interesting. A woman was protesting the G-something summit, and was arrested for blowing bubbles at one of the police officers. The reporters sided with the police officer because the bubble woman was being belligerent in her bubble blowing...Oh, dear! What has the world come to?
8 comments:
Ha Ha Communism prevails in the elementary schools here too. You learn quickly.
I just never understood why they didn't just collect a fee from all the students and the school just purchased supplies. Surely in bulk quantities you could get a better deal and everyone would have the same stuff.
I grew up in California and we never had to purchase school supplies. Everything was always provided by the schools so it was a shock to me when we moved up here to Idaho and I got handed these long lists with a bunch of stuff I needed to buy.
I love the new school year too. I always did as a kid - I loved seeing the new clothes and lunch boxes, etc...in the stores and I still do.
August 9th is way too early to start school. Those poor kids lose 1/2 their summer. Or maybe they get out much earlier? But still hard with Family reunions, vacations, camps, etc...gotta cram it into 2 months.
Oh no!! I would have been really upset too about my daughter's supplies if I had gone through all that time buying the labels. It's a zoo already here too with school supplies. I think kids forget that its just a pencil.
Belligerent bubble blowing? LOL!! Haha! That had me laughing out loud. Seriously maybe the heat has gotten to everyone! =)
I have a degree to teach, I understand about the black and blue! Now I had a teacher that in my opinion took it to far, taking notes in her class (and she admitted she didn't do a good job) she expected us to have things perfect. She even got rulers out to check our indentations. To me, that was just wrong!
I also love new school supplies, and I also love You've Got Mail.
I felt a little sad as I walked the isles and saw the bins and bins full. My girls are no longer in school, the school where I work has everything donated, don't expect the illegals to provide their own, hmmm, maybe the Little Loves will go shopping with me?
OMG that is so not cool what that teacher did with the school supplies without even asking the parents permission?!
I would have called up that teacher and told her to pay me back for everything she stole!
That's like forcing a kid to take their snacks and packed lunches and allow every one to take their pick on what they want.
School supplies for children are like a part of their identity. I feel your daughters pain that it was taken away for her.
"belligerent in her bubble blowing"...that cracks me up!
Belligerent bubble blowing?! Oh sheesh... I would've thrown a bouquet of pencils at them instead.
Oohhh....I love the school supply isle.
Post a Comment