Tell it ...

What is this country coming to? When I was a child, you took your school supply list to your parents, and one magical trip to Target later, you had all your supplies. Into your desk, they went, and that was that.



Now, because (I guess) we’re living in a communist country, the teacher gave a list of supplies not only for my child. Oh no. She instructed me to get extra supplies to go into the communal bin. Excuse me? Since when have our children taken supplies out of a bin like pigs eating out of a trough?



Where have my tax dollars gone? To the teacher’s 100,000-dollar salary? To the school’s new after-school programs where children write poetry about their feelings instead of picking up a d*mn ball and working out their frustrations on the dodgeball court like we did. No wonder this country is going to the dogs.



Why should I use my hard-earned money to ensure every student in that class has a pencil? How will charity stop their trajectory if their parent doesn’t care enough to keep them supplied with a mere pencil? That child is doomed to be a drain upon the system if we give in and show them that they’ll get everything handed to them. Notebooks are a privilege, not a right!



Have you ever considered that going without is good for some children? Seeing others with their new backpacks and bespoke leather-bound planners gives them something to strive for. They could take their dollar store pencils like little beggars or go out and do something about their predicament. Start a lemonade stand. Try moonlighting as a chimney sweep. Catch worms for fisherman. Anything is better than becoming a burden on society. The teachers should be ashamed of themselves for not stepping in and using this as a learning moment.



All I’m saying is that you can take my child’s pens out of their cold, dead hands. I will not budge and allow my kids to believe that looking out for the group is more important than looking out for themselves. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Sometimes you get a glue stick, and sometimes you must watch with sadness as others glue hearts to their valentines without you.



Good. They should harness that sadness. Use it to strengthen their resolve to earn more money so they can be like me and my friends. We didn’t get to where we are supporting mandatory communal bins. We live in America. What’s ours is ours. That means money, good neighbors, and our children’s school supplies.