doodledee

The Strib ran a bizarrely unbalanced cover story the other day about how teachers go out and spend their own money on school supplies. It followed a couple of teachers to Target and watched them fill their carts with notebooks and stuff for their students. It also talked about how there's a $250 annual deduction for out-of-pocket expenses and how [apparently] many teachers use that and more.

I'm not really sure what the 'agenda' of the story was, or even if it had one. I kind of got the feeling it was trying to make you feel like the public education system was getting hosed and that if it weren't for teachers, the kids wouldn't have any crayons. I wonder if that's true?

The thing that frustrates me so much about our school system is that it's so big and costs so much and is so bureaucratic that nobody - and I really mean nobody - understand where the money goes. People - like me - point their finger at crazy expensive school construction and outrageous sports and administration expenses and all that and suddenly it seems pretty easy to ask why there's a bitchin' new parking lot at the high school when kids don't even have notebooks. But that's obviously not the whole story, right? It can't be.

Look, I'm no public policy genius, but if there's one thing I know it's that people will give 'til it hurts to buy kids paper and pencils and paste and dull scissors and rulers and all that other crap that's 'important' for kids to have. Many of us non-teachers (!) already go to Target every year to buy bags of school supplies to donate. Everybody wants to see the kids get what they need to be successful. What we don't want is wasteful BS spending and poor management. Is that so much to ask?

This issue drove Jesse nuts. It also made him look like a heartless prick. Maybe I should just stay quiet.