Kindergarten Socialism

[homeschoolmom]

So, I was sitting outside with my two neighbors today while our kids were picnicking and playing... and after they'd gone off to play we were chatting... My one neighbor was telling us about the policy in our neighborhood school regarding kindergarteners and their supplies. (The other neighbor and I are both HSers, so we've managed to be ignorant of how these things are done-- except from our own experiences at classroom teachers... but I digress)...

It seems that the parents of kindergarteners are given a list of supplies to send with their kiddos on the first day of school... Then, they are all collected up and redistributed. It's not fair that Susie's mommy bought a "My Little Pony" notebook for her while Besty's mommy only got her a plain red one.... and it's not fair that Billy's folder is plastic so that it lasts longer than a week and Bobby's is paper... So, they just collect 'em up and redistribute them. I couldn't believe it.

Now, before you peg me as an indulgent parent who would buy any little thing my kids would ever want for school, let me clarify. I'm not. Not in the least... They get plain notebooks, boring pencils, cheap, small boxes of crayons and colored pencils, normal gluesticks (as opposed to "Cool school gel!" that has the consistancy of snot). In fact, my kids don't usually get "new" supplies at the beginning of the year (sometimes, but not always). I buy them then (because they are cheap), but we use the old stuff until the new stuff is needed.

But... if my kids did go to school and wanted some fancy dealy for school, they would have to pay the difference with their own money. And I would be pretty ticked off if they had to hand it over for someone else to use. Likewise, if they didn't really like plain notebooks, I would tell them to smell of elderberries it up and decorate it with stickers or something. Besides, I really thing that stuff is distracting. What I found most interesting in this coversation is that they don't tell the parents in advance that these things will go into a corporate collection for the entire class... It's learned by experience.

[Colleen]

That's silly. If they're that fussy, why can't they just tell parents specifically not to get any "fancy" supplies? Or define exactly which ones they should get? I know when I was in school, we weren't allowed to have notebooks or folders with "characters" on them. You had to have plain ones. But no one seized them and redistributed them. They just made you take them home.

It's not going to make things better, because when little Susie sees that little Betsy ended up with her My Little Pony notebook, she's not going to be pleased.

[T-Bone _]

Teach them that personal property doesn't really exist while they're young. There'll be less of a societal upheaval when the government seizes our assets "for the greater good."

[Lil Red]

that's kinda disgusting, imo

[cathoholic_anonymous]

It's also frightening and might upset the children. Reading about it has upset me. During my (brief) stint in preschool (the British equivalent to kindergarten) I used to retreat under a big table, my side to the wall, with a stack of books. This allowed me to feel 'safe' in a confusing room filled with crowds and noise and disorientating colours. I could read fluently by the age of three, and reading was how I coped with the world.

But the nursery teachers decided that this wasn't 'good' for me, so they started to physically wrest the books away. If I couldn't have my books, I wanted my big yellow teapot. That was the next best thing. I would sit and cradle it until it was time to go home. So they started taking that off me as well and giving it to other children to play with. I was distraught. I still tremble and feel sick when I think about it now.

I know I have an autistic spectrum disorder, so my reactions were extreme. (People with ASD do not like change at all and tend to get very attached to certain routines and objects.) But that kind of thing can be distressing for any child. I'm all for children being taught how to share, but this is different.

[MissScripture]

If they're so worried about everyone being equal, why not just have the kids bring in some money, and the teachers can buy the supplies themselves, and then everyone can have the same stuff! That's what they did as far as crayons and glue and those basic supplies for us, in Kindergarten (although, that was really so that we had the correct supplies, such as glue in certain bottles so it wouldn't be able to make QUITE such a big mess, and fat crayons, so they were easier to hold). We still got to use our own folders and stuff...but I don't think we even HAD notebooks for anything.

[BG45]

As someone who always went for plain things anyhow...I'm still horrified.

[T-Bone _]

[quote name='Cathoholic Anonymous' post='1346312' date='Aug 1 2007, 05:01 PM']It's also frightening and might upset the children. Reading about it has upset me. During my (brief) stint in preschool (the British equivalent to kindergarten) I used to retreat under a big table, my side to the wall, with a stack of books. This allowed me to feel 'safe' in a confusing room filled with crowds and noise and disorientating colours. I could read fluently by the age of three, and reading was how I coped with the world.

But the nursery teachers decided that this wasn't 'good' for me, so they started to physically wrest the books away. If I couldn't have my books, I wanted my big yellow teapot. That was the next best thing. I would sit and cradle it until it was time to go home. So they started taking that off me as well and giving it to other children to play with. I was distraught. I still tremble and feel sick when I think about it now.

I know I have an autistic spectrum disorder, so my reactions were extreme. (People with ASD do not like change at all and tend to get very attached to certain routines and objects.) But that kind of thing can be distressing for any child. I'm all for children being taught how to share, but this is different.[/quote]

As someone who is missing one trait to be an Aspie, this thought occurred to me as well.

[cmotherofpirl]

I would be thoroughly annoyed if someone took my kids stuff, it would be called stealing and I would be in the principals office immediately.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1346610' date='Aug 1 2007, 10:10 PM']I would be thoroughly annoyed if someone took my kids stuff, it would be called stealing and I would be in the principals office immediately.[/quote]
Yep... me too.

[Groo the Wanderer]

I think they should try it with whatever the kids brought for lunch too. Let 'em redistribute the food - see how far THAT flies....

pinko-commie liberal hippy-freak tree-hugging baby-aborting dope-smoking paris-rooting twits!




did i miss anything?

[Sojourner]

I would sue.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

That's the way we did it in my kindergarten. I suppose I'd never really thought about it, but yeah, I suppose it's unfair.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

That's the way we did it in my kindergarten. I suppose I'd never really thought about it, but yeah, I suppose it's unfair.

[homeschoolmom]

I would not think it was as big of a deal if they would tell the parents that this is what they planned to do... things like crayons and glue make some sense in that regard... but not telling them and redistributing them...