This is when I feel the "pull." Every August, when the Back to School commercials begin, I get the urge to go to stationery stores. Not only do the teacher dreams continue, but so too does the desire to get school supplies.
Refreshing all the paper, the clips, the pens, and the pencils are one of the genuinely pleasurable things about teaching. Setting up a new roll book, a grade book, whether digital or traditional, gives one a sense of order that we know will quickly deteriorate. Nevertheless, it is a pleasurable experience.
As a young teacher, I used to go clothes shopping for the new year as well. A chance to get a few new shirts and perhaps a winter pair of pants was always part of the process. As teacher dress standards became less strict, that seemed to become a thing of the past.
Today, when I see all the TV commercials for school supply drives, I always become puzzled. To an outsider, it would seem that we live in a country where the majority of children cannot afford to come to school with all that is necessary to succeed. That may be the case, and if it is, what does it say about how we, in this country, value education? To most, it would seem a good, charitable thing. And it is. But it always strikes me as odd that so many kids in public school would go without if not for these community-led drives. Are we collectively poor as a nation? Certainly, in our current economy, we certainly are.
I recall a time about 20 years ago when each teacher in my school was given $300. gift certificate to a local stationery store. It was a store I frequented for years for file folders, labels, paper, and all manner of writing implements, so I was delighted. The school year was going to get off to a great start with all that I could supply my classroom with for $300. I even had money to buy a large supply of colorful Post-it notes for a special project I wanted to do with my American Lit classes.
The way those gift cards were spent by my colleagues was certainly fascinating. Most teachers used the money for basic needs from paper products to computer disks, to even Kleenex and bottled water for their classrooms. But others had a different take on the situation. A few added their own money to get a printer and ink cartridges, spending the lump sum on only one or two things. One teacher even purchases a rostrum so he could address his charges like a professor! There were no restrictions on how the money was to be spent. I guarantee it was all spent in one form or another. But that was just one year. The other 33 years saw me spend my own money.
I know things have changed since the pandemic. I'm very fortunate I did not have to deal with those lost years. Today, I saw a Twitter post from a teacher that seemed to accurately sum up the current state of affairs. It said, "Go ahead, wear the jeans, nobody wants your job."
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