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  • #16
    As far as I can remember the only things that were really required of me from third grade on up to my senior year, was: bookbag, pens, paper, X amount of binders for all classes, pencils, a few markers/highlighters, and anything else that came up during the school year. The only thing that the schools gave it's students, were the books IF that.
    Eh, one day I'll have something useful here. Until then, have a cookie or two.

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    • #17
      I got the "letter" with required supplies..They included:

      4 folders (can be generic)
      1 pair ADULT sized scissors
      1 one subject notebook (can be generic)
      1 four pack Expo markers.. (im sorry but i bought the cheapest ones i could find and they werent EXPO)
      3 canisters Clorox wipes (WTF? So im responsible for cleaning the school now too?)
      2 Kleenex box of tissues (He'll get whatever brand is on sale before school starts)

      The list wasnt too bad, but the clorox wipes, kleenex and EXPO markers threw me for a loop...and honestly the list gets longer and longer every f*cking year. I remember going to school with a damn notebook and a pencil. Thats it. Some of the grades decreed the colors for the folders and notebooks, some ask for composition books (HAVE TO BE MARBLED!!! lol) and some had like 12 glue sticks and primary color Crayola markers on their lists along with hand sanitizer and wet wipes..... /sigh. I would honestly hate to be a teacher in this day in age....no budget, but all the expectations in the world when it comes to the classroom.

      I actually remember when I saved up all summer to buy a Trapper Keeper (they had just come out!! LOL) and ended up paying $13 in change to get one before 7th grade b/c my mother couldnt afford one. God..im old.

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      • #18
        I honestly have to say that until I began working in a department store, I had never heard of teachers sending out lists of things that students needed to buy. I don't know if other school districts around my area had lists when I was still in school, but mine never did. I remember my parents stocking me up with a backpack, notebooks, writing utensils, and a Trapper Keeper when I was in elementary school, but not much else.
        "So, let's build a snowman! We can make him our best friend. We can name him Bob or we can name him Beowulf! We can make him tall, or we can make him not so tall!"

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        • #19
          At primary school I don't remember *needing* to take anything in to school. The only thing my parents needed to buy especially for school purposes was my uniform, which was from one of the well-known large department stores. AFAIR, all materials needed for classes were provided by the school.

          Even with that, there were a couple of children in my class who wore hand-knitted versions of the uniform sweater, and/or generic shorts or skirts that were roughly the right shade of grey. The school was in a deprived area of the city, so those concessions probably made a lot of difference to that family.

          At secondary school, the uniform was provided by the school (within reason) and so were most materials, but a lot of people had their own calculator, for example. Basic calculators were available for the classes that justified them, but these were only just adequate for the job.

          At college and university, of course, I had to buy my own textbooks and other materials. For some reason though, textbooks over here aren't anywhere near as expensive as they apparently are in the US. The materials could be as generic or fancy as needed or wanted.

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          • #20
            In elementary through high school, we had to bring everything except for the textbooks.

            In college, we had to provide those, as well, and yes, they are often VERY expensive >_>

            Some teachers got clever about test requirements -- we had to buy our own pencils and scan-trons (answer sheets) and blue books (little 8-page booklets for essay tests)...Teachers knew that someone in EVERY class would forget to buy these things themselves...So, they kept a box of each handy for test day...

            pencils: 40c from the bookstore, $2 from the teacher

            scantrons: 10c store, 50c teacher

            bluesbooks: 40c store, $2 teacher

            The teachers turned a net profit on every test, even if they bought an entire case of bluebooks >_>
            "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
            "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
            "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
            "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
            "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
            "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
            Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
            "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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            • #21
              I guess I had a different school system, even with budget cuts, because I can remember elementary school to maybe 6th grade getting a ruler, a 8-crayon box, a few pencils, and an eraser on the first day of school. After that, yeah I had to buy notebooks, pens, binders, even a TI-84 for high school.

              The tissue thing is true, though. Parents would be asked to bring in tissues or things the classroom could use, and the teacher provided the rest. The classroom I did my student teaching in did that, and if we ran out of tissues because either my SP or a parent forgot we were running low, we'd have to send kids to the bathroom to blow their noses. It wasn't like it was when I was in school, where if you ran out you just went down to the nurse's office and got a few boxes to take back.

              Maybe that's why I'm freaking out so much; I'm hoping to land my first teaching job this fall if I'm lucky and I'm stressed over what to buy and how much, and how much of it should the parents get and stuff.

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              • #22
                Try asking expert teachers what they do.
                Customers should always be served . . . to the nearest great white.

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                • #23
                  At my schools, we were responsible for our supplies (books, pencils, etc) including textbooks, but the school supplied everything the teacher used and stuff like tissues, loo paper, cleaning supplies.

                  The primary school had a great system: the teacher handed out a list like '2 HB pencils, 3 exercise books (lined, no less than 32 pages), 12 pack coloured pencils...'.

                  The school did a big bulk purchase of everything that was needed, and if the parent wanted, they could send in an authority form, and payment any time up to the start of school. The kid would then get their list filled and would have the 'standard pack' - and because it was a bulk purchase, cheaper than they could probably get it otherwise.

                  Often, my parents & a couple of the other 'parents & citizens' parents would be the ones to organise that.

                  Nashida: you may want to think about that system. It's a good balance between the two options. And you'll probably find at least one parent willing to help you with it.
                  Seshat's self-help guide:
                  1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                  2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                  3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                  4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                  "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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                  • #24
                    Quoth Nashida View Post
                    Maybe that's why I'm freaking out so much; I'm hoping to land my first teaching job this fall if I'm lucky and I'm stressed over what to buy and how much, and how much of it should the parents get and stuff.
                    Get the job first, then freak out. I'm two years out of college and still no job in teaching... >.<

                    But thankfully as a history teacher, I'll just be asking my students to have notebook, binder, paper, pencil/pen. Something to write on, something to keep sheets in and something to write with.
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                    • #25
                      When I first started school, we had to buy our textbooks..we could either purchase them new from the bookstore or used from another student (they also had a used book sale at the school before classes started). We could buy supplies from the bookstore or bring our own. The only time I remember them specifying a brand was Prang watercolors for art class. Those were expensive, but they had the advantage of having individual pans of color, so if you used up one color you could go to the bookstore and purchase just that color rather than ponying up the funds for a whole new set.
                      I always got my books from the same girl who was a year ahead of me and sold them to the same boy after I was done with them. I HATED having books with writing or underlining in them (highlighters weren't invented yet) so it helped having someone who took good care of their textbooks. It wasn't until the last year or two of high school that they went to renting textbooks.

                      Several schools now are going to a "supply pool" where each student brings in extra supplies and they are available for use by any student. They partially did that in a school system that one of my friend's kids attended...some items were marked with the student's name and others were just for whoever needed them. She said one day her daughters class had to do an assignment and the teacher told them to go get their map pencils. Well, she had her name on her box of map pencils, but another boy took them and was using them, and there were none for her to use. She spoke up and said something to the teacher and the teacher ignored her, even when she told the teacher that the pencils the boy was using had HER name on them. To top it all off, her daughter was unable to complete the assignment and got a zero on it...all because the teacher wouldn't tell the other boy to give Ruby the map pencils that belonged to her. That, among other reasons, was why my friend decided to home school her kids shortly after that.

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                      • #26
                        Quoth EricKei View Post
                        In elementary through high school, we had to bring everything except for the textbooks.

                        In college, we had to provide those, as well, and yes, they are often VERY expensive >_>

                        Some teachers got clever about test requirements -- we had to buy our own pencils and scan-trons (answer sheets) and blue books (little 8-page booklets for essay tests)...Teachers knew that someone in EVERY class would forget to buy these things themselves...So, they kept a box of each handy for test day...

                        pencils: 40c from the bookstore, $2 from the teacher

                        scantrons: 10c store, 50c teacher

                        bluesbooks: 40c store, $2 teacher

                        The teachers turned a net profit on every test, even if they bought an entire case of bluebooks >_>
                        I find this entire post ridiculous. The day the teachers ask me to buy scantron sheets is the day I put on my new steel toed boots and....well, you get the idea.

                        And no, im not advocating violence against the teachers, but that is ridiculous.

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                        • #27
                          Quoth Amina516 View Post
                          I find this entire post ridiculous. The day the teachers ask me to buy scantron sheets is the day I put on my new steel toed boots and....well, you get the idea.

                          And no, im not advocating violence against the teachers, but that is ridiculous.
                          Blame budget cuts and insufficient funding for schools for that. I don't imagine the schools are requiring the parents to buy those things because they want to inconvenience them. More like they don't have the money to buy those things for the schools.

                          And if you forget and your child has to buy these things from the teachers at their inflated prices--well maybe next time you don't make the same mistake.

                          I can't imagine having to furnish my own scantrons and blue books for tests either. But then I never envisioned students having to bring in kleenex or sandwich bags or disinfectant wipes for the classrooms either.
                          Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

                          "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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                          • #28
                            Quoth Food Lady View Post
                            Dave, I was ringing people for school supplies all day yesterday and I thought of you. I figured you'd post eventually.
                            Well, I did.
                            "We guard the souls in heaven; we don't horse-trade them!" Samandrial in Supernatural

                            RIP Plaidman.

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                            • #29
                              I had to buy scantrons and bluebooks for my college classes. And it wasn't the teachers turning a profit, it was the other students.

                              As long as I can remember, I/my parents had to supply all of my school supplies. Some years were better than others. I remember my parents flipping out because we had to buy origami paper and calligraphy pens for 4th grade. But, you could buy the stuff you liked. My notebooks always had horses or dolphins on them, my pens were the one I wanted to use, I could buy the sparkly, smiley pencils. Just little things that made them mine.

                              When my brother followed behind me, just by a few years in the public schools, the teachers had started saying that all the supplies had to be exactly the same because, on the first day of class, the teachers took the supplies, put them in a general use cabinet and students could ask for what they needed. They weren't allowed to bring their own stuff from home to use because it might make the other kids feel bad because they couldn't afford the nice pens or whatever.

                              I transferred to an alternative school in 3rd grade that was much, much more challenging than the public schools and the teachers encouraged us to make our stuff something we'd want to use during the year so we'd be less likely to lose it. When the high school expansion to that school opened, it was so underfunded that the parents were asked to vote on whether to allow the school to be open after the kids were released home so the teachers could offer extra tutoring or to buy certain supplies, like toilet paper, paper towels and soap. The parents voted for the extra hours on the utilities and for the first couple years the parents donated and raised money for the basic supplies.
                              "I'm starting to see a pattern in the men I date" - Miss Piggy, Muppet Treasure Island

                              I'm writing!! Check out the blog.

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                              • #30
                                Quoth EricKei View Post
                                Some teachers got clever about test requirements -- we had to buy our own pencils and scan-trons (answer sheets) and blue books (little 8-page booklets for essay tests)...Teachers knew that someone in EVERY class would forget to buy these things themselves...So, they kept a box of each handy for test day...

                                pencils: 40c from the bookstore, $2 from the teacher

                                scantrons: 10c store, 50c teacher

                                bluebooks: 40c store, $2 teacher

                                The teachers turned a net profit on every test, even if they bought an entire case of bluebooks >_>
                                If the school doesn't provide this stuff, I am sure not going to buy them out of my own pocket! And if you can't remember to bring the stuff yourself, after you have been reminded ad nauseum via email and announcements in class, then you're the one who gets to pay the inflated prices. And they are inflated because I bothered to take the time and money, and schlep them over in order to save your forgetful ass.
                                Dull women have immaculate homes.

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