Teachers get a break during summer—not just being out of school, but on having to blow bucks on supplies. An estimated 99.5% of teachers use their own money to equip their classrooms, per a survey from the Education Market Association, at a cost of more than $400 a year.
Over the years, Max's teachers have purchased items to help and motivate him, everything from firefighter stickers to ties for his jacket zippers to make them easier to pull. I've never asked but I assume they have spent their own money. Friends who are teachers don't think twice about digging into their wallets to get stuff for the kids they teach; it comes with the territory. Troubling, isn't it, that some of this country's most valuable employees do not have an expense account.
Enter Katy Perry and Staples, sponsor of this post. The superstar and the superstore have teamed up to inspire people to donate to classrooms. During back-to-school season, Staples is donating one million dollars to DonorsChoose.org, the charity that funds classroom projects and has had an impact on more than 18 million students nationwide.
People can make their own donations at Staples (as little as $1) or at StaplesForStudents.com. As Perry says, "I believe in education as a foundation for a great life, so I want to make sure students across the country are inspired by their teachers and afforded every opportunity to realize their dreams."
Here's the scoop from Perry in a new PSA:
Sweepstakes for a scholarship and Katy Perry meet-up! (Which is better?!)
Through September 10, customers who spend $25 or more in Staples can use a unique entry code on their receipt to enter a sweepstakes online at StaplesForStudents.com. The grand prize winner will score a $50,000 scholarship, plus a trip for two to Los Angeles to meet Katy Perry. Four first prize winners and one guest each will also win air travel to L.A., a two-night stay and spending money to meet Perry at the VIP Winners Celebration.
The Staples for Students campaign is an ongoing education booster; initiatives have included school supply drives, donations for education projects, Designed by Students and sales of products that give back to classrooms and communities in need.
Now, Staples, if you could just do something about kids *who shall remain nameless* who wait till your local store is nearly closed to announce that they need supplies for a project due tomorrow.
This post was sponsored by Staples; opinions are my own.
Image: Screen grab, Staples video
That is cool! If only there was a way to prevent formal education from destroying students' souls....
ReplyDeleteI am speaking only for myself here. I'm sure formal education and those who carry it out have harmed some students, as have those from every. Walk. Of. Life. At the same time, formal education has given students hope, motivation, drive, a sense of success, plans for the future. Teachers have been guides, cheerleaders, supporters, leaders. I'm a retired teacher and product of formal education with a completely intact and lively soul, even while I live knowing that cancer will be taking my life within the next year or two. And I find your comment a generalization that is untrue and hurtful. I regret that your experiences have led you to believe this but I also think it's unreasonable for you to state it as an accepted truth.
DeleteAs a teacher I couldn't agree more. We work hard to inspire and teach the skills children need to succeed in life. And yes, we spend our own money doing it with no regrets. Best wishes for your health Traci.
DeleteThank you, Anonymous. Right now I'm feeling great and living life the way I choose, richly and fully.mi won't have regrets when my time is up and I'm very much at peace with my situation. :)
DeleteConsider yourself fortunate. I have found that formal education rewards a certain method of thinking and praises it above the rest. In school, you regurgitate what you learned from the teacher onto the test. You "learn" new things so quickly that you are unable to chew on, much less truly digest, any of the information. There is hardly any time to test the information based on what you know to be true and you (1) just end up quitting and accepting whatever the schools happen to feed you or (2) end up rebelling and being labeled as a "bad kid".
DeleteI keep wondering if I should do more in school to further ravage my soul or if I should settle knowing that I'll have to get what I can take anyway. I worry that 10 years from now I will have overexerted myself in school only to work some boring desk job and repeat the trauma I've experienced in school: being told what to do and when to do it when I have no desire to do it by some faceless authority. Only I will have no hope of doing well enough to escape because it will be my lifeline.
So, will I end up with the boring desk job I so fear? Maybe, maybe not. School is for less people than what it's made out to be. As with anything else, it has benefits and drawbacks and the best and worst people I have ever met. I am not sure if I can ever fully support formal education, though.
"Study without desire spoils the memory and it retains nothing that it takes in--" Leonardo da Vinci
A book you might enjoy:
DeleteBEAUTIFUL FAILURES.
I think you and the author's daughter - and the 50% of people for whom school is not for - might be soul sisters.
And quitting and accepting.
Thank you for reminding us that learning is like food - the nutrients and the taste more than the protocols and the rituals.
And there's a Jane Caro article as well.
No wonder parenting is getting away from rewards and praises - at least the enlightened parenting I admire and identify with.
Moratorium or foreclosure? Such an Eriksenian choice/identity crisis.
Teachers do spend their own money- they get very little money to order supplies with. My mom is a teacher and it's inevitable that she uses her own money to buy stuff for her classroom. And when there are kids who cannot afford to buy school supplies, oftentimes teachers are the ones to provide them. I'm a future teacher and I admit it's a little disheartening to know how teachers are viewed in society. I recently saw a graphic that said "Pilots don't have to pay for their fuel, Police officers don't have to pay for their guns, Doctors and Nurses don't have to pay for their supplies, why should teachers have to fund their own classrooms?"
ReplyDeleteThis is a graphic we needed to see.
DeleteAnd also "Wouldn't it be great if the Defence Force raised money with a cake stall/bake sale".
It is disheartening, yes!
In Australia people said that teachers were the most ethical profession.
Image of Professions 2016: Roy Morgan Survey