Today, after school, Rhett pulls out this huge envelope out of his backpack. Fundraising time. Again. It is a pretty cool fundraiser (a coupon book for area restaruants and stores) but after I read the back of the booklet, I stopped looking. It made me sick. Here is what it says:
Sell a Product that
Virtually Sells Itself and Meet
Your Fundraising Goals Fast.
No Door to Door
Sales Needed:
Simply Sell to Parents and
Relatives and Have Parents
Sell the Product to
Their Co-Workers.
Let me repeat that last part: Have Parents Sell the Product to Their Co-Workers!
Oh no. Seth will not be taking the "product" and selling it to his co-workers. He already has a job. Since when did schools advocate that parents sell for the children. I am not naive. I know it is being done. But is it right? No. I don't think so. And I know that most people do not want to buy if the child isn't present. At least the people I know.
Yes, let's teach our children that they really don't have to do any work at all to get ahead, to help their school out, to make a difference.
Jumping off my soap box now...
5 comments:
The breakroom at work here is always filled with order forms for cookies, wrapping paper, popcorn, those coupon books, etc. Or sometimes the parent will just pass a folder with info around the cubicles. I'll only buy something if I actually know the parent, though.
But I am much more likely to buy something if a kid shows up on my doorstep, however annoying it is, just because I remember how much I hated selling things in school. I feel sorry for the kids.
I don't think kids should be made to sell anything.
By the way, I like your layout -- gorgeous colors!
It's wonderful to find another parent who feels the same way I do. My children get approx. 4 fundraisers a year to sell. I don't let my kids sell in our apartment complex due to the fact that so many other children from their school live here too. My kids are taught to behave, but so many others aren't. So my children often have doors shut in their face before they even have a chance to say a word. And I don't send it to work with my husband either. He's running around enough doing his job, he doesn't need to do more either. And since our family lives so far away, they don't sell to them unless we happen to be visiting at the right time. I understand the school needs money, I just wish there were other ways to earn it rather than bribing our kids with toys that will break in a day so they will go home and ask their parents to sell stuff for them.
Ok I'll step off my box too!!
Loved your lo too. I was just noticing the trees here too. Seems like yesterday I was seeing the blooms too, and over night the leaves appeared at full size!
When I was teaching, the same thing happened. There were lots of order forms for GS cookies, popcorn, poinsettias, you name it, left in the teachers' workroom. Oftentimes, there was no indication of who was selling the product!
I do understand that fundraisers are a necessary evil, but there has to be a better way.
Mom
Ooh, I completely agree. I think I already told you, but we absolutely do not buy anything unless the child asks us to. And we don't prepay either, b/c of the Boy Scout that took our money and gave us no popcorn!!
I can't believe they put that label on the book though. Yes, it happens, but no, its not right! It teaches the child nothing!!
Okay, lets all get off this soap box, b/c with all of us on it, it just might break. ;)
H
I love you on the soap box! It's nice to be able to vent your frustrations every now and then. I don't have a kid in school living with me, but I agree - fundraisers... no "fun" involved. My mom wouldn't ever let us do them - she didn't see a point in peddling magazines or gift items door-to-door that are marked up 50%. And they never - NEVER - took it to work with them. (OK, my Girl Scout cookies, but does that really count, because people look forward to it?)
I like your take on it - never thought about it that way! You're right that your husband does have a job, and it's not to sell school fundraisers. And imagine, the schools all tend to do fundraisers at about the same time - so you have 4 or 5 people showing up with the same brochures, then you have to pick and choose who to order what from. And what a lesson to teach, as well - that you don't have to put in any "work" because the product sells itself... sounds like a lot of online scams I read about too.
I also agree w/ Krista - kids shouldn't be responsible for the school's financial burdens. It's bad enough we give up our property and portions of our income tax to fund these operations. At the school I worked for, they were trying to pass a levy to increase the property tax by another 1% (they had already increased it that much the previous year) and it got voted down. They are trying to get it to pass on the next upcoming ballot in May. They have threatened to cancel bus transportation and make student-athletes "pay to play" $200 per season, per kid, if this levy does not pass this time around. Why do they need all this money? I understand that the cost of running a school is a big expense, but how much exactly do they really need from us??? Where is it going to good use? You know my cheerleaders spent all year practicing their gymnastics on TILE FLOORS. The mats we had were confiscated by the wrestling team, and I wouldn't have called them mats anyway. We never had a room to practice in, either - they made us move tables in the cafeteria or library to even have a place to practice!
Then on top of all this there are fundraisers.... even more money funneling into their pockets, and we have no idea where it's going REALLY. They offer the financial records to the public, but it doesn't seem like it adds up. I have had at least 6-8 groups of kids at my door soliciting donations or the purchase of goods in the last year. $5 here, $10 there... What is this all about anyway?
Glad to hear you're getting on the PTO - we definitely need some strong voices of influence in that organization nationwide.
I didn't intend to jump on the soap box here (and I hope I didn't break it!!) but this is an issue that really inflames me, too! Thanks for putting your thoughts out here - sometimes you gotta do it, and get it off your chest :)
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