School started yesterday--I still can't get used to school starting in August. At home it was always the Wednesday after Labor Day; of course school gets out in May here, not the third week of June as I was used to. Of course I always wished we had a winter holiday instead of a summer one--I even wrote a short poem about it when I was in junior high:

"You know what would fill me with elation?
To have--no heat, no frustration--
A winter vacation!
So here's to the school board, vehimently wishing
For school in summer--we'd really be listening,
As long as you put in air conditioning!"

Even back then I preferred winter to summer. :-)

The first day of school means more traffic, but I didn't find it too bad yesterday. I did raise my eyebrows at the number of police patrol cars out to catch speeding mummies and daddies, though--it looked like Labor Day weekend out there.

Anyway, the school prep the stores have been doing has filled me with bemusement. Several stores had lists of local schools, and what each grade needed for the first day. Wow, we got to go in the first day, get acquainted with the teacher(s) and got a "want list" from them, the inevitable sheet of ditto paper. Too, the lists for middle school and up don't faze me so much, but I'm continually surprised by seeing supply lists for elementary school kids. I went to school on the poor-to-middle-class side of town--we never had a lot of money--and elementary school students never had to buy supplies unless they wanted something special (a Batman pencil box, something like that). All pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, art supplies, etc., were supplied by the school. We spend thousands of dollars per pupil per year, can afford to have computers in school, but can't afford a box of 8 Crayolas? Wild.

When I saw the request that each child have a box of tissue, it made me smile, but I do remember back in the "dark ages" all kids were at least asked to have a handkerchief. This doesn't mean everyone used them--there were always the obligatory kids wiping their nose on their shirtsleeve--but at least we were supposed to. I usually had Kleenex ferreted away somewhere on my body, due to my allergies.

The thing that made both James and I goggle was the request that girls have a bottle of antibacterial hand cleanser and boys a box of baby wipes. Don't they have bathrooms in school? When your hands get dirty you just go to the lav and wash them, don't you?

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:29:00 AM

Comments: Post a Comment