Summer School

The guy at Office Depot looked at the stack of notebooks and pencils and asked me if we got reimbursed for buying all that stuff. By "we," he meant teachers, and the answer was "Not unless I'm willing to wait for months and probably get questioned about why I didn't go to this or that vendor instead or put in a request ahead of time - and so on. Then he asked me why kids didn't show up with pencils and paper - wasn't that expected?
In a word, no. Expectations for the kids I teach start a little simpler than that. We're all about butts in seats. We were given a district mandate of ninety-eight percent attendance - this year my school was well below that. Far enough below that for it to be a concern for the powers that be. It really is a pretty simple equation: kids in class have a better chance of learning than those who are not. All that reading, writing and arithmetic is pretty much lost on an empty chair. So that's where we're starting.
But I can remember when it was different. I remember the first day of school and a letter home that described the necessary items for every third or fourth or second or first grader. It used to be a cigar box - to hold the rest of the elements. A box of crayons (not the elaborate, built-in sharpener version - just a starter set). An eraser, just in case mistakes were made. Pencils to get the year started (I was lucky enough a couple years to have a dozen or more with my name printed on them). The scissors would depend a lot on the year, with round-tip being favored for the first couple of grades, but nice pointy ones by the fourth grade. A box of Kleenex and a small bottle of Elmer's glue to round it out. By fourth grade, binders and looseleaf paper became vital, and other items appeared on some teachers' lists while absent from others. Each student had a nominal survival kit for at least the first few weeks of school.
That time is over. I now buy a few dozen pencils each year that say "Stolen From Mr. Caven's Room" on them. I give them to my students. I tell the ones that ask that it's a joke. Just a quick note: the cost of the war in Iraq is now estimated to be approximately $5.8 billion each month. I'll take a quiet hand if you can tell me what that turns out to be per day.