Different school supplies required for boys vs. girls

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[Post New]07/22/2014 12:48
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Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Ok, that will teach me to ask a simple question. I'm not out of it nor stupid. I have a doctorate and run the product development department of a software company, so I've got some brains. I am just new to this and don't know anything about the way Fairfax County runs their schools now. I went to FCPS 30 years ago, so yes, things have changed. This is not something they explain on their website, and I don't know anyone with kids in elementary school. I have no idea they try to balance the composition of classrooms along gender lines, and I also wasn't crying sexism. I was simply curious as to why boys would need white glue and girls wouldn't.

Geez.

Ha ha. Love that she defends her idiocy.
[Post New]07/22/2014 14:34
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Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I just looked up the required school supplies for my DD's school, and I'm baffled by the list. Namely, I don't understand why there are some supplies that are required for girls only and others that are required for boys only. I could understand if they were boy or girl-specific hygiene supplies but this really makes no sense.

Here are the specific items. Anyone have any insight as to why these items are required for one gender or the other? I'm especially curious about the glue. WTH?


? BOYS: 1 bottle of Elmer’s WHITE glue
? GIRLS: 1 pack of baby wipes
? BOYS: ziplock bags: Gallon
? GIRLS: ziplock bags: Quart


Clearly they are equating girls with smallness and mommies....girls would have the baby wipes because they already have children. As for the white elmers glue, white, coming out of a tube with a boy. Clearly this relates to FLE (Family and Life Education).

The larger ziplock bags for the boys...well that is because we all know that boys are better, and larger zip locks are better.

They probably want the boys to bring in pencils, and the girls to bring in sharpeners...



This is the funniest thing- I am sitting here by myself laughing!
[Post New]07/23/2014 09:25
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Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:It's a shorthand way of saying "half the classs bring glue and gallon bags, half the class bring baby wiped and quart bags." They don't need a whole class worth of each of those.

...and I'm alarmed that you could not figure this out.



+1
[Post New]07/23/2014 22:05
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Anonymous
Wow people are harsh. Give OP a break - the rest of you must be fun to deal with in PTA and other activities, looking down on your fellow parents.

Our preschool didn't ask for any supplies, so no experience at that level. Our K has asked for individual sets of supplies, and doesn't indicate anywhere that they are for communal use; I know that they are because another parent mentioned it in passing, otherwise I would have thought we were bringing our own stuff. I grew up in another state where parents weren't asked to contribute supplies - some families were poor and it would have been a hardship to make such a request, and in general providing supplies was considered the school district's responsibility. Given how well-resourced some of our local school districts have, I was surprised to find that they are asking parents to contribute supplies.
[Post New]07/23/2014 22:38
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Anonymous
It's so they get the proper amounts of items.

They don't need 22-26 bottles of glue so they have 1/2 the class get that, other 1/2 something else.

They are communal at are school. Supplies you buy are pooled.
[Post New]07/23/2014 22:38
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Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:It's so they get the proper amounts of items.

They don't need 22-26 bottles of glue so they have 1/2 the class get that, other 1/2 something else.

They are communal at are school. Supplies you buy are pooled.


They try to have equal male:female ratios per class so this works.
[Post New]07/23/2014 23:02
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Anonymous
Racist.
[Post New]07/23/2014 23:22
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Anonymous
OP -- it's pretty standard in FCPS (and other schools) that the supplies are communal in the early grades. I guess they get tired of a few kids who can't keep track of their pencils or scissors, so they just keep them all in one place so everyone has access.

But, even in the later grades, it is standard practice to say "girls bring ______, and boys bring ____________." If they said "last name A-M" -- they would certainly get some yahoos who can't tell which of their names is the "last name" and need clarification. Splitting it by gender clears up any uncertainty in 99.99% of the cases.
[Post New]07/23/2014 23:47
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Anonymous
Gender balance depends on the makeup of the cohort. My son's K had 16 boys and 6 girls. It's not like they can shuffle kids between schools, they have to work with what they've got. In any case, I think it is a cute way to break up the supplies.
[Post New]07/24/2014 00:38
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:It's a shorthand way of saying "half the classs bring glue and gallon bags, half the class bring baby wiped and quart bags." They don't need a whole class worth of each of those.

...and I'm alarmed that you could not figure this out.

+1 this
[Post New]07/24/2014 00:55
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MommaRN
Member Offline
Anonymous wrote:It's a shorthand way of saying "half the classs bring glue and gallon bags, half the class bring baby wiped and quart bags." They don't need a whole class worth of each of those.

...and I'm alarmed that you could not figure this out.


OMG, amen a million times over...
[Post New]07/24/2014 00:56
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MommaRN
Member Offline
Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks. I didn't know they had communal supplies in kindergarten. When I was in kindergarten a few decades ago everyone had to bring their own supplies, and there was no communal anything. Thus why I didn't figure it out (to the PP who was alarmed that I couldn't figure this out -- sheesh). This is all new to me, as there is also no communal anything in my DCs' preschool either.

I also wasn't being sensitive to anything. I was simply curious.

Also, the logic isn't necessarily sound. If they really just want 50% of the class bringing some communal supplies, it doesn't follow that dividing the list by gender is the way to go. Classes are generally not evenly divided along gender lines, and often they are heavily weighted with more of one gender than the other.


Times have changed. Ask your friends. And it's not an exact science to get the class divided EXACTLY in half.
[Post New]07/24/2014 09:12
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:It's a shorthand way of saying "half the classs bring glue and gallon bags, half the class bring baby wiped and quart bags." They don't need a whole class worth of each of those.

...and I'm alarmed that you could not figure this out.


This.

I'm a teacher.
[Post New]07/25/2014 23:13
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Anonymous
Our elementary school has always done it this way. It seemed pretty self-explanatory to me, and I only have a Master's!
[Post New]07/26/2014 21:54
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Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks. I didn't know they had communal supplies in kindergarten. When I was in kindergarten a few decades ago everyone had to bring their own supplies, and there was no communal anything. Thus why I didn't figure it out (to the PP who was alarmed that I couldn't figure this out -- sheesh). This is all new to me, as there is also no communal anything in my DCs' preschool either.

I also wasn't being sensitive to anything. I was simply curious.

Also, the logic isn't necessarily sound. If they really just want 50% of the class bringing some communal supplies, it doesn't follow that dividing the list by gender is the way to go. Classes are generally not evenly divided along gender lines, and often they are heavily weighted with more of one gender than the other.


You really are out of it. The schools spend a lot of time constructing class lists so the gender balance is pretty equal.
Ha! My DD's class in FCPS had 18 girls and 8 boys last year.
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