Anonymous wrote:I am a HS math teacher. I teach at a suburban school. Every day I have students coming to class without pens and pencils some do not even carry backpacks. They waste valuable time going around the room to borrow supplies from me or other students. These very same students will have phones, iPods and expensive shoes. I am always buying pens, pencils, tissue and hand sanitizer with my own money and very rarely does a parent send in any of these items. I request them at the beginning of the year and throughout the year. Why do so many parents not care about their kids having basic items for school, but will work two jobs to pay for a phone or expensive shoes? As a parent and a teacher, it really upsets me!

Or the parents are proviidng what the need and the kids only keep track of what they want ;0

I have a kid in a suburban HS and there has never been any kind of request for parents to supply anything in the classrooms. My kid is in 7 different classrooms during the day and it has never come up in 4 years of HS. Not mentioned at back to school night, not mentioned anywhere. I know if the request was made at our HS you'd be literally swimming in kleenex and pencils.

I also know my kid does actually have a well stocked backpack with tissues (chronic sinus infection and allergies so is ALWAYS stocked), pencils and paper so is not the problem, but I suppose it's possible that some some of his classmates aren't always prepared.

OP have you made the request to parents? That might be more effective than posting here. What school/jurisdiction are you in? If it is our school I am sure I can organize 100's of tissue boxes for you by the end of the week.

Anonymous wrote:Hand sanitizer? WTF?

What teenage male is wandering around a classroom asking to borrow hand sanitizer? I find that one a little hard to believe.

And frankly, if my son shows up in class without pencils, it's not because we don't have tons of them at home. But as a PP noted, I stopped packing his stuff for him about 8 grades ago.

Not the OP, but another high school teacher. I actually keep the hand sanitizer I bought behind my desk because students, mostly boys, were using it ALL the time. For some it is an excuse to get out of their seats, some like to "sniff" the alcohol, and others were just trying to keep healthy. I still let students use it, but they have to ask first.

Hand sanitizer? WTF?

What teenage male is wandering around a classroom asking to borrow hand sanitizer? I find that one a little hard to believe.

And frankly, if my son shows up in class without pencils, it's not because we don't have tons of them at home. But as a PP noted, I stopped packing his stuff for him about 8 grades ago.

Dear HS math teacher. Have you considered that letting your students wander around the school and waste the first 20 minutes of your class "looking" for a pencil might be EXACTLY what they're looking for? What are the repurcussions for not coming prepared? This is what we parents are trying to teach our kids.

I noticed in college that the males were the ones who borrowed supplies the most. They always managed to find a doormat female to lend them supplies.

Please know that this is not ALL students! Many of my kids are prepared. I am speaking to that other group of parents (you know who you are) who just do not care or think it is my responsibility to supply their kids with everything. One kid even told me his mom said " I pay enough in taxes, I do not need to supply anything else" I do have a box of pens and pencils that I use to lend to students, but with classes so large, it is becoming a challenge to get them all back or have any that work at all. Also, I am trying to prepare students for college and the real world and I feel that I am not helping them if I keep allowing them to rely on me for basic supplies.

Anonymous wrote:I can't speak on other schools, but we are not allowed to send home list in the summer. I can request items on my syllabus and at Back to School Night. I only request the basics. We even supply graphing calculators! I am talking about pens, pencils, paper and classroom tissue/ sanitizer. It annoys me. I have even stopped supplying thinking it would force parents to supply these items...nope!

Yeah, that sounds like it'll work. Because a parent -- who is not in your classroom during the day -- will then surely intuit thru teh ether that you do not have pens, pencils, paper, and classroom tissue/sanitizer in your classroom.

Dear Teacher: Please know that there's no school supply that can't be found at our house. But I stopped packing the kids' back packs when they were in 1st grade so i cant be sure the pencil makes it to school. I trying to help them be self-sufficient. If you send a note/email that says you need additional supplies, I promise you I'd send some in.

I can't speak on other schools, but we are not allowed to send home list in the summer. I can request items on my syllabus and at Back to School Night. I only request the basics. We even supply graphing calculators! I am talking about pens, pencils, paper and classroom tissue/ sanitizer. It annoys me. I have even stopped supplying thinking it would force parents to supply these items...nope!

Can you just keep a supply in your room that you collect each day? Then they don't need to keep bringing these. I only have elementary age kids and this is how it's done there.

I think the kids don't have pens and pencils because they are disorganized, leave them everwhere and won't clean up after themselves. Not because their parents are depriving them.

When I was in school a teacher once carved our initials into a pencil per kid. The kids who could return the pencil at the end of the semester got a prize. Totally worked.

OP, I have a hunch it's not the parents' faults. It's the dumb kids who are forgetting/losing/not keeping track of/leaving them in their lockers/etc. their notebooks/pens/pencils/etc. The dubm high schoolers are probably paying more attn. to where their Iphones/Ipods/etc. are than the "boring" ol' pens and pencils.

Just a thought. . .

Ok--I am not a parent of a high schooler so I am not your target. But I am confused and I do have small kids that will soon enter the public school system so I am going to ask a question and suggest a reason for the issue you are facing.

First I will give some background. When I grew up, we were given a list of things to buy before school started. In high school, the list was not paste and glue sticks but it was things like protractors, compasses, etc.

I understand from many parents that in addition to the personal supplies list, each child is required to provide a bunch of other things for the classroom to use. My friends have elementary school kids so that is my frame of reference but I recall they were asked to buy something like 25 glue sticks and 20 boxes of crayons. So--my question for you is what do you tell the parents to send their children to school with--what does the supplies list say? I ask because if I am told (as a parent) each year to send my kids to school with certain personal items AND also am required to supply the classroom with certain items, I will do that if I am asked but if I am not asked, I am going to assume that the school is providing it. Do you see what I am saying?

Yes, common sense would tell me that I should send my kid to school with pencils and pens but common sense DOES NOT tell me that I should send my elementary school aged kid to school fully equipped with his/her personal stuff AND also 25 glue sticks. So you cannot expect parents to rely on common sense anymore. You need to tell them what you want and expect.

I am a HS math teacher. I teach at a suburban school. Every day I have students coming to class without pens and pencils some do not even carry backpacks. They waste valuable time going around the room to borrow supplies from me or other students. These very same students will have phones, iPods and expensive shoes. I am always buying pens, pencils, tissue and hand sanitizer with my own money and very rarely does a parent send in any of these items. I request them at the beginning of the year and throughout the year. Why do so many parents not care about their kids having basic items for school, but will work two jobs to pay for a phone or expensive shoes? As a parent and a teacher, it really upsets me!