Begging, Borrowing and.... School?

Its around that time again in America when the kidlets go back to school after having done pretty much nothing the whole summer. Bad news for me - I don’t have any children at school anymore, but my journey to work will be lengthened by at least 25 minutes. Parents here don’t walk. It seems like every child, no matter how close to the school they live, will get a lift from their parents who dutifully queue in their cars so their bundles of joy can be dropped exactly in front of the gate. It makes for a long journey to work, especially if you have to pass more than one school. And it doesn’t matter if it’s an infants school or a high school – its all the same!

Every year at this time the shops are just crazy with parents running around trying to get ready for the first day of school. Not only do you have to buy a whole new wardrobe because there are no uniforms unless you pay for your kids to go to a fancy schmancy private school, but you also have to buy school supplies! Now I was under the impression that America was one of the richest countries in the world, but apparently not rich enough to provide schools with what they need.

Not content with having you provide your own paper, pens, pencils, crayons, rulers, folders and sometimes even books, on that first day you get a "wish list" of what the teacher would like the class to bring in which can be anything from tissues to hand sanitizer. I’ve even heard of one school asking for copy paper and printer cartridges, which is a bit bloody cheeky if you ask me.

A bit cheeky?

Then, about a week later the fundraiser packets will start to arrive – sent home as ‘homework.’ Not content with the handouts for the teacher, you now have to raise money for the school, whether by selling magazine subscriptions, cookie dough or wrapping paper. Each child is expected to sell as much as possible. To top it off, they have an assembly where they are told if they sell a certain number of items or dollar amount, there will be prizes involved. Yes, prizes - talk about motivation! Not only that, they bring in the 'prizes' to show off so each child can really see what they’ll be missing out on if they don't sell anything. Mind control at it’s very best! (And yes, there was that one year I had to buy enough items myself so my daughter could become the proud owner of a Razor scooter).

Oh how I miss the English way of fundraising…. The wonderful school fete! Parents donate a tin of spaghetti hoops for the tombola and that’s the end of it. No begging your family to buy some really expensive wrapping paper they will never use or some overpriced piece of junk that looks good in a catalogue, but never works how it’s supposed to. 

But then again, as someone mentioned the other day – there are only thirteen (yes 13) weekends until Christmas…. Better get buying some pressies.

Hold on, I know someone with a kid who’s fundraising!!!! J

Nooo......

School Days

Just recently, well about two weeks ago, I was invited to join one of those groups on Facebook called “I Grew Up In and Around [YOUR TOWN HERE]” which seem to be popping up all over Facebook.  Okay, I thought, I’ll give it a go….Well, that was two weeks ago and as you can see by my blog posting lately, it has taken up most all of my waking hours.  Every couple of minutes I’m on there again, checking to see who’s posted and what they’ve been saying.  Looking at the other people posting on there, it’s been taking over their lives too.

The point of my discussion of this “timewasting” is that I’ve actually reconnected with school friends I haven’t seen or heard of in at least 30 years (yes, I’m that bloody old)… It’s amazing how the memories come flooding back and you remember the tiniest little things, with prompting from old friends.  The thing is, there are names on there that seem familiar, but I have no idea who they are.

Which (sort of) made me wish I had grown up in America.   Okay, calm down – I’m not saying I want to be American.  There are just things schools do here that we don’t in England, like:

 Year Books

My daughter's in there - somewhere!!

When my children were in school, they would come home every year, no matter what grade they were in and ask to buy a year book.  I would always tell them “No, you will be seeing those kids next term.”  I did relent when they left Intermediate School to go to High School and they also got one in High School…. The problem was they were at least $120 and from what I could see, all they contained were photographs of activities during the school year and a picture of each child and what class they were in.  Then on the last day of term, they would get ruined by everyone collecting autographs and scribbling notes for each other.  What a waste of money I thought at the time.
 

Prom - An expensive evening

Prom

Yeah, Prom is basically a school disco, but on a much bigger scale including extremely (in my experience) expensive dresses and limos.  But I’ve noticed what it is designed to do is to give the seniors a good send off out into their lives.  Everyone is there and they all get to say goodbye to each other.

Graduation

Graduation is a big deal, even in High School.  Caps and Gowns and of course, a new outfit underneath just so you can walk across the field to get your diploma.  I’m not really sure what the diploma is for, it doesn’t enable you to get a job as you haven’t taken any exams to get it (but that would be a whole other blog discussion).

When I left school we did our exams at the end of term (O levels, A levels and the like) and once they were finished we didn’t go back, or look back – we went out and got a job!  There wasn't any big hoorah or even a goodbye from the school.

High School Reunions

People I work with talk about going to the school reunions.  They seem to be every 10, 20, 25, 30 years – I even know one lady who is planning on attending her 60^th school reunion!  Can you imagine how many people will be at that one?  I’ve often wondered how the planners know where you live.  What a great thing – getting to see all your friends again!

 

But getting back to my original thought.  There are so many names I recognize in that Facebook group that I just wish I had a Year Book so I could put a face to a name.  I still might not know who the heck they are, but at least I could use it to try and jog my memory.

 

And it looks like there might be an actual reunion in the works!  Whoo hoo - now we too can all go and judge our school friends and pretend we are something we aren’t – which I have been told is what really happens at such events. 

I don’t know why anyone would want to judge me though, I just grew up into a tanned, blue eyed, California blonde!!!  J

What Does that Mean?

A Close Call

A few weeks after he started school, my son came home with a note that makeup photos would be taken the next week. That’s a bit odd, thought I, why would you have school photographs taken in makeup? Presumably this was a uniquely American thing schools did for a bit of fun. I was imagining him having a painted clown face or some such weird looking get up. He told me he didn’t want to participate and wouldn’t be going to school with any makeup that day.

Well – that was a close shave. It turned out “makeup” day was actually for all those children who had missed having their photos taken a few weeks before. Ahhh… it was a second chance to have get them taken. Bloody hell, I would never have heard the end of it if I had made him go to school with a painted face.

It's the Accent

When she was in First Grade my daughter told us she had to do a kern event report. I had absolutely no idea what that was and it was before the internet, so it wasn’t as if we could Google “Kern Event.” We went round and round trying to figure out what she needed to do. “It’s in the newspaper” she kept crying – “I need to get the kern event from the newspaper!” “Are you sure that’s what they said?” I asked her. “It wasn’t something else?” “No, no a kern event!” Oh, what to do – I was a bit flummoxed, to say the least.

My son walked into the middle of the conversation… “Stupid Girl” he says “It’s a current event .. C-U-R-R-E-N-T.. that's the way they say it” (don’t you just love big brothers?) Well, okay, that made sense, except she wouldn’t believe us. Bless, she was only 6 and didn’t understand the teacher’s accent.

These were a few years back, but it’s funny how that language barrier can catch you out now and again, just when I think I’ve got it handled, I’m thrown into a tizzy by a word I’ve never heard or which is pronounced differently.

Be My Guest

I was recently asked to do a guest blog for http://ukdesperatehousewifeusa.com.  I had contacted Claire to let her know how much I liked her blog and how I had been through the same learning curve - although it seems like ages ago now. 

I'm loving the stories about her son and can remember quite clearly when my son, after his first day in Third Grade, came home and disgustedly informed me he didn't want to go to school here because "They can't even find England on a map"

Oh joy!

Oh, there we are!