Originally published at: In "demeaning" competition, teachers scramble to scoop up dollar bills for school supplies | Boing Boing
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$5000!? Asking teacher to throw away their dignity to what amounts to a chump change shows how stingy the sponsors are.
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This feels like something straight out of Idiocracy. Game shows are great, when they’re not mandatory to scrape together enough cash to meet students’ basic educational needs because your country places schools dead last in its priorities.
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This is so totally gross.
Not only are the teachers forced to demean themselves for the “privilege” of having basic supplies paid for from somewhere other than their meager salaries, they also need to compete against each other so some of them will have more or better supplies?
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Betsy DeVos is looking at this and saying “Why didn’t I think of that in 2017!!?”
But seriously not just the US. I am in Canada where by most accounts we have a better funded public education system, yet teachers at my kids’ schools need to invest a significant amount of time into fundraising basics for their classrooms. I just don’t get it.
By not taking advantage of economies of scale, the state ends up making everything more expensive - by which I mean the state can negotiate a better price on things from suppliers than individual teachers paying retail prices. Aside from the ethical problems, it is also a terribly inefficient system.
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The money was donated by CU Mortgage Direct,
They should do the same thing for the executive bonuses, since it is such a fun event.
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I was thinking the same thing. I’m all for making four-star generals scrabble for dollar bills in a hockey rink to fund the military. But schools and hospitals should be funded fully so that they never have to stoop to this.
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Crying out for corrective, collective action comrade.
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Demeaning, yes, but it can always be worse. Who remembers Terry Southern’s fine, fine ‘The Magic Christian’ ? I don’t know if the movie had the shit-money-scramble but the book blazed that into my memory.
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Education funding should be an “above the line” expense alongside universal healthcare. It’s not like the US can’t afford it. This is the proposed 2022 budget, which actually reduces the overall percentage of military expenditure (but not the dollar amt.) and it’s still insane.
Edited to complete the thought.
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You really should also post the non-discretionary spending as well when showing the budget. I mean yeah, the military budget is too big. But you get a more complete look with both spending graphs.
But also, the STATES are who are mainly in charge of education and make up the bulk of the overall education budget of the US. Though, yes, it needs to be higher in most if not all places.
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Many years ago I think they had these money scramble competitions for students-- sell the most trinkets-- spend x minutes in a tube grabbing cash.
I’d be horrible at this, not least because security would whisk me away for pretending to be a teacher without a license, but because I’m physically infirm. I gather there are at least some real teachers who are similarly uncoordinated.
Provide a decent subsidy for supplies please!
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It might be less demeaning than having to go to a school board meeting.
School Board Member: “We can fit your request for more supplies on the agenda between the woman who became magnetic after getting the vaccine and the guy who stopped wearing masks because it was turning him into a critical race theorist.”
Teacher: “Which way to the hockey rink?”
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Non-American here … this is a joke, right? Some kind of satire that just whooshed right past me?
… right?
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Yeah, exactly. Not only is this some dystopian shit, that money is being divided up between, what, nine or ten teachers? They’ll be lucky to get $500, which sure as heck doesn’t go very far.
Now that, that I would fucking watch with pleasure. We could really expand that one. “Sorry Bobby Kotick, your take home pay is only what you can carry in $1 bills! I don’t think you’re going to manage the $154 million you were hoping for!”
The Aristocrats! America!
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So do you, you sack of shit, so do you.
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How much did it cost to rent the rink?
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Yeah, I just couldn’t find a complete pie chart.
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