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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Parents should pay for exercise books

112 replies

DorothyL · 13/05/2015 21:26

I know in the US and Germany, and probably other countries, parents are handed a stationery list before the beginning of the academic year - nobody has a problem with it. It would make such a difference to school budgets, and when students leave page after page blank etc (which they do!) they would not be wasting school money.

OP posts:

EustaciaBenson · 13/05/2015 23:05

I dont have children and I would prefer to pay extra in my taxes for children to be able to have school books than live in a country where the poorest don't get as good an education because they are ashamed they don't have the right equipment because their parents cant afford it.

SunshineBossaNova · 13/05/2015 23:59

YABU. I'd have been that child without a notebook.

I don't have kids, and don't begrudge a tiny extra of my taxes to help children have the basics for school.

MrsTerryPratchett · 14/05/2015 00:08

I live in a country where we buy our own supplies. I have to buy, at a cost of time and money, supplies for DD. Then I have to give money or supplies to a 'fill a bag' charity so that the children without supplies don't end up disadvantaged at school.

Just tax me more and give every child the same, please...

EvilTendency1 · 14/05/2015 00:15

No issue here, I would happily pay for exercise books and stationery etc.

MagicMojito · 14/05/2015 00:53

Slight tangent here but nothing used to beat going into stationary box at the end of August and buying all your bits ready for the new school year
Fruity scented mini highlighters
Big fluffy luminous pencil case
Fruity scented gel pens
Little protractor kit
A GIANT rubber!

No to purchasing school books too though!

ComposHatComesBack · 14/05/2015 00:59

I am child free by choice. I don't resent a penny spent on exercise books.

Trident, subsidising employers to pay crap wages and winter fuel allowance for wealthy pensioners who spend the winter in Spain - yes. Books- No.

MidniteScribbler · 14/05/2015 01:11

I'd rather have a system where it is all supplied. We do a 'book pack' which is all of the exercise books, pens, etc that are needed for the year, but there is always some parent who do not buy it. Guess who then pays for the supplies? Yup, me. I'd rather schools were funded so that enough supplies were available for all students, and not need to be paid for from the teacher's own pocket.

PerspicaciaTick · 14/05/2015 01:11

My infant school had a glorious stationery cupboard, it was my special treat to be allowed to go and tidy it up. Climbing up to the top shelves. I spent days at a time in there. Bliss.

Pennybubbly · 14/05/2015 05:36

I live in a country where this happens. I have to buy all exercise books, stationery and text books (and lunches) for my 2 elementary school aged DC.
They aren't allowed to take fancy pencil cases, scented pens etc. I don't live in a rich part of the city and it is a state elementary school with mostly one parent only working families.
Yet it works. Never heard of a child not bringing the stuff. Never heard of a parent challenging the rule. It just happens.

NRomanoff · 14/05/2015 05:56

I don't think they should. I can afford to, so that's not my issue. But I grew up in a single parent family. And this would have broke my mum. As an aside we pay a monthly direct debit to donate to our school, so in essence I am paying towards things. Entirely my choice and quite a few parents do. Its our school we do it to benefit all kids in the school not just our own.

Even if we bought our kids stationary, then extra to donate so kids on lower incomes could afford it. No one wants to be kid that has it donated when most others parents buy it. We say that people are feel ashamed going to food banks, kids wouldn't like have to be the one using the Stationary bank.

As for why should the childless by choice crap.....that's what happens with taxes. We all out into the pot and some people need to take more out than others. Why are children less deserving?

owlborn · 14/05/2015 05:57

I think it's an awful idea and would absolutely stigmatise and disadvantage the most vulnerable children in any school.

I'll just pay more tax.

TheMustard · 14/05/2015 06:07

As a secondary teacher, I disagree. There would be children even now, in the third term, whose parents STILL wouldn't have bothered setting them up with an exercise book; far easier that I just equip them at the start of the year. I keep spare notepads in my room for my sixth formers (who don't get exercise books at our school) who can't provide their own, though at my own personal cost.

I have them fill in all blank pages before they get a new book- I don't much care if that means the work is out of chronological order! No new book until they have shown me that they've used the first one prudently.

What I DO begrudge is constant pen handing out for the kids who haven't brought a pen to school... That one does irritate me! I buy one box of black pens at the start of the year, and that's it. It usually lasts the first week or so, then I run out. But I'm not buying new pens all year, as the cost would REALLY add up for me! It's really not so hard to check that your child has at least one pen, hopefully a couple of spares, at the start of the day. Every household has a few pens knocking about.

SavoyCabbage · 14/05/2015 06:15

They do this where I live and I hate it. Every child owning its own glue stick and having to say 'sorry Jeremy, you do t have any glue sticks left in your box'.

My 11 year old sits next to a boy who has nothing stationery wise. So if the teacher asks them to highlight nouns in the passage, he has to borrow a highlighter.

I once taught in a school with a woman's refuge in its catchment. When I photocopied some maths book for a little boy the other teachers were astounded.

Littlemonstersrule · 14/05/2015 07:16

Awful idea, we'd end up subsidising more children than those that would actually pay. You see posts on here all the time moanins schools have dated put on a mufti day or arranged a day trip.

It would be far better to scrap free meals and let schools use the money for resources. If a parent can't or won't give their child lunch then social services need to step in.

mommy2ash · 14/05/2015 07:42

We get a book and stationary list at the end of each school year. There is also a school fee of 165 euros per year. People just tend to get on with it as it is normal here

Mistigri · 14/05/2015 07:57

It's undoubtedly more efficient and more egalitarian for schools to bulk-buy stationery and hand it out. The reason it doesn't work like that here is because of the way school financing is split between the state (teachers) and local authorities (everything else). Poorer parents get a generous grant though.

I imagine that you still have to buy pens, calculators, geometry tools etc in the UK? I find those a lot more expensive than exercise books.

And how do very poor families manage uniform costs, especially in those schools which have gratuitous expensive items on the list (I have a friend in Norfolk, in a relatively deprived area, whose children attend an academy where a new school uniform including the special PE kit will set you back the best part of £400 per child).

Seeingthebeautyineveryminute · 14/05/2015 08:20

Theknack It's like saying why should your taxes contribute to cancer treatment if you've never had cancer.

Royalsighness · 14/05/2015 08:47

It's a shame you are saying this. My parents wouldn't have paid for them for me, I never had a pencil case, usually didn't have a pen and had to ask the teacher for one which was embarrassing. Usually didn't have lunch money either, if I didn't have books then I would have just not gone to school all together out of sheer embarrassment.

Don't think that because you are comfortable enough to afford something that the same applies to everyone else, a lot of people don't care about their kids education and would rather spend the money on something else.

And as for "why should thr childless by choice pay for books" blah blah blah, why should my children pay tax to pay for YOUR future healthcare and pension? People paid for your books love, are you going to give them a refund?

The audacity of some people on this website.

Royalsighness · 14/05/2015 08:51

Even when I started college I had to save 2 months of EMA for my kit and uniform, I couldn't participate in practical lessons until I had my kit and uniform, nearly got kicked off the course. Now they have scrapped EMA what happens to the kids that are like I was? Do they just not go to college?

Original poster

DorothyL · 14/05/2015 08:52

I think it's probably something that will have to stay as it is because that's what people are used to in this country. In my home country people are used to supplying stationery and it's not an issue, just because that's what's always happened.

OP posts:

iklboo · 14/05/2015 08:54

Where are you from OP (genuine question!!)

HamishBamish · 14/05/2015 09:11

I would happily pay more tax to ensure all school children had the stationary they need. A state education should be able to provide everything children need directly, without having to rely on parents.

HamishBamish · 14/05/2015 09:13

Exactly!

Lioncubnotbabycherub · 14/05/2015 09:17

theknack the thread has moved on but it looks like we were saying the same thing. I said it rather clumsily myself

Superlovely · 14/05/2015 09:18

As a teacher I would have thought that the price per book is much cheaper if bought in large quantities, whereas asking each parent to go to a stationery shop and buy individual books will be more expensive.
In the past we have used PTA money to buy books so the parents are still donating but every child has the same.

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