to think we shouldn't have to buy the set book for GCSE English Lit?

[chomalungma]

We have been asked to buy the book that DS is currently studying for GCSE Eng Lit.

Yes - I can afford it. But that's not the point. There are many families who are on tight budgets. Apparently other subjects require the parents to buy equipment as well.

English is a compulsory GCSE. The school should have sets available to read.

I know that schools are on very tight budgets. I am not blaming the school at all. It's not an academy.

I blame the Conservative party. I hope people remember these cuts and the effect they have had on their children for the last 10 years when it comes to the election.

Books are NOT a massive waste of money.

DD1 English department is providing photocopies for them to annoate.

We have had to buy a text book for one of the science subjects and the department asked that we buy the revsion guides as well. I'm still expecting more requests TBH.

My parents always said the Tory council we grew up under in 80s and 90s was particularly mean - they were expected to providing pens and pencils and paper in primary school they had to buy a lot of stuff for secondary - even before GCSE.

We didn't have to provide things till secondary nor buy books till GCSE so TBH I think we've got of lightly.

Books are NOT a massive waste of money

Books are NEVER a waste of money - apart from ones written by Jeffrey Archer and all those awful autobiographies of people who became famous last week and no one will remember next year.

And even then they burn just as well as any other book so may well save something a bit more interesting from going on the fire on a cold winter's night.

So who should pay. Things like this show why the uk system is fucked. Everybody wants everything for nothing.

I agree with this

I’m 38 and we had to buy our copies. I find it surprising people expect everything for free nowadays. It was only a small expense but I would never have thought to complain. We also bought our own scientific calculators for maths.

Oh and I had a Saturday job from the age of 14, I bought my own books.

You can't blame the current government for this - it's been happening since I was a kid in the 60's and probably when my parents were at school .

I've never understood this sentiment. Where I'm from, parents are expected to buy everything - stationery, textbooks, exercise books, art equipment. You name it, they needed to provide it. Textbooks were, on average, £20 - per subject.

Funnily enough, there were never any issues with willingly-broken equipment (including calculators with buttons ripped off), swear words scrawled across textbooks, pages ripped out and discarded pens and pencils like I see in UK schools every day.

Priorities here are all wrong.

So who should pay. Things like this show why the uk system is fucked. Everybody wants everything for nothing.

A thousand times this. Posts like this make me angry.

It's a book, ffs, tell me the title and I bet you I could find it new for under a fiver, and second hand for either free or for a pound or two.

Do people not remember doing gcse English lit, you're meant to really understand the text so you need to annotate it and make notes by key sections. How much more would it cost the school if it had to buy new texts for kids each year so they could do this.

When the op had kids, did they actually expect the government to provide everything?

Please can people like the op take some responsibility for making the decision to have a child.

We had to buy our own books for annotating for A-Level in the early 90s.

Exactly what @Atropa said.

Throughout every day students arrive to classes without so much as a pen. They expect teachers to provide everything. Their parents don't see the big deal with them not having equipment. Not having equipment in a lesson is a massive disruption. And when it is lent to them, some with just break it for fun. The attitude is appalling.

I had to buy mine in the late 90s (when labour was in power....)

A thousand times this. Posts like this make me angry

With due respect - HAVE YOU READ THE THREAD AND ANY OF THE UPDATES?

And breathe......

A thousand times this. Posts like this make me angry

With due respect - HAVE YOU READ THE THREAD AND ANY OF THE UPDATES?

And breathe......

Yep, my point still stands, you haven't said anything which makes me think that you don't think the school should provide your kid with the book, which I disagree with.

As for the idea of giving a kid a second hand book one or more more kids have already annotated, how utterly ridiculous, when the idea of annotation is meant to be encouraging your kid's independent thought and interpretation of text. But difficult to do that when someone else has already done it.

I did English Lit O level and A level in the eighties and we all had new books every year.......

I totally agree with you OP - set texts should be provided free of charge, and schools and colleges should have far healthier budgets.

I guess you mean where you said that you objected on the basis that it was wasteful? I don't think it's a terribly compelling point.

Ds 15 has brought home a list of revision guides that we have to buy for his GCSE revision, they add up to over £200, I wish I only had to worry over buying just one book.