To think school shouldn’t insist that everyone wears a poppy and donates £1

[moonlightholly]

It’s supposedly in a deprived area too - there are constant reminders of the high percentage of pupils with PP.

Also, I don’t think a school should insist everyone wears a poppy - or AIBU?

People who are against remembering are a fucking disgrace.

The point below is good though. It also drives me mad that BBC presenters all have to do it or face the consequences, but are not allowed to wear badges supporting other charities.
More generally I am against schools pushing children and their families into supporting any charity. Charitable giving is a personal matter and pressure should not be applied.

I only pay the school donations when I can.

Schools forget that it's never just a £1.it all adds up and some people just can't waste the pound.

As for poppy wearing. It's a donation when you buy it so that's fair enough and it think it should be worn anyway.

Our armed services do a lot for us to keep us safe and give up a large chunk of their life to do it.

And £1 isn't a lot. What can you buy with £1?

Wow.

Two tins of value beans and a loaf of white bread from Aldi. An Iceland thin and crispy double pepperoni. A week's worth of milk for the toddler, several supermarkets. Stock cubes plus enough onions and carrots to make soup from Aldi.

Are but I'm sure you'd be happy for someone else's child give their life in pursuit of your own freedoms though.....WW1 and 2 might have been a senseless waste of millions of lives but poppies remember their sacrifice

The poppy isn't a political agenda it's REMEMBRANCE

But I do agree £1 is a bit steep and should be whatever you can afford

The poppy isn't a political agenda it's REMEMBRANCE

You can remember without wearing a poppy.

Why do you have to pay to a specific charity to remember?

If how you're describing it OP is true and the head really said that, that's out of order and actually completely contradicts why we wear a poppy.

I say this as an ex military brat whose father did 23 years in the Royal Signals and grandad was on Gold Beach. I wear a poppy every year (until like others have said, I lose it ) and watch the remembrance parade on tv, sobbing like a baby when the bugle plays The Last Post.

My grandad and his mates didn't go through hell on that beach so some numpty who probably has no idea about war, could force little kids to pay for a poppy.

BTW I love the idea of making their own and recycling

It’s interesting that all the focus seems to be on WW2, totally ignoring the Majority of servicemen being supported must surely have been injured in Iraq/Afghanistan/etc? Is it because it’s easier to be that bit further away from the reality?

People saying it's not political don't make it so, I'm afraid. Poppy wearing is and will continue to be political, for as long as the RBL themselves specifically associate it with remembrance of only one group affected by war. And while people continue to insist that not wearing one means not remembering or respecting, and conflate it with support for the armed forces.

I don't wear a poppy and i am anti military forces (especially the British ones)

Call me a fucking disgrace all you like but I wonder if you ever had a thought for the many that were brutalized, raped and killed while the British plundered their way to an empire?

Or the people still alive today in the 'commonwealth' who endure conciliatory visits from royals who serve to gently remind them where their place really is.

The glorification of state sanctioned murder is the real disgrace.
And I genuinely cannot believe I've just read a pp defending the use of atomic bombs.
Utterly heinous.

We never want it to happen again.

But you do realise it never stopped don’t you? It is happening again, right now whilst we tap our responses on this thread it is happening. So what are we trying to teach exactly because it as sure as hell isn't ‘this must never happen again’. Or is it that we should only care about and remember specific things such as WWI and WWII and only the polished versions that are force fed to us through the media and schools?

I often find those so vocal about wearing poppies are also the same people that have very strong views against the refugee crisis and always harp on about the good old days when we all pulled together ‘during the war’. It may be a huge generalisation but unfortunately it’s my increasing experience. The thick of RBL aside, the whole thing is being commandeered by a whole other agenda and frankly, it’s a move Hitler would be proud of.

My daughters’ private school tried to do this a couple of years ago.

My elder dd had a (Catholic) friend from Northern Ireland who refused outright, and wrote a three page complaint to the headmistress, detailing all of the murders of unarmed civilians committed by British soldiers in Northern Ireland.

*ethics

I don’t wear a poppy (it’s not the done thing where I am from unless you are from a military family/in the military). I am also fair anti war (obviously accepting that sometimes a country has no other choice but to fight). However, I do not deem the poppy offensive in any way and I definitely don’t think it’s pro war or pro-militarisation in any way. I appreciate that in Britain the attitudes towards the army are quite different to where I grew up but even here I really do think that armistice day is about honouring the dead. I don’t understand why some people are so hell bent of finding fault with it? Are you just eager to prove that you are sufficiently anti-establishment or something?

but poppies remember their sacrifice

People remember, poppies are a thing people sometimes choose to wear to show they are remembering.

The school should not insist upon this, no. Some families can't afford this. It will not be the only request for money either. Donate to the Christmas fair. Christmas jumper day. Money for resources. Money to improve the playground. Own clothes day. Children in Need.

The debate over poppies is increasingly politicised. I'm contrary by nature and despite buying one every year from about the age of 11, I'm pretty disgusted by the rhetoric of the debate recently and didn't buy one for a few years. People's choice not to buy or wear one doesn't harm others, so why judge them?

Pretty intrigued by the couple of posters saying WW1 was unjustified but WW2 was just. For many living in 1914, defending France and Belgium was just as important as defending France and Belgium in 1940. All wars are horrific though.

Firstly, obviously not ok to try and shame anyone whether they can afford it or not. Some people genuinely can't and there are so many charities asking for donations that you have to choose. Separate to the money issue is also as has been explained very clearly on this thread the reasons for wearing a poppy. The RBL recently changed what their interpretation of wearing a poppy means. Some people who wore them for WW1 and WW2 veterans stopped when the focus shifted to more recent wars, and as people mentioned, Ireland. The RBL then included casualties of war and now more recently victims of terrorism. This hasn't been publicised much however and I am sure there are other ways to remember civilian casualties of war and terrorism. Making people feel bad for not wearing a poppy or donating however is absolutely not on and there are other ways to support whatever bit of the cause appeals to make sure your money ends up where you want it to be.

But that’s kind of the point @Velveteenfruitbowl. People taking offence to someone wearing a poppy don’t exist. Read back through the thread, not one person has expressed taking offence to the poppy being worn. All you’ll see here is people explaining why they don’t wear a poppy and expressing their right to choice. People however, do take offence to the poppy not being worn.

YANBU that’s not what charity is about. I think educating children about war, and what happens and what generations before them have sacrificed for others is most important. Insisting that people donate to a certain cause, any cause, is misguided and has a certain irony that makes me given what this charity stands for.

I wear a poppy btw and observe the 2 minutes silence I’d feel this way if it any other charitable cause including ones I feel even more passionate about.

The assumption that people wearing a poppy are necessarily doing any remembering when they do it needs questioning anyway.

I don't agree with the donation being so prescriptive but do believe that Remembrance day should be noted by schools. It's interesting how so many of the posts relate only to the world wars.While they're obviously significant to me, recent conflict and wars are also remembered and the survivors supported through the funds raised. We were staying in Fermanagh one year and attended the remembrance service.It's something my children never forgot, the poignancy of the event and seeing the relatives of those who died in the poppy day bomb there in tears was shocking.You don't have to applaud the massacre of the world wars or recent conflicts to be able to stand and remember those who died.

This is also an issue for me

news.sky.com/story/amp/military-charities-sit-on-3-1bn-while-veterans-struggle-11844999

Why is being ‘that parent’ something to be dreaded?

I think it’s wrong. That will now bring donations since the start of the year to £10. And children in need, Christmas, comic relief, still to come.

What do people who are “anti military” think we should have instead?

We will never be in a position where no country has an armed forces?

That’s absolutely unrealistic - and won’t happen.

PineappleLumps, why do you think your opinion on this is more valid than that of men like my father who actually fought and lost close relatives in that war, and who had no time whatsoever for the concept that failing to pin a badge on was showing him and his brothers and comrades disrespect?