To hate dd school giving prizes out to people who sells most raffle tickets?

[Lovesdogsandcats]

I HATE it. Every year the school sends them home with raffle tickets, and I never let her go round flogging them to neighbours and such as it pisses me right off when door knockers come here doing the same.

So, consequently she is never in the running to get a 'prize' and wouldn't do even if I let her sell them, because some kids sell LOTS (their parents take them in work etc).

But surely prizes are for achievement? What have the 'winners' personally achieved? And it is not a fair scheme because some people could never win due to the lack of people they know to sell to.

God it pisses me RIGHT off!

YANBU - it would drive me nuts too.

YANBU

This pisses me off too. I've also come across prizes for the most sponsorship money raised ...... which turns an event presumably designed to raise kids' awareness of a particular charity, and how it's good to help others, from an exercise in thinking about others less fortunate, into being all about how YOU can personally benefit.

The schools must know this, and I think it's an extremely cynical move on their part, because they know damn well that there are always a few "competitive parents" who are so determined that their precious spoilt brat offspring "wins" the prize, that they will bump up sales/sponsorship from their own pocket ....... and of course, inevitably, the people in a position to do that are the better off families. This sort of thing leaves a real nasty taste in my mouth.

tis crap, but par for the course, ime.

lots of the charities that ask children/schools to help them with fundraising have very slick marketing too.

we even stopped doing sponsored walks for the WWF because of the long list of prizes you could get if you raised certain amounts.

it dilutes the message that sometimes it is good just to help out, with no expectation of a reward.

charity is big business.

Mine have just resigned themselves to not getting the prize because I won't let them pester people. However you can't blame the school or charity-the one aim is to raise as much money as possible.

YANBU. They did this in my day too. It was always the same children that won. They always had a billion aunties and their mum ran a hairdressers (or similar) and bullied all her clients into buying one.

YANBU find it appalling that the school do this. I understand they want to raise ufnds but this is wrong. Write to the Head

Presumably, though, the funds are for the school, which your child will benefit from? Personally, I always purchase for myself and DH, and stop at that. I let someone else bend over backwards to (or get other to) throw their money in the hat, and help out by giving my time instead.

AIBU not to understand why you are bothered?

What the "winners" have achieved is that they have put in a lot of effort and sold a lot of tickets. Maybe the ones who win aren't any good at the other stuff but they can win at that.

Fair enough some kids don't know enough people with a spare one pound who will buy some tickets and that might be unfair but it's hardly the unfairest thing in a very unfair world.

I would never be in the running to win something like that (can't be bothered) but good for someone who can, surely?

We had that with Xmas cards too. The kind that the children draw themselves, then they cost £6.50 per pack and a percentage of that goes to school funds. I think it's the card company that gives the prize to the child in the school who sells the most - on the assumption that every member of your family wants to buy and send them plus all your friends and neighbours. Oh, and that there's only one child in the family.

YANBU. I think it's terrible.

I object on principle to any attempts to use the children for fundraising and refuse to let me children participate. I also write nasty letters to the school about it. Their excuse is that they need the money. Maybe they should just sell their own bodies instead of using my kids. It makes me feel like I am watching the gypsies who beg with babies in their arms and pinch them to make them to cry to get more money. Except it's my kids getting pinched. There are plenty of ways to raise money (and believe me they do them all) that don't involve using my children.

I hate it too. We do a prize for the one who raises the most sponsor money. yuck!

hate it

same girl in dd's class always wins.

The raffle thing to raise money for the school, with £100 winners prize etc, I do not object to. If people want to raise money for the school, that is fine.

What I object to is a prize given for most tickets raised.

Its not like kids know how many they have to sell to be a winner.

I havent read all the responses but my dc's school sports days are always non competitive so WTF are we encouraging competition with raffle tickets sales?

Also, why do schools have cake sales when they are always bloody banging on about healthy eathing? hmmmm...

I also kind of wonder...what if the mums who do all the fundraising, spent the equivalent time at jobs earning money and then donated that money to the school instead.....I have a sneaking suspicion that it would come out to more than the fundraising.

I disagree Margo&jerry ....... the "winners" in these sorts of things have almost certainly NOT put in a lot of effort to sell the most tickets or raise the most money.

Either they come from a big family and/or have parents with a large social circle, or, more likely, they have parents who are well-off enough to buy up loads of tickets themselves or make large sponsorship pledges. What "effort" does either of those scenarios involve ? .....

.... alternatively, the only effort I can think of in selling lots of tickets is by random, cold-calling, which is hardly a very responsible thing to encourage and is extremely unlikely to apply to primary children (unless, I suppose, they were accompanied).

Yes .... the end result is that the school/charity get the money but does anyone really think that the "winner" will be really pleased at having contributed needed funds, or primarily pre-occupied with their prize ? This thing cancels out the whole point of charity and helping others ....... as Oomphreycushion said, how do you teach kids that the pleasure comes from helping itself, NOT from the reward you might get as a result.