The education system in the US is increasingly becoming more dire with low teacher pay and underfunded schools. Some teachers are now so desperate for classroom necessities, they are pressuring parents to take on more of the responsibility by penalizing students who don't contribute. But is this fair?
At the start of the video, Shanitta explained that her son came home and told her that he had to bring in supplies for his classroom, including tissues, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, etc.
Shanitta explained that she decided to buy the classroom supplies for her son to turn in, but a week later, he still had a zero grade, prompting her to email the teacher: "I don't feel that it's the parent's job to supply your classroom. And, I definitely don't think it's appropriate to assign a grade to students based off of whether or not they supplied your class with supplies," Shanitta said.
"So I emailed the principal," Shanitta explained in a follow-up video.
BuzzFeed reached out to Shanitta about her decision to contact her son's principal: "I pointed out to the principal that although my family could afford to buy the additional supplies, there are many families that are already struggling to buy their children’s personal school supplies and simply can’t afford the extra. This would mainly affect lower income families and that isn’t right for the kids as it’s not their fault," she said.
In the follow-up video, Shanitta said her son's principal personally called her and then followed up with the below email response, writing: "It's not standard practice to penalize student grade wise for the lack of supplies."
Shanitta said that she believes the situation highlights a greater need for school resources. "I feel as though it’s neither the teacher's or parent's responsibility to supply the classrooms. I feel that responsibility lies on the schools and districts. They seem to only supply the buildings and the teachers," Shanitta told BuzzFeed.
Many users agreed with Shanitta's point about the unfair penalization of students who don't bring in classroom supplies. One teacher wrote: "As a teacher, I agree with you. There should not be a grade for that. They've always been encouraged, but never required. Some families can't afford it."
Another teacher agreed, writing: "Teacher here, we usually put classroom supplies on the list, but it's never a grade. That said, schools should be providing everything with our tax money."
One parent added their own similar experience, writing: "We had a teacher who put my child's name on the board because I didn't send the 'donation' they were asking for."
Another user recalled their experience being penalized as a student: "Won't lie, I remember my teacher doing the exact thing to us. It was rough, especially the fact that this was during the recession."
Some users defended the intent of the original teacher, arguing that the classroom supply responsibilities often mainly fall on underpaid teachers: "It's not appropriate for us as teachers to buy things for everybody else's kids, but we do."
Another user wrote: "You as the parent buy the classroom supplies because it's your kid, not the teacher's. Being prepared is important."
Another user wrote: "I think grading it was to make sure that people contributed. At the end of the day, teachers don't make enough to supply that stuff for our kids."
