Schools and parties
I don’t like the idea of schools having parties for the various holidays perhaps because I didn’t grow up in the US. In India, celebrations associated with the country were the only ones celebrated within the class or as a school. And that meant there was a drawing competition, essay writing competition or singing.
In the elementary school that my children attend in the US, the parents give money at the beginning of the school year which is used to buy cheap craft supplies for the various holiday celebrations. The celebration of any holiday involves using these craft supplies to make something relevant to that holiday. The money is also used to buy cupcakes, cookies, fruits and vegetables for the parties. The parents are also solicited for more food. By the end of the party, the class room is a filled with food, craft work, parents and children high on sugar. There is generally so much food at the end of the party that parents ask each other to take the rest of the food away or leave them at the teacher’s lounge.
I am not against the crafts. The kids can make crafts using just colored paper, crayons, color pencils, glue, and their imagination. I object to what I perceive as pandering to the children. The children don’t ask for art supplies. We give them before they have a need for it. They don’t ask for so much food. Grapes, graham crackers and cheese sticks will be just fine. But we overdo it with the varieties of food. So much gets wasted. The craft work eventually lands in the garbage. How many craft work can you save of your child’s?
Parties at school are unnecessary in these days of economic difficulties. But try telling the room parent that you don’t care for any parties in the class…
