Time to rant about something that sets me off about this time every year.
I have two daughters in high school athletics this year. At the fall sports meeting last night, the dreaded “fundraiser” arose like a zombie from hell. In fact, two zombies from hell.
Long story short, I now have two teenage girls who are expected to sell $400 in discount cards before Monday for one fund raiser and $120 in tickets to the Presidents Bowl, the big fundraiser for the local high school booster clubs, before Thursday of next week.
Not only is this a pain in the butt, but think about the market. The vast majority of our friends, neighbors and acquaintances have kids who have been assigned the identical task. That means kids are forced to peddle to relatives or in the parents’ workplace. Then consider how many parents in the workplace are in the same or a similar boat with fundraisers at their kids’ schools.
I understand why extracurricular activities in particular use fundraisers. Our education system is strapped for money the way it is. But at times I think it would be just as easy to say up front that it’s going to cost you $XX to participate in football, volleyball or whatever, with reduced or no fees for those who may not have the financial resources.
Sadly, though, I think these zombies will continue to rise up long after my kids have left high school. And maybe I should look on the bright side — no middle school magazine sales this year!
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
Kurt Vonnegut
I used to suggest to my family that we’d be better off just throwing 20% of whatever the gross sales they were expecting into the school fund.
Instead we still have a bunch of trinkets in our attic for which we spent good money
I’m in my mid-40’s without kids, and I am always amazed by friends in their mid-40’s who have kids and then vote for any politician who promises to lower property taxes. These same parents get stuck with these kinds of fundraising projects, and all sorts of fees that our parents never paid, in order to have high school athletics/extra-curriculars. Unbelievable.