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Parents Don't Want To Pay For School Supplies Anymore · The imuRgency Room

• 0:00
  So it's looking like parents on TikTok this school year are
• 0:02
  asking teachers not only to teach their kids everything they
• 0:05
  need to know, but to also pay out of pocket for everything
• 0:09
  that they're going to need as well.
• 0:11
  I'm just lazy. Y'all want to complain about
• 0:14
  school supply? You want the teacher to raise
• 0:16
  the baby? Teach the baby.
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  You want the teacher to buy back school clothes too?
• 0:19
  Teachers are already don't get paid y'all.
• 0:21
  I'm telling you to fuck warehouse jobs make more than
• 0:24
  teachers sometime and I'm not. It is not our job to supply all
• 0:36
  other students with school supplies.
• 0:37
  Hey guys, it's up to emergency and welcome, welcome back to my
• 0:40
  channel and welcome our welcome back to the school year.
• 0:43
  Yes, it is back to school season, our favorite time of
• 0:46
  year where without fail, there's always some kind of discourse
• 0:49
  going on. Whether it's the fact that the
• 0:51
  kids are in fact not all right and not on grade level, whether
• 0:54
  or not teachers should be allowed to be filming Tik Toks
• 0:56
  in the classroom to now where there seems to be some discourse
• 0:59
  in debate over who is footing the bill for school supplies.
• 1:03
  The parents, the teachers, the school district or I don't know,
• 1:07
  the kids themselves. And this is a really hot button
• 1:10
  issue when it comes to back to school season because money is
• 1:13
  such a sensitive topic, especially in times like these
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  where money is a little tighter in supplies that used to be
• 1:19
  deemed as commonplace and very low brow now quickly becoming
• 1:23
  semi luxury. And I know times are hard and
• 1:26
  things are expensive. We talk about that all the time
• 1:28
  on this channel, but I do who still think it is wild for
• 1:30
  parents to go and point the finger back at teachers for
• 1:34
  asking parents to provide school supplies for their kids and to
• 1:39
  then go forward and expect that of the teacher themselves to
• 1:42
  provide that for your kid. Like in a perfect world, yes, it
• 1:46
  would make sense that you send your kid to school and the
• 1:48
  school provides everything for them.
• 1:50
  But as we are very aware, we are not living in anywhere near a
• 1:54
  perfect world. In fact, we're living in a world
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  where schools are severely underfunded, understaffed, and
• 1:59
  teachers as it is, are overworked and under
• 2:01
  compensated. So yeah, to reiterate, it is
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  wild for parents to provide essential supplies for their
• 2:06
  kids or just being stingy and weirdly controlling over the
• 2:09
  stuff that they do give out. But before we start casting
• 2:11
  judgement for real, let's try and understand where each side
• 2:13
  is coming from here. And let's first turn to the
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  parents POV. And I got to say, the pain point
• 2:18
  for a lot of this discourse is understandable.
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  In times where everyday expenses are expensive enough, it is
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  frustrating to have to allocate budget every August or September
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  to provide school supplies every single year for your kids.
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  And God forbid you have multiple kids.
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  The bill does add up. Like let's not pretend school,
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  even public school is inexpensive.
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  Like share public school is free.
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  Make a your taxes pay for it. But that just lets you walk in
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  the door. Like in order to learn, you need
• 2:42
  some materials, some supplies so that you can take notes, read a
• 2:45
  book, do your homework, have something to carry your things
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  in, something to lock your locker with.
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  Like there are many school supplies every year.
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  Like there is a real cost to going to school every year.
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  And I think one of the main questions posed by parents and
• 2:57
  honestly everyone is why school supplies are so expensive right
• 3:00
  now. According to a report from
• 3:02
  Intuit Credit Karma aimed at parents with school aged
• 3:04
  children, 39% of respondents said that they can't afford
• 3:07
  their back to school shopping this year.
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  In the same survey, 44% of respondents said they plan to go
• 3:11
  into debt to cover the cost of school shopping.
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  Like I said, this is a serious issue for people.
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  And in a time where people are struggling to afford rent or
• 3:18
  mortgage or to consistently put food on the table for families,
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  something that seemingly arbitrary expenses like school
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  supplies kind of seem exactly that arbitrary when I already
• 3:28
  feel like I'm drowning trying to keep myself and my kids afloat
• 3:30
  as it is. Like on a base level, that sort
• 3:33
  of thinking is understandable. And no, you're not going crazy.
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  Well, at least in this case, everything is getting more
• 3:39
  expensive. Shocker.
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  I mean, not really. That's like not really news at
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  this point. If you've been paying attention.
• 3:45
  Prices have been on the incline for years at this point.
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  And this year, parents and teachers alike have all been
• 3:49
  feeling it like just to get perspective over how inflation
• 3:51
  is going right now, backpacks used to be $12.00 four years ago
• 3:55
  and now they're nearing $16.00. And that's just on the low end.
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  Prices for things like pencils are going up.
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  Lord knows the prices for tech like laptops, tablets,
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  headphones, calculators and the like are all going up, which is
• 4:06
  putting an even greater strain on consumers, namely parents.
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  CNBC is reporting that many school supply categories are at
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  least 20% more expensive than they were pre.
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  And again, having this come at a time where parents are
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  struggling to make ends meet, either financially, temporally,
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  or both, this combo is a recipe per disaster. $226 divided by
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  the 180 days that my baby's going to be in school is a
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  dollar 25 a day. And guess what?
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  I went above and beyond on this list.
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  She asked for two boxes of Kleenex.
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  I'll get you 4. She asked for one Reema copy
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  paper baby. Don't worry, I got you 6.
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  Then she had these wishlist items she wanted.
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  Snacks, she wanted. Baby wipes she wanted.
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  Some small water and drinks. For the kids.
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  I am getting these teachers what they need.
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  And I'm not labeling nothing because if the teacher says she
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  needs. Three glue sticks.
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  She need them. Three glue sticks plus some and
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  that. Is great people.
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  Oh, you want a cookie? No, my cookie is knowing that my
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  child. Is going to go to school, be
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  well taken care of and have the stuff that she needs for a
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  successful school year. Wrap this conversation.
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  Up So as a parent, seeing the school supply list, the ask for
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  things like 8 glue sticks, 3 to 4 packs of pencils, and other
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  things that just seem like frivolous or excessive extra
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  costs. I can see how it feels like
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  you're being asked to foot a bill for stuff that you may feel
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  like your kid doesn't necessarily need for their
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  education. And we're going to get more into
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  why that is when we go to the teachers POV.
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  But I think before we do that, we do have to talk about why
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  prices are the way they are. And unfortunately, this is where
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  we get a little bit real. It's time to talk about the big
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  orange and green elephant in the room, the tariffs.
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  The recent tariffs set off by the current administration have
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  been one of the main contributors to buyer fears and
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  price increases. Most of the tariffs that have
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  been scheduled to take place at some point during the month of
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  August impact goods coming in from foreign countries.
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  And preemptively, a lot of these distributors have been raising
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  their prices to counteract the loss in profits from these
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  tariffs. Again, in Case No one sold you
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  by now, the consumer pays the tariffs.
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  I mean, not literally pays the tariffs, but is paying the
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  difference in price. And also, unfortunately for us,
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  a lot of our products, especially products pertaining
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  to school supplies, are manufactured and produced and
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  imported and from other countries.
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  Like think about your backpacks, your calculators, your writing
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  supplies. All, if not at least some of the
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  products in your technology are made from other countries, which
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  means that as the tariffs go through, the prices for those
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  increase as well. And technology, especially,
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  we'll be seeing price increases this month as tariffs on
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  microchips coming in from other countries are astoundingly high.
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  Like, it really does seem like on all levels, the last of
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  everyone's money is being squeezed out right now.
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  And that's just really unfortunate.
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  But like I said, it's being squeezed out of everyone,
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  including teachers. And that's sort of the whole
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  point that teachers are trying to make in this whole
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  conversation. Personally, I'm never in the
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  business of blaming teachers or educators just in general,
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  unless they are doing like some illegal and egregious stuff
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  because a lot of times for nine months out the year, they got to
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  put up with people's kids more than the people have to put up
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  with their kids. And in the grand context of the
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  argument that people are having right now of like, OK, I'm not
• 6:54
  paying for all these school supplies, why isn't the teacher
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  paying for the school supplies for our kids?
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  Well, actually they already are. Actually around 90% of public
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  school teachers buy their school supplies out of pocket, which
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  can total as much as $500. Like this includes backup
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  supplies for students, classroom decorations, snacks, toiletries,
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  whatever would have you to make the classroom experience as
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  engaging as possible. And when you take into account
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  the fact that the average starting public school teacher
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  salary is around $46,000 a year, that is a pretty significant
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  amount of money going out of their paycheck.
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  So. I know we're past this
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  conversation because nobody's talking about it, but I just
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  want to say how irritated I am at the parents who don't give
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  school supplies, my mom for the 10th, 12th year in a row, and
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  sending out an Amazon wishlist to all the family members so
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  they can give supplies to our students.
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  So what these teachers in schools are asking of parents to
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  provide are the things in addition to that to make sure
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  that your individual student is taken care of.
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  Like, sure, teachers might have maybe a handful of school
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  supplies to give out as needed if a kid forgets or doesn't have
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  supplies that day, but that's not going to sustain everybody
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  for the entire school year. Like you need your supplies and
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  specifically in the context of this this course, teachers have
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  been receiving a lot of Flack from asking so much of parents
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  to provide for the class. Lists have gone viral online
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  asking for things like 8 glue sticks, multiple boxes of
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  tissues and multiple packs of pencils, etcetera, etcetera.
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  Like a fun rug, a cool rug on the ground for him.
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  Nothing. I'm just so.
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  Saying that by Tuesday, there's a little bit more.
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  Fun and interesting bunch. Because wasn't it so long ago
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  that you guys were on this app complaining that school supplies
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  were so expensive, you guys were not going to be getting extras
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  and that teachers essentially had to figure it out?
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  And now you're coming onto the very same app and complaining
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  that classrooms look boring, that there's no cute rugs.
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  That's the deal breaker for you guys?
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  A rug not having a cute rug, not the school supplies.
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  And here's the thing, I think there's valid concern for
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  parents to be like girl, why does my kid need 8 glue sticks
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  for the year? But then you have to realize,
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  especially for the younger years, kids are kids and will
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  either lose or dry out their glue and other materials.
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  So the parents are online crashing out about school
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  supplies again like they do every year.
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  And so I am here to show you that you actually don't have to
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  spend $500 on notebooks, pencils and paper.
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  OK, some of your school supply lists end up so expensive
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  because you're allowing your 6 year old to tell you that they
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  refuse to carry anything except for 175 dollar book bag.
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  So between Walmart and Dollar Tree, you know how much my total
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  was? Do you know what the total was?
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  $46.82 Go get the damn baby's. School supplies.
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  Like, I think a major oversight in this conversation is the fact
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  that, like, these lists that teachers are making aren't just
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  arbitrarily thrown together. Like, teachers are teachers for
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  a reason. They've been in the field for a
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  number of years. So they generally have an idea
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  for the brands that work the best and last the best, as well
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  as which supplies students tend to lose.
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  Forget break, whatever would have you throughout the school
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  year. So a lot of times the school
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  supply list is a suggestion for like everything that you're
• 9:51
  going to need for the entire year, whether or not you're
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  paying for it all upfront right now or paying for it throughout
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  the school year as your kid loses stuff, as your kid breaks
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  stuff, whatever would have you. This is the general list for how
• 10:00
  many supplies a student goes through in this class or in this
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  school for a school year based on the numbers and observations
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  of the past years. And I think this is a part of
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  the conversation that like people aren't really
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  acknowledging like nothing is going to happen for real.
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  Like at least generally, if you don't have every single thing to
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  the exact quantity during the school year, like your kid just
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  needs enough to get by for the time being.
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  And if you need to buy more school supplies later, you can
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  do that. The list is just a list of all
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  the things that they're going to need ever and again.
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  It's not fair to ask teachers to pay for that because they're
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  already paying a lot for your kid.
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  They're already doing a lot for your kid.
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  And teachers in this case aren't the issue.
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  The common denominator here and the issue here, Y'all aren't
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  going to like this. I'm sorry.
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  This is the quiet part that no one wants to say out loud, but
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  this really isn't a teacher versus parent debate.
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  It's the current education system versus the government and
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  capitalism it. Is not our job to supply all
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  other students? With school supplies.
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  We pay taxes for that. The school should be funded to
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  supply pencils and erasers and construction paper.
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  Why are we supplying 4 boxes of tissues to cans of Lysol spray
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  like. And now I know, I know.
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  This is where I lose a lot of people.
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  I'm sorry. Neither parents or teachers are
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  fully in the right or wrong because at the end of the day,
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  the needs for both of them just aren't being met by these
• 11:30
  systems they are a part of and are both stemming from the
• 11:33
  common issues of the lack of money and resources provided to
• 11:36
  them in their community. Like neither parents or teachers
• 11:38
  are provided what is actually needed for a comfortable and
• 11:41
  productive school, work, or family environment.
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  Your average parent and teacher aren't making enough, prices for
• 11:47
  things are getting too high, and school systems by and large are
• 11:49
  just generally underfunded to provide for the students
• 11:52
  themselves outside of free meals.
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  And even then that's a stretch for some school systems and is
• 11:56
  actively being fought against. Like this is 100% education
• 11:59
  issue as much as it is a money issue.
• 12:01
  Because as we all know, the state of education is already
• 12:04
  not the best and the kids are actively not all right in terms
• 12:09
  of the quality of what they're learning and what they're able
• 12:11
  to learn. It just really seems like our
• 12:12
  country is committed to making getting a base level of
• 12:15
  education one of the most difficult things ever.
• 12:19
  I wonder why that might be. Like I've been saying before,
• 12:21
  school systems are drastically underfunded.
• 12:23
  Teachers aren't allowed to fail their kids for real and have to
• 12:26
  pass them on from grade to grade, whether or not they're
• 12:28
  actually on grade level or not. Teachers are dealing with
• 12:30
  increasingly large class sizes to the point where it's not
• 12:33
  conducive or sustainable to actual genuine learning.
• 12:36
  There are increasing restrictions over what students
• 12:38
  are able to learn, read, and do, and as we're seeing right now,
• 12:42
  it is more difficult to get a base level of actual school
• 12:45
  supplies that are required to get a solid education.
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  And this isn't even addressing the behavioral in interpersonal
• 12:51
  issues that stem from schools these days from the students
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  themselves. I do have a couple of videos
• 12:55
  talking about that specifically if you want to check out
• 12:57
  conversations around that. But I really think the most
• 12:59
  important part of this conversation and the unfortunate
• 13:02
  real losers from all this at the end of the day are the students.
• 13:05
  And I really hate to be a but think of the children as but
• 13:09
  like, let's be for real. We can debate all day long, but
• 13:14
  at the end of the day, these students are the most important
• 13:16
  part of this conversation and are the ones that are going to
• 13:19
  be dealing with the consequences of whatever action comes out of
• 13:22
  all this. Like if students aren't getting
• 13:24
  the supplies that they need, they're not going to be able to
• 13:26
  learn. And enthusiasm for school and
• 13:28
  for learning from students right now is already reaching all time
• 13:31
  lows. And and truly anything that
• 13:33
  disincentivizes the easy access to education for students is
• 13:37
  going to drastically hurt the chances of that kid learning.
• 13:39
  Like I said, most grade school level kids aren't on a reading
• 13:42
  level as is. Like just as one example case,
• 13:44
  you have education scores in Florida hitting twenty year
• 13:47
  lows. And honestly, I don't know if
• 13:48
  anyone's really looking at Florida as being the leader in
• 13:50
  education for the country, but like, this all tells a story.
• 13:53
  We're currently in an education crisis in this country and
• 13:56
  students really do need all the help that they can get.
• 13:58
  And this isn't necessarily an issue that can be fixed
• 14:00
  overnight because unfortunately, we can't just change the prices
• 14:02
  of things with the snap of a finger.
• 14:04
  But what we can do is adapt and try our best to provide for the
• 14:07
  next generation of learners. What does that mean?
• 14:10
  Sharing school supplies between friends that are going to the
• 14:12
  same school, Buying discount versions of supplies that are on
• 14:15
  supply list, Reusing supplies from previous years, reusing
• 14:18
  clothes from previous years, or just generally scaling back on
• 14:21
  what's needed and only purchasing what the student
• 14:23
  needs for however many weeks or months and continuously re
• 14:27
  upping instead of making a bulk purchase all at once.
• 14:29
  And it's finally time for me to hit the unique community button
• 14:31
  for this video. Because it's really time that we
• 14:33
  lean on each other and not go for each other's throats like
• 14:36
  parents. Please, please, we can find ways
• 14:39
  to be creative. If you think you are tired and
• 14:41
  at your wits end, imagine how tired teachers are while you're
• 14:45
  at work working way for your kids.
• 14:46
  Teachers are also at work with your kids.
• 14:50
  And just as a final thing, I'll leave some links in my
• 14:51
  description to some resources for different funds, grants, and
• 14:54
  things like that that either you or someone you may know can
• 14:57
  apply for to help with school supplies or just affording
• 15:00
  school, whether that be for parents, educators, or college
• 15:02
  students. So yeah, be sure to check that
• 15:04
  out in the description below. I just got to say, at the end of
• 15:06
  the day, it is the teacher's job to make sure that your kid is
• 15:09
  getting a fruitful education. However, it's not their job to
• 15:12
  play sugar parent.