BY TIANEE RICHARDSON
Sophomore Tatum Jarmon digs through her backpack and pulls out item after item: four highlighters. A binder. Five notebooks. Pencils. Markers. Paper. Erasers.
She estimates that she spent roughly $30 on all of it this year. She also estimates that she won’t use half of it.
“I use the teacher’s supply lists and usually don’t use all the stuff they tell me to buy,” Jarmon said.
When it comes to back to school sales, supplies are the most important thing. There have been arguments about whether or not we, the students, actually use all of the supplies we are told to buy on a yearly basis.
Every year, Jarmon has gone by a list that each of her teachers have given her. Some find this the easiest way to go. Others have a system developed from experience.
"I've only gone by a district supply list once and it was a total waste. Waiting until after the first week was more cost effective I think. By the end of the year I used everything I bought with the teacher lists,” sophomore Melinda Duran said.
Out of a random sampling of fourteen students, twelve opted to follow teacher lists, while a whopping two students followed the district lists.
Parent Taschia Miller was one of the many who waited for the teacher list this year. "I usually wait until after school starts so the kids can write down what each teacher wants," Miller said. “By the end of each year the kids have usually used everything we bought.”
So what do teachers think about all this? “Every year, with my son, we just go to buy the basics like pencils, journals, stuff like that. You basically need that for every class,” pre-AP World Geography teacher Adam Garcia said, “For classes like algebra you might need a calculator, but we always wait. It seems like everyone does that now.”
A teacher with the same opinion as the students? Potentially groundbreaking news. But in all seriousness, given the amount of money families spend on school supplies, differences between district and teacher lists can seem daunting.
“I’d consider district lists to be a good guideline,” English teacher Kyla Mora said. “Every teacher will probably have certain requirements, things they’d like their students to have, and that can vary by class. For me, it always seemed the smartest to get the basics before that first day -- pens, pencils, paper, a binder, some Post-its -- and then take notes through that first day, or collect syllabi, to supplement your district list.”
But, she added, there’s one item that, more and more, teachers really want students to have: “Two words -- internet access.”
Sophomore Tatum Jarmon digs through her backpack and pulls out item after item: four highlighters. A binder. Five notebooks. Pencils. Markers. Paper. Erasers.
She estimates that she spent roughly $30 on all of it this year. She also estimates that she won’t use half of it.
“I use the teacher’s supply lists and usually don’t use all the stuff they tell me to buy,” Jarmon said.
When it comes to back to school sales, supplies are the most important thing. There have been arguments about whether or not we, the students, actually use all of the supplies we are told to buy on a yearly basis.
Every year, Jarmon has gone by a list that each of her teachers have given her. Some find this the easiest way to go. Others have a system developed from experience.
"I've only gone by a district supply list once and it was a total waste. Waiting until after the first week was more cost effective I think. By the end of the year I used everything I bought with the teacher lists,” sophomore Melinda Duran said.
Out of a random sampling of fourteen students, twelve opted to follow teacher lists, while a whopping two students followed the district lists.
Parent Taschia Miller was one of the many who waited for the teacher list this year. "I usually wait until after school starts so the kids can write down what each teacher wants," Miller said. “By the end of each year the kids have usually used everything we bought.”
So what do teachers think about all this? “Every year, with my son, we just go to buy the basics like pencils, journals, stuff like that. You basically need that for every class,” pre-AP World Geography teacher Adam Garcia said, “For classes like algebra you might need a calculator, but we always wait. It seems like everyone does that now.”
A teacher with the same opinion as the students? Potentially groundbreaking news. But in all seriousness, given the amount of money families spend on school supplies, differences between district and teacher lists can seem daunting.
“I’d consider district lists to be a good guideline,” English teacher Kyla Mora said. “Every teacher will probably have certain requirements, things they’d like their students to have, and that can vary by class. For me, it always seemed the smartest to get the basics before that first day -- pens, pencils, paper, a binder, some Post-its -- and then take notes through that first day, or collect syllabi, to supplement your district list.”
But, she added, there’s one item that, more and more, teachers really want students to have: “Two words -- internet access.”