Quote:
Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
We have just gotten the enormous list of supplies required for our child's class in September (will all that stuff fit in his desk?), and I have a complaint. I file it here because no one would bother with it elsewhere.
The teacher specifically requests two packages #2 Dixon-Ticonderoga pencils. Now, I have nothing against #2 pencils, but I buy my pencils in bulk from the art supply store, mostly Faber Castells and Generals, because the last thing anyone needs are crappy pencils. Indeed, my son usually prefers the Generals woodless, which are not cheap but do a much better job than a Dixon-Ticonderoga ever would.
I also hand them out sparingly. A kid should learn to keep their pencils, especially when they are good ones. TWO WHOLE PACKAGES! This encourages profligacy. That's pencil craziness.
It's like people just don't appreciate good writing implements any more. I will make sure my son always has a couple of Faber Castells and a Generals woodless, but nothing more and nothing lesser. Should I paint them yellow to make the teacher happy?
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Your firm must be hurting to be worried about pencil profligacy.
But a propos of this, when I was in fifth grade I went to a school where for the outrageous tuition they threw in "free" pencils. You got one at a time. There was a "pencil graveyard" where you could "bury" your old pencil when it got short, and you were issued a reincarnated pencil that was nice and long. As you might imagine a competition ensued to have the shortest pencil possible. People were grinding their fingers in the pencil sharpener so that they could turn in nothing more than an eraser, metal band, and wood/graphite point.
