Damn schools are getting chintzy

[Alpo]

I was in the high school band. We were issued a uniform. Long about 2000 I heard that band members had to buy their uniform. What?

 

I was just reading some of the regulations about my high school.

 

Leaving campus for lunch. You only allowed to do that if you're 11th or 12th grade. You got to have a 2.0 or better grade point average. You have to buy a pass.

 

You have to buy a pass?

 

Then I was reading about parking. You need a school parking decal. Ain't no big thing. We had to have them back when I was in school. But now they're $20. What? You have to pay to park. You have to pay to go buy lunch. You have to buy your band uniform.

 

Exactly what are my school taxes being used to pay for?

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

5 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Exactly what are my school taxes being used to pay for?

Teacher's Union. Which then contributes to the Dumbocrat Party.

[Pat Riot]

Almost all schools do this now.

My Grandson’s band uniform was $700. His band letterman jacket was $800. To go see him play, $5 per “guest”. 
I don’t mind paying taxes for kids to have a decent education, but I do mind when half the budget pays for administration and pet political projects. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

As a hypothetical parent of a kid that goes to this school and does not participate in any of those activities, I would not want to be paying for everything that my kid is not using.

 

And then showing my true nature, I don’t have kids in the schools, it’s a very liberal concept that I should have to pay for the schools and everybody’s extracurricular activities.

Edited March 17 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[Pat Riot]

3 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

As a hypothetical parent of a kid that goes to this school and does not participate in any of those activities, I would not want to be paying for everything that my kid is not using.

 

And then showing my true nature, I don’t have kids in the schools, it’s a very liberal concept that I should have to pay for the schools and everybody’s extracurricular activities.

I understand and agree, it’s just that, from what I understand, a big portion of those costs for uniforms and equipment go back to the school’s general fund and not for the products or gear that the student is supposedly paying for. It doesn’t necessarily even go to pay for costs of the band, in my grandson’s case. 

If the prices were more reasonable  I could understand it. 
 

I actually overheard a high school football coach say to a single Mom “Why should we train these kids knowing full well some of them will go to college and not get some funding for that talent before they head off to a university on a scholarship?”

I can’t print what the Mom said back to him as the colorful epithets were flowing freely. 
 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

If you dig into how schools allocate funds for extra-circular activities, you'll find that Football gets the more than the lions share. Kids in other sports get little if any of that money.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

1 minute ago, Sedalia Dave said:

If you dig into how schools allocate funds for extra-circular activities, you'll find that Football gets the more than the lions share. Kids in other sports get little if any of that money.

I understand.I was involved in a town, not school, sports program. Pop Warner, cheer leaders, little league, softball, soccer.

 

Football got the lion’s share. Little League got uniforms, with names, and ‘cups’,  Girls softball got numbered shirts.

[bgavin]

At Mardi Gras this year, I was very impressed with the huge number of youth marching bands.
Full uniforms, majorettes, baton twirlers, pom-pom boots, etc.
There was a lot of Big Money on parade.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

2 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

If you dig into how schools allocate funds for extra-circular activities, you'll find that Football gets the more than the lions share. Kids in other sports get little if any of that money.

That's because football has more fans than anything else. I can understand cheering your kid and his friends on, but anything after that, (NFL, etc) is ridiculous. But it starts here.

[Cypress Sun]

When I was in school sports, football and baseball, my parents had to pay for pads, uniforms, cleats. baseball bats and gloves. The baseball team had bats but they sucked and weren't your lucky bat.

[Pat Riot]

I went to 5 different high schools in 4 years and one of those schools I went to 3 different times. We moved 8 times in 4 years. 
Anyway, in every school I attended the eligibility for playing on the football teams was rigged. Only the kids from the wealthy families played football. They were also the popular kids. 
Poorer kids or kids that came from broken homes never played football for more than one season. They were fillers until they could be replaced by kids that come from money or influence in the town or community. 
My personal opinion of football, high school and beyond very much resembles a stream of yellow rain falling upon a group of deserving uppity douchebags. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

When I was at universities, there was always an athletic fee.

 

more recently I took a class at UNH, free for senior residents, just pay the fees.yup, athletic fee.

[Alpo]

6 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

When I was at universities, there was always an athletic fee

Everything costs in college.

 

Public School however is supposed to be paid for by the state or the county or the city or somebody. It's free. That's the whole point of it. It's free. You on the high school football team, they issue you a uniform. You're on the baseball team, they issue you a uniform. Yes you use your own glove, but you don't have to buy your uniform.

 

And in the band, you used your own instrument, but they supplied the uniform.

[Sedalia Dave]

11 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

That's because football has more fans than anything else. I can understand cheering your kid and his friends on, but anything after that, (NFL, etc) is ridiculous. But it starts here.

 

Less than 0.023% (1 in 4316) of all high school football players will eventually make it to the NFL  The road in between is very grueling and unforgiving.

 

While the pay is pretty good, the average NFL players career is less than 4 years. Wonder how many of those 20 somethings actually save and invest that money.

 

Here are some sobering stats for all college sports.

 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

11 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

That's because football has more fans than anything else. I can understand cheering your kid and his friends on, but anything after that, (NFL, etc) is ridiculous. But it starts here.

 

9 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

Less than 0.023% (1 in 4316) of all high school football players will eventually make it to the NFL  The road in between is very grueling and unforgiving.

 

While the pay is pretty good, the average NFL players career is less than 4 years. Wonder how many of those 20 somethings actually save and invest that money.

 

Here are some sobering stats for all college sports.

 

What I'm talking about, and I have every confidence that I'll get at least a little grief for it, is the guys that have big tailgate parties, paint their bodies "their" team colors, and talk about how "we" did this weekend. 

I think that it's ridiculous to get that excited about something that, other than spending money on, you're not really a part of. 

Your kid's on the team? THAT I get. There's a professional ball team in your town? Yawn.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

6 hours ago, Alpo said:

 

And in the band, you used your own instrument, but they supplied the uniform.

Except some of the really unique instrument, e.g., sousaphone, bass sax…

[Alpo]

True. I played my own clarinet. My older brother played his own trumpet. But my younger brother played the school's sousaphone.

[Cypress Sun]

20 minutes ago, Alpo said:

True. I played my own clarinet. My older brother played his own trumpet. But my younger brother played the school's sousaphone.

 

I forgot about band. I had a beat up, hand me down trumpet that I audibly tortured my parents, brothers, neighbors and teachers with. Hearing any Col. Bogey rendition these days brings back not-so-fond memories.

[Sedalia Dave]

The one year I played in band, most parents rented the instruments.

[Alpo]

When I started band, the local music shop would rent you an instrument for 3 months. That way if the kid gave up on it, Mom and Daddy weren't out all that money. My rental was a LeBlanc. Then when they decided I was actually going to stay with it, they bought me a Conn. Still a decent horn, but not quite on the same level.

[Finagler 6853 Life]

There is a fee for everything these days.  Taking art?  Art supply fee in addition to whatever other artistic thing you want to do.  Chorus?  Need to have matching outfits for the entire group, for each different theme they are performing.  Not to mention plays and musicals.  You have to supply your own costume.

Here locally, the wrestling team gets no support in the athletic budget so the team runs fund raisers all the time.  Mats are expensive, uniforms every few years, travel, etc.  But don't criticize the basketball team.  Beautiful hardwood floors with a practice court that the coach and Athletic Director preciously guard so you don't walk across it in street shoes of spill a drink on it.  Floors that are lovingly swept and oiled by the maintenance staff.  They get full funding in the budget.

They tried to cut the band and chorus programs all together.  Alpo is right, other than a sousaphone, tuba or drums, you supplied your own.  I played the trombone my mother used in high school.  It was near to an antique.  I learned later it was not a "cool" instrument to play unless you liked playing marches. 

Drivers Ed used to be in the school curriculum but now it is user pay and done during non-school hours.

 

It's all a racket.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

8 minutes ago, Finagler 6853 Life said:

There is a fee for everything these days.  Taking art?  Art supply fee in addition to whatever other artistic thing you want to do.  Chorus?  Need to have matching outfits for the entire group, for each different theme they are performing.  Not to mention plays and musicals.  You have to supply your own costume.

Here locally, the wrestling team gets no support in the athletic budget so the team runs fund raisers all the time.  Mats are expensive, uniforms every few years, travel, etc.  But don't criticize the basketball team.  Beautiful hardwood floors with a practice court that the coach and Athletic Director preciously guard so you don't walk across it in street shoes of spill a drink on it.  Floors that are lovingly swept and oiled by the maintenance staff.  They get full funding in the budget.

They tried to cut the band and chorus programs all together.  Alpo is right, other than a sousaphone, tuba or drums, you supplied your own.  I played the trombone my mother used in high school.  It was near to an antique.  I learned later it was not a "cool" instrument to play unless you liked playing marches. 

Drivers Ed used to be in the school curriculum but now it is user pay and done during non-school hours.

 

It's all a racket.

The problem is that Taxes going to the Dept. of Education doesn't pay for education, it pays for educators.

My daughter was failed in her 10th grade Science class because the teacher found out that we were Bush supporters.

Edited March 18 by Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770

[bgavin]

I am formally trained in classical piano.
However, in high school I took up the sax because Mark Lindsay from Paul Revere and the Raiders played sax.
Playing the sax split my lower lip (long and painful), so I gave up and went back to playing instruments with hands and not mouth.

[watab kid]

ive been out of this for 24 years now - i dont miss any of it anymore