FTT Off-Topic: Please Stop Photographing My Child
I don't know how many of you folks are parents, and how many of you have school-aged children, but here's a fun fact for the people who run our public schools:
I own a camera.
Cameras are, in fact, ubiquitous. There's one on my presence at nearly every waking hour of the day.
I don't really need you to photograph my kid any more.
I *really* do not need you turn school hours into a for-profit forced participation photography experience, as if the children are celebrities and you are paparazzi.
And I really, really do not need you to then send the photos to my house in an opt-out direct marketing ploy.
And 3X really for doing this multiple times a year.
You see, I'd like the kids to learn venality, desperation and coercion where children have always learned such things: from their classmates, teachers, and eventually, coworkers.
From you people, I kind of need her to learn math, science, language, social studies, work habits, organization and the like.
And if you could just take one suggestion?
Rather than try to nickel and dime me every freaking week with candy drives, program ads, the yearbook, picture taking, school store, PTA and every other little fever dream for spare change...
Can you just give me the STFU option and let me scratch you one check at the start of the year for some lump sum, so we can, you know...
Avoid all of this nonsense and, you know, actually focus on education?
6 comments:
As a father of five kids who were all in band, I know of the hell you speak. I stopped participating years ago and wrote the check myself. I am a better coworker too since I don't bring 68 fundraisers to work anymore.
It wouldn't be so bad if they were any better than DMV photos. One year they took a picture of my daughter with a loose tooth poking out of her mouth at an odd angle. She looked like a stereotypical hillbilly. Lifetouch is a joke.
I say trash ALL non-education related activities like band, sports, pictures, etc. Our tax money, high as it is already, should more than pay for everything. And I don't agree that the screws, um, teachers, should be teaching my child about work ethics or organization. Thats my job. Take all the extra crap out of school and perhaps our property taxes would be in line with the rest of the nation.
Yeah, like that will ever happen.
You can argue, and the numbers might bear it out, that band, sports, and many other extra curricular activities foster better grades and test scores. They sure as hell did for me; without football, basketball, the school paper, choir and a few other things, I wouldn't have given a rat's ass about high school. I had to get good grades to do these things, so I worked harder. Strip it down, I would have air-mailed it.
Pictures, however, ain't any of these things. It's just codified and obsolete money grubbing.
And Bill, I do the same. Then toss the magazines and candy out.
and I will cut the extra check to avoid going to the evening events that are intended to get more parents involved but only attended by the already involved parents!
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