School Days, School Days, Wonderful, Wonderful School Days...

Since when were school supplies community supplies? My daughter came home from school for the second time upset after a first day of school. (The first time was in third grade, the year before last.) The teacher had taken up all of her stuff to put it in a community pot to become the class supplies. She held out on submitting her pencils to the pot. Her pencils are cool! Most of the kids brought the school-bus yellow ones and hers say things like 'cool' and 'rad'. I don't know what they actually said but that is what mine said one year. Wow, just admitting that my pencils said 'rad' tells you how old I am. Why is her teacher doing this? I don't understand. Part of beginning the new school year for an elementary student is picking out all the school supplies. I even took her to Lubbock so she wouldn't have the same ol' Walmart stuff all the other kids would. Its one of the few things, besides new clothes and shoes, (never underestimate the power of new shoes), that she likes about returning to school! I asked her why she didn't ask why this was necessary and then remembered she was ten. "Because the teacher will be mad at me," she responded. Whether or not the teacher would have actually been mad at her is unknown but what is sure is she is missing all of her cute strawberry and cherry notebooks. Why do this to the kids? 'Hi kids my name is Ms. Robin Hood and you greedy children will now be sacrificing your belongings to me.' What a great start! I understand the reasoning; some of the children could not afford to purchase their own supplies and they shouldn't be made to feel different. I'm willing to buy some extra notebooks and pencils if it means my daughter doesn't have to watch little Sally receive her strawberry notebook while she gets Jonnie's blue one with the oddly printed lines. Okay, I'm done venting and off to Walmart to buy her, I mean some child, markers. Which is another thing: why are not all the things they need on the dang list?!? Right, right, right; done venting...