Oklahoma! Where the Teachers Beg for Art Supplies

I'm not sure how to react to the story: OK Teacher posts pic of broken chair.

People have donated $44,000 worth of supplies in response.

Part of me is amazed and grateful at the support Americans provide to public education, willing to go beyond the cheap parsimony of state legislatures that have been defunding public schools for two decades in the hopes that ALEC, the Koch Brothers, Eli Broad, and others will bless their careers and give them new opportunities to build personal wealth through power.

Much of me is angry that this is what we have come to.

In my school, we can't get enough desks for our classrooms; therefore, another teacher and I pass desks between our classrooms every day to accommodate the number of students that will be in the room.

I have broken furniture that will not be replaced. Every teacher does. For the lucky few who get noticed, go viral with a social media post, and are blessed with an abundance of donations, I am very happy.

But I will note that for every one of those, there are a thousand teachers who go without.

See, that's the problem with private charity. It does its best, but it can't be as effective as a comprehensive, universal effort that is fair to all. That takes government and that takes taxes.

Private charity is controlled by the donor. Donors are generous, but they also act according to their beliefs, their histories, and their life histories.

I hate to say it, but the racial dynamics of our country come into play. We are much more likely to be generous with someone who looks like us than someone who does not.

That's why we have a government bound by constitutional principles (equal protection under the law and due process, among others) that must be fair. Even with those principles in place, we don't live up to the promise.

Sadly, though, this is what we have come to--teachers must beg for help. Nobody seems to question it. I know a lot of teachers who maintain Go Fund Me accounts. There are enough teachers doing such fundraising that school districts are reacting with prohibitions. I guess it's too embarrassing for them. However, I have never heard of a district banning Go Fund Me that hands a teacher a $5,000 expense account for classroom supplies, either.

Does your doctor have a Go Fund Me for bandages, syringes, and rubbing alcohol? Does your accountant have a Go Fund Me for a laptop computer and adding machine tape? Does your auto mechanic have a Go Fund Me for tools, motor oil, and antifreeze? Does your hairdresser have a Go Fund Me for combs, curlers, and hair dye? Does your bus driver, even a school bus driver, have to have a Go Fund Me to put gas in the bus?!

When did we accept that this is the norm for a teacher's life?

I've made up my mind. I appreciate the generosity of Americans, but this story makes me angry.