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What is your largest expense in sending your kids back to school?
Asked at Massachusetts Street on August 13, 2006
“Clothes. With girls, everything has to match.”
“New clothes. I have a girl and a boy. It’s the most expensive thing out there right now.”
“Tuition for Montessori school.”
“Clothes. Everything else costs about the same, but the clothes keep going up. Fashion is a big part of school these days.”
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Comments
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Ragingbear (anonymous) says…
Ban Clothes in schools!
MWIV (anonymous) says…
There is a simple answer to the cost of clothes, but everyone will feel like it is a "communist plot". It is called uniforms. Kids say they don't want to dress like all the other kids, but look at them. They all do anyway. Just in the designer form.
Gootsie (anonymous) says…
Changing the locks.
trinity (anonymous) says…
changing the locks, lmbo-'bout spewed coffee on that one! :)
mwiv, i won't call your suggestion a communist plot-i happen to agree.
Ragingbear (anonymous) says…
Yes, uniforms. Start your child on the path to conforming to society and abolishing free thought now.
BTW- You have to pay for uniforms too. Average cost per uniform: $73.25
jayhawks71 (anonymous) says…
send your kid to private school if you want them to have the choice in what to wear. oh, wait, private schools are the ones more likely to make you wear uniforms.
Perhaps spending so much of their precious "thought power" on what to wear is leading to an inability to do math and science.
I am all for freedom, but give me a break; uniforms abridging free thought. That is so laughable as to be sad.
bmwjhawk (anonymous) says…
Free thought = what you wear?
My high school had uniforms and it was much cheaper.
I had two sets of pants and two sets of shirts. Nobody notices when you wear the same thing every other day.
Somehow, people always found ways to accessorize. Believe it or not, we still had personalities, even when we were done! And, interestingly enough, not many of my classmates are still practicing Catholics.
We free thought our way to Atheism or, at the least, Protestantism.
RETICENT_IRREVERENT (Ronaldo Ignacio) says…
This year, I think it was the district fee's.
Last year it was the district confiscated dry erase markers.
(My kids never used them.)
beatrice (anonymous) says…
Like omb, I don't have any children -- or at least none that I know of (wink, wink).
My biggest expense is time and gas when I have to stop my car at school crosswalks or for buses. That is about it.
As far as clothing goes, free thought and expression can come through in what you wear. However, being forced to wear a uniform doesn't stop free thought. It is not an either/or scenario. Wearing a uniform just means you have to abide by a dress code. Good thing such codes don't exist for us adults! I'm sure we all get to wear exactly what we want to work every day. Don't we?
I think uniforms do help quell youngsters desires for conspicious consumption, of "just having to have" the lastest and most expensive of designer duds for the sake of having them. Wearing uniforms might actually teach kids a touch of humility, so, I actually agree with the uniform camp. (I swear, I must be getting more conservative in my old age. Or more socialist. I'm not sure which.)
One way to keep the kids happy -- designer uniforms! Vera Wang for the girls, Jean Paul Gaultier for the boys. Oh sure, it will drive the cost up, but it is still bound to be cheaper in the long run. And I am sure there are charities that would purchase unis for those who can't afford them.
GardenMomma (anonymous) says…
The cost of clothes and shoes about equaled the cost of tuition, activity fees, and school supplies.
My kid never used her dry erase markers either. I think they're for the teachers maybe. At least this year they didn't specify blue (which only come in the rainbow 8-pack and only one in the pack- $5.99 a pack)!
trollkiller (anonymous) says…
The birth control isn't as expensive as the alternative, but it is still an added cost for parents of jr. high kids. The visits to the dr for STD treatments and the cost of cigarettes is too high. I hope there is subsidized rehab treatment in high school. I'm so proud of my kids; they sterilize their own needles.
MWIV (anonymous) says…
The kids already wear uniforms. They all look alike. Good grief! Just go with something that is cheaper and uniforms are it. Their minds are so full of mush that it won't make any difference. Then they grow up and go to KU! Wow!
trinity (anonymous) says…
uniforms=opportunity for kids to develop a personality that is based on their thoughts, feelings, etc. instead of whether or not they have american eagle or fubu or whatever happens to be the current faddish clothing.
you think kids don't all rather "look alike" NOW?? hah! joke's on you. :)
nudist (anonymous) says…
If we didn't have to pay for all of the traffic calming devices and poorly designed roundabuts, perhaps this expense wouldn't even be an issue.