Children As A Revenue Stream

Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, sports teams, academic teams, PTAs, local charities like the Crusade for Children, the Fund for the Arts, and dozens other entities are actively separating kids from cash everyday in our schools. Fundraising in schools is at an all time high. With sharp education budget cuts and rising costs, most schools have seen a great increase in fundraising. This seems quite ironic when one considers the numbers of kids in modest to low to very low incomes. One would think these families couldn't afford to engage in much altruism given, understandably, their circumstances. But that is not how today's student "contributes" to a worthy cause. In fact, the motivation to give is rarely obvious because it rarely follows the expected motivation. So, instead of actually altruistically giving a dollar to the Crusade for Children, or bringing in a canned food for Dare to Care, the student is actually buying a "dress down" day by which they can wear what they want instead of their school uniform. "Donations" as a result of these motivations tend to run high (who wants to be stuck in a uniform when everyone else is dressing down?). The same goes for other motivations; a "free day" for the class that delivers the most number canned goods for a homeless shelter, etc.

What's more is that the "collections" for these fundraisers frequently interrupt classroom instructional time. How many times have we seen students walking from room to room in order to collect for a cause by soliciting donations, selling popcorn or candy, or even, soliciting contributions from teachers for other teachers who are ill, pregnant, etc.

Unfortunately, while the resulting donations may go towards good causes, the donations are rarely made for that reason. Hence, there is no real altruism in these scenarios due to the fact that the student is buying something for their contribution. Besides this is the question of should our students be regarded as revenue streams for various fundraisers? Being in the system, we are frequently bombarded by students trying sell/fundraise at school. Now some of the fundraising doesn't have anything to do with the school or its' activities. Perhaps it's time to put a cap on how much money can be fundraised within the school walls. Our kids' "expected" contributions shouldn't be a line item on a balance sheet.