The Straw That Broke the Dino's Back

Okay, friends and family, I could really use your perspective.

Maren's teacher uses multiple chart & reward systems in the classroom, most of which translate into the accumulation (or loss) of Monopoly money. The money is then used once a week to bid against other students for a dollar-store item. See photo for example.

{breathe in} I can only imagine how difficult it is to motivate and manage a group of seventeen children, but I imagine it's no walk in the park. {breathe out} I accept that by choosing to put my kids in public school, I relinquish a great deal of control over what and how my children are taught. {breathe in} And I do my best to respect the years of experience that teachers have gained, years during which they hone their skills and learn what works best in their classrooms.

{sigh}

Do I sound good? I'm doing my best. I really am. Because I have great respect for what teachers do... I've had some truly great ones, and some of my favourite people have been or are currently teachers. I know about a dozen personally. (^_^)/

But as I've mentioned before (here and here), I'm really not on board with the "external motivation/reward" thing, especially when it's relied on as heavily as it is in this particular classroom. (Yup. More than last year.) I'll spare you the repetition on the reasons I came to that position.

I find it even more challenging to deal with this year because the way it is done comes into conflict with two values that are strong in our home: simplifying and environmental/social responsibility in purchasing. In other words, we've tried to reduce the amount of stuff we buy (even books!) and when we do buy, we do our best to consider what it cost the earth and the people who made it. But the classroom auction provides a steady stream of cheap plastic stuff, every single week. (Did you know that, according to Julie Schor, the average American kid gets 70 new toys every year? Wow, eh?)

Today at school Maren bought the dinosaur you see above. It broke when it fell out of her hands a few minutes after she brought it home, as is to be expected from a dollar store toy. She was so sad. What a huge disappointment to spend the money you've earned on something that breaks immediately! Maybe it was just a rough day, but she cried and cried. I'd be upset too, though: imagine blowing your whole paycheque on something you really wanted, competing against your peers to win it, only to have it shatter as soon as you got it home.

So in addition to my litany of complaints about a culture of rewards, there is now heartbreak.

So I'm calling on your collective wisdom. I don't even really know what to say to her about it... cheap toys break, but she doesn't have other choices available. The Monopoly money isn't good for anything other than buying stuff in the classroom auction. Everything in the auction is from the dollar store. What would you say?

What would you do? I feel like I want to talk to the teacher, but I can't imagine what I would say that would change her mind about her system. Or do I just chalk it up to a life lesson about disappointment? I think it's hard for me to get enough distance from it to see clearly because the whole thing is already something that I feel strongly about.

{sigh}