Friday, October 12, 2007

Great use of the Internet

I think this may be one of the more creative and powerful uses of the internet that I have come across in a long time. Donors Choose
We all know just how bad off our school systems are financially. Not to say anything of the academic "stats", but it is a sad state of affairs when teachers are having to go spend their own hard earned, and all things considered, small paychecks to be able to provide the basic essentials in the classrooms. Things they need to be able to teach our kids, the future of this country. The potential leaders of business and government. The very structure of our society. Without even so much as updated books, paper and pencils. PENCILS? Are you kidding me? Sad. I will spare the reader my opinions on the obviously ridiculous justification for the BILLIONS being spent elsewhere in the world, while some 5 year old in "Anytown U.S.A" has no utensil in which to write the word CAT. It's all too simple an argument.
Take a look at this posting on the site from a teacher in Charleston- One of the most popular tourist attractions in the country:

I teach the third grade in a Title 1 school in North Charleston, SC in a low socioeconomic area. My students love to learn, but I do not make enough money to buy enough supplies for my entire class. We need basic supplies like notebook paper, pencils, composition books, markers, crayons, and tissue for our classroom. I would love to have enough for them to be able to do our daily activities.

My students will use these resources everyday. I know these seem like beginning of the year supplies that every student brings to school on the first day of class. However, this is a very poor neighborhood and most students do not bring in any of these items during the year nor do they have these basic supplies at home. The supplies brought in by the few students that do contribute at the beginning of the year are used up by Thanksgiving or even earlier. I end up spending the little money that I earn on these essential supplies that my students need to have and I simply cannot afford it any longer!

All of my students would have access to these materials and would benefit tremendously from your donation on a daily basis. Thank you for your help!

My project needs basic classroom supplies like paper, pencils, markers, and notebooks to complete our day to day activities. The cost of this proposal is $371, which includes shipping for any materials requested.


When you go to the site which is also posted on the right of my page, you can sign up and review what teachers needs are all around the country. You can find specific projects that teachers are developing and creating to help teach our kids in a better, more creative and stimulating way.
A neat part of the site has a section in which you can create a challenge for others to participate in and help raise money for specific projects. Have a look. A few dollars here and there can make a difference. Pass that link on to as many people as you can. Maybe we can do something about this. Clearly, our government can't.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

did you know that the site was created by the guy from Craigslist? I saw him on The Colbert Report last night and thought it was interesting how soon after you posted it, he was on colbert... Maybe they are reading this blog :)