SOUTH DAKOTA TEACHERS SCRAMBLE FOR CASH AND SOME ARE NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT

I came from a family of teachers. My grandmother on my dad’s side was a teacher, mom was a teacher, and so are my sisters. My daughter is currently in school for teaching. It’s kind of in the blood. At family events we at times talk about the struggles of teachers from how they struggle to control students and the unending discussion about teachers’ pay and buying supplies for their classroom. While I fully understand schools having budgets I have spoken to teachers that struggle with supplies, and it becomes their responsibility to purchase some or parents are asked to pool supplies for the classroom. I’m not going to argue it either way. It is great when a town or organization get an idea to help out the schools with auctions, supply drives, or even something as simple as a bake sale. Recently there was an event held by the local hockey team in South Dakota where teachers got in the middle of the rink and tried to scoop as much cash as they could off a mat at center ice. At first, many people just saw it as a fun way to make a donation. However, it has been getting a large amount of backlash for coming off as a sad reflection of how underfunded schools can be and the strain it puts on teachers. Some related it to the recent Netflix show “Squid Game” where people with large debts compete in games to the death over a large amount of money. That’s going a bit far, but you can understand which each side is saying. Whether you agree or not is irrelevant. The hockey team and the sponsors have all apologized to those that felt it was in poor taste. What are your thoughts? Was it all in good fun or demeaning to the teachers participating?