Truthfully, we find ourselves doing the same sort of thing for our daughter...and our relatives send the same stuff to us. The kids are trying to get "x" amount of credit for their solicitations, so when they've exausted the local pool, relatives follow.

Rest easy. They get credit for the solicitation whether or not you send money. I never do, unless I get an actual call from said solicitor indicating an urgent need to contribute.

We pay an exorbitant amount of taxes in our district (property taxes on the same $270K home here would be over $7000!)...you would think that should cover expenses. I blame a LOT of the shorfall on the "Robin Hood" mandates...many other upscale communities are dealing with the same issues because money gets spread out to the disadvantaged districts.

Don't feel too bad. I pay property taxes AND my kids go to private schools.

Man, I could use a voucher system!!!

What if you simply ignored the request?

Since when did asking children to use their family connections to beg for money become a civic duty?

Education related costs are one of the entirely too few obligatory expenses that are far more than worth the cost. Education is the only thing that separates us from any 3rd world country. And it is due only to our education system that almost half the folks who start high school finish and get a diploma. Where would we be without it?

The seperation is getting less and less every day. Somehow I am not convinced that is is an issue of money alone. People seem to think that if we throw money at it, it will cure itself. I think the largest part of it is the motivation of the student and the discipline in the school. The student is not motivated enough and the discipline in school is non-existant. Without those, learning is not going to be very good. The students have poor foundations in the necessary skills in math, sciences and english. If they wanted to concentrate on those and make it say 90% of the syllabus instead of fluffing it with all sorts of crap, I would be more hopeful. Does anyone know what we rank in worldwise for the sciences and math? Don't look at the top ten. We are at the point where a HS diploma is worth less than a roll of TP (Much harder than say Charmin on the butt). HS diplomas are good for people to go into manufacturing and what not. Those vocations are gone, period. History, Lit, and all the social sciences are wonderful. However, they don't sell in this modern world.

Having students sell things to people they know to fund their school system strikes me as distasteful at best and exploitative at worst. A bake sale or a car wash is one thing, especially if the purpose is to fund a field trip or something, but magazine subscriptions? It doesn't seem appropriate for students to be selling something where some third party, in this case the magazine publisher, could also benefit.

Kuan, I wouldn't consider you to be a cheapskate for not getting a subscription. It could be construed as a principled stand. Maybe it would be more valuable to your niece and nephew in the long run.

If I hold a bake sale, couldn't the store I buy the ingredients from and the utility companies, etc, etc benifit too?

Principles are fine. However, it might cause disharmony in the family too. Just so you know there is no free lunch. However, I wouldn't buy a subscription I don't want. IOW, if I wanted Hustler, I wouldn't buy Fine Dining just because a kid is selling it.

As the official contrarian, I feel obligated to argue that having the child actually go out and raise money to support his education may actually be of some direct educational benefit, preventing the child from the false belief that education is free. Somebody pays the price.

(Full disclosure: We don't allow our kids to raise money for school. We do allow it for special functions like band travel money or uniforms, lab supplies, etc).

True. Also if he earns part of his education, he might value it more instead of taking it for granted

This drives me nuts, I never did any of those school fundraisers when I was little.

My parants pay tons of property tax that is supposed to go toward the school, if they need more money raise the tax and stop with this BS.

The problem is they spend money like drunk sailors so any tax increase is quickly wasted.:rolleyes:

True, the people who sell flour, sugar, etc. would make money, but they aren't using your kids as sales people, unlike the magazine publishers. It seems different to me.

And as far as principles go, it's like anything, I guess. Sometimes you have to balance what you believe against what will actually work (or not) in your life.

I don't give anything..the schools have too much already. Around here they have been getting over 20% buget increaces yearly...in my mind thats total BS. In my 27 year working career I have never seen a 20% pay raise ever....much less every year. To the schools I say this.... Make do with what you have...and like the rest of us, live within your means.

It would serve the kid better to learn that he has to pay the price for his Nintendo/XBox/Playstation, all of which his parents willingly provide, rather than school.

let the people with all the kids pay for it....I pay more than my fare share already.