The high school math teacher at Three Standard Deviations to the Left shares his frustration that many of his seniors haven’t been able to pick up their new course textbooks from the school library because—despite his reminders—they still haven’t returned their books from last semester. When he overhears two of the negligent students talking about their Christmas vacations—one got an iPod, the other took a trip to New Zealand—his frustration grows and takes aim at parents:
Parents, when teachers say we would like parental support, we don't mean that you have to come to all the PTA meetings ... we know that you are busy. We need you to support your kid's education, and that includes not giving kids expensive toys and vacations if the kid hasn't even found a way to return or pay for books he's lost that belong to the school.