Reply #9: Although personal responsibility is a reasonable thing to teach ... [View All]

[surrealAmerican]

... sharing is just as valuable a lesson.

In our school district, which has an unusually broad variety of economic circumstances, pooling supplies worked very well in the early grades. The wealthier parents would send extra supplies. Those children whose parents couldn't afford to send supplies were not made to feel like outcasts. Kids did not have "clues" to tie family wealth to social status (name-brand supplies vs cheaper generic versions).