Flower «tax» on September 1: not needed by teachers, but expensive for parents

IRINA MISHINA

Parents of schoolchildren at the end of August are stressed. It's not easy to get a child to school, buy everything you need right now. According to experts, spending on school supplies and uniforms has increased by about a third this year compared to last year.

Is the bouquet on September 1 a purely Russian tradition?

According to surveys, more than a third of parents (34%) take a two—week vacation before September 1, 29% ask the employer for a week's vacation, 24% — a few days, 13% leave for more than two weeks. The respondents told what exactly they will be doing at this time. 81% are going to be present at the line on September 1; 75% are going to buy uniforms, textbooks, writing materials and other things; 69% are going to take them to school and meet them from school on the first school days; 35% are going to enroll in clubs and sports schools; 24% are going to take the child to the doctors. And if all at once, then life turns into a continuous nightmare. In this nightmare, not the last place, along with the purchase of stationery and uniforms, is occupied by a traditional school bouquet to the teacher. However, recently more and more people are asking the question: is it necessary at all?

We decided to ask on the «mom's» website " <url>» whether bouquets are given at the beginning of the school year in other countries. Here are the answers we received:

«Germany. I've never seen it. We don't give them away ourselves. The eldest in the 1st grade was presented with a sunflower from the school.

Sweden. On the first day, no one gives anything. A normal school day. Celebrate the end of the year, then flowers and gifts are given. But also not everything.

Canada. There is no such stupid practice. We just go to school and that's it.

Belgium. On the last day of the school year, symbolic gifts are given, or 1 bouquet from the whole class. September 1 — no celebrations, straight to the point.»

Among Russian parents in relation to bouquets recently, too, not everything is so clear. Parents on <url>, for example, write:

«It's never wonderful. 30 children in the classroom, 30 bouquets, and so on for every teacher. If they carried one flower at a time, it would be much better.»

«In our country, September 1 is traditionally a big holiday, and flowers contribute to a festive mood. Good traditions need to be preserved. Here are the offerings of all sorts of envelopes and gifts — it's terrible.»

Bouquet price parade

It is worth noting that «offerings» in the form of bouquets to teachers are also not cheap. Most of our flowers are imported, and prices for them, respectively, have skyrocketed recently. So, Muscovites on average spent 2,142 rubles on a flower bouquet in August, and residents of the Perm Region — almost half as much, 1,105 rubles. A little cheaper than Moscow prices — a bouquet in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — an average of 2077 rubles. In St. Petersburg, its bouquet price is already noticeably lower, 1,684 rubles.

Bouquets are noticeably higher than the national average both in the warm Krasnodar Territory (1952 rubles) and in the Irkutsk Region, which is quite remote from it (1936 rubles). In Tatarstan, a bouquet to a teacher will cost 1,634 rubles. Less than the average in Russia, spending by September 1 on flowers in the Stavropol Territory (1,431 rubles), Voronezh (1,302 rubles) and Chelyabinsk regions (1,274 rubles).

Do teachers need bouquets themselves? The question is moot. At the school where my child studies, teachers are asked not to give them bouquets on September 1 and are guided by the action «Children instead of flowers». This is when you can transfer money set aside for a school bouquet to disabled children in need of help. There is also a campaign to help the Nursing Home. But the children still carry flowers…

Whose holiday is it — children or parents?

«We have a „Gift of Life“ campaign in our city on September 1, when money is transferred to targeted patients, » NI said Marina Sharova, a teacher from Cutting the Sverdlovsk region. - Then whole classes are awarded for this. I'm a volunteer myself and I think it's a good start. But if they give flowers, I don't mind either. Our city is small, many grow flowers themselves and bring them, it's very nice. We then distribute flowers to the technical staff and the canteen staff, everyone is happy.»

«I am neutral about bouquets, » Dmitry Kazakov, a history teacher from the Nizhny Novgorod region, told NI. — You can not spend a lot of money on flowers, buy more modest. I still do not completely deny this tradition, because it is a symbol from the past. But it's ridiculous to give huge armfuls, because after 2 days they wither. In our time, they brought flowers from their own garden, now they buy more. And it is difficult to convince parents, for them this is a landmark circumstance, an occasion to take a photo.»

It is also important what exactly the giver puts into the bouquet. Unfortunately, in our country it has often turned into some kind of unhealthy rite of worship of parents to teachers. Moreover, children in this rite are in most cases an extra link. For most of them, the bouquet on September 1 is a burden. I also remember how in the 1st grade before September 1, the teacher at the school asked not to bring more than 1 flower, but the parents attacked the teacher with the words «you want to spoil OUR holiday», «you don't respect us and our children». All this suggests that Russian parents generally treat school as some kind of supernatural phenomenon. But for most, the curriculum is not the main source of knowledge by secondary school. Many «get» the missing with tutors and at the expense of additional education. Wouldn't it be better to save money for this?

Not so long ago, the Pedagogical Navigator service conducted a survey among graduates on the topic «How do you assess the education received at school?» More than 30% rated it as «satisfactory» or «not satisfactory». Only 20% of respondents named school as the main source of knowledge.