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Elementary School Hosts End-Of-Year Carnival, Excludes All The Poor Kids
http://www.scarymommy.com/elementary-school-excludes-poor-kids-from-end-of-year-carnival/Last week at PS 120 in Queens, New York, more than 100 children were forced to sit in a dark auditorium within earshot of the screams of glee of their fellow classmates who were enjoying an end-of-year carnival outside. It was during school hours. The price of admission was $10, and the kids whose parents couldn’t afford it didn’t get to attend.
Not the poor ones, though. They were shuttled into a dark auditorium to watch old Disney movies. “It’s breaking my heart that there are kids inside,” one teacher told the Post. She spoke of a seven-year-old who was crying hysterically because she was the only one in her class who couldn’t go. One of the children in the auditorium asked if they were being punished for something. The six and seven-year-olds simply didn’t understand why they couldn’t attend. The admission fee excluded the poorest students in the school — most from Chinese immigrant families.
The principal posted a tally in each classroom of who had paid and who hadn’t, and refused to bend admission rules because it wouldn’t be “fair” to those who paid. Teachers were also given a bag of stuffed animals to give to the kids whose families had paid for admission tickets, again excluding the kids whose families couldn’t afford it. One teacher actually withheld the gifts until she could buy more for the students who were excluded.
The school made a $3,000 profit on the event, so they clearly would not have lost money had they let the kids who didn’t pay attend. And really, what would the cost to the school be had they attended? Popcorn is dirt cheap.
Not the poor ones, though. They were shuttled into a dark auditorium to watch old Disney movies. “It’s breaking my heart that there are kids inside,” one teacher told the Post. She spoke of a seven-year-old who was crying hysterically because she was the only one in her class who couldn’t go. One of the children in the auditorium asked if they were being punished for something. The six and seven-year-olds simply didn’t understand why they couldn’t attend. The admission fee excluded the poorest students in the school — most from Chinese immigrant families.
The principal posted a tally in each classroom of who had paid and who hadn’t, and refused to bend admission rules because it wouldn’t be “fair” to those who paid. Teachers were also given a bag of stuffed animals to give to the kids whose families had paid for admission tickets, again excluding the kids whose families couldn’t afford it. One teacher actually withheld the gifts until she could buy more for the students who were excluded.
The school made a $3,000 profit on the event, so they clearly would not have lost money had they let the kids who didn’t pay attend. And really, what would the cost to the school be had they attended? Popcorn is dirt cheap.
17 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
"The Principal should have been slapped around the carnival several times" ... made me LOL and then LOL again!
Its a serious and horrible issue, but .... your response 
Type a colon, then the word 'sarcasm', then another colon, and you get this: 
especially with the low post count. 
Welcome!
what their station in life will be.
