Neither the summary or the article contain a copy of one of these lists as far as I can tell. So I guess we'll just have to take your word for it.

I had a feeling a riding mower and shotgun weren't required for 5th grade...

I know my local walmart has a whole square island dedicated to these things, but honestly, I've always just assumed they were for real. It would make sense for the schools to send out the lists to all the local stores. But making them up to look like real ones?! That's just evil.

It must be the parents' fault, for hiring teachers who didn't check with Wal-Wart to get their proper lists.

Since when is sealing wax "medieval?" Does the submitter not know that you can go to any Hallmark store and buy some (as well as a variety of seals)?

Staples by my house has the same thing. they call it a "suggested back to school shopping list"

Lots of crap that's not needed, or that the school already supplies.

Very misleading indeed.

@AlteredBeast: You obviously didn't go to school in farm country :)

Another issue with those school lists is how the teacher always has one or two items on there that don't exist at 95% of retail stores. It'll say like, "Liquid Gel Pink Pen". WTH do you find those w/o going to arts and crafts store and paying $5 or more per pen?

Also, it seems like half the stuff never gets used anyways.

Maybe this just shows what a cynical consumer I am, but whenever I see those lists at Staples, Wal-Mart, etc. I assume they are advertisements with a back-to-school list layout. So sad I was right.

Where did this incident occur at? Los Angeles? Mumbai, India? Details!!

Someone in the comments of the original article outlined one of the lists:

By Zang on August 19th, 2008 at 7:01 am

I picked up one of the lists that my local Walmart had in abundance and was amazed at what I thought the teachers were asking for…

Pre-K thru 5th grade, Decker Elementary in Austin Tx, listing just Pre-K which is the LARGEST (Walmart@Norwood Park, I-35@183)
-
PRE-KINDERGARTEN
4 Folders with brads and pockets
1 scissors
6 glue sticks
1 ream of construction paper
1 pack of manila paper
1 comp notebook
4 cans of play-doh
1 package large safety pins
1 ream of copy paper
1 ream of white cardstock
1 full sized backpack, no wheels
1 change of clothes
2 boxes of crayons
1 pack of pencils
1 box of large ziploc baggies

Ok, wtf, a composition notebook for pre-k? bag of safety pins? 3 reams of paper and cardstock?

When my kids were small, we moved cross country. During the unpacking phase I suffered a serious eye accident. Flat on my back, bandages on my face, my mother and sister flew out to help.

Oh shit! School was starting the next day!

They scrambled through the cardboard cartons for a few pencils, an old back pack, a few half-filled notebooks. All they found were "Barbie" crayons so my mother peeled the paper off of each one and stuffed them in a bag for my little boy.

And we sent them off to school. Guess what? Nobody died.
The school did not complain, the kids were able to do their work and classroom activity did not come to a complete halt because we neglected to bring construction paper the first day.

Really, I'm finding that there's a lot of waste involved from year to year.

@timmus: Srsly. I want to know what the banned crap is! Pop rocks? Beef jerky? Inquiring minds want to know.

-----------------------------------
1982 Back to school list:

Book Bag, Blue
Lunch Box, Garfield
Trapper Keeper 3 Ring Binder
#2 pencils (Qty = 2)
-----------------------------------

-----------------------------------
2008 Back to school list:

iPod, 60GB.
Macbook Air
Motorola Razr Cell Phone
Backpack, Waterproof Neoprene
-----------------------------------

The times, they are a changin'.

hey, i'm in my 30s and i still love shopping for school supplies. sue me.

Is it wrong that I always geeked out when it was time for school supply shopping? I kept up with the day the elementary school lists were released, and bam I was at K-Mart with Mom or Nana. The enormous display of all the schools' lists, virgin notebooks, unsharpened pencils... Heaven.

@backbroken: Yeah, that list is for kindergartners -- what about the rest of the grades?

School supply lists are getting more and more outrageous and the teachers are getting ever more and more anal about what supplies the students have. I understand college instructors being nitpicky about what a student brings, after all most all college students are adults. But to require a composition notebook for PRE K? WTF? My Sophomore English teacher in high school accepted journal entries on sheets of notebook paper provided you had it folded into /stapled into your spiral journal at the end of the six weeks.

I have a feeling that the ream of copy paper for PreK kids is actually so the teacher doesn't have to buy any since the school district overspent on football uniforms and banquets at the district head office to buy freaking paper for the classroom printer. You'd be surprised what teachers are making students buy for the teacher to use in the classroom in some places.

I have a question about school supplies, teacher buying supplies, etc. When I was a kid, my parents bought me school supplies for me to use. The school (I assume it was the school) provided things like paper, glue, art supplies, etc. Now it seems, based on my conversations with folks who have kids, that parents buy school supplies for the kid and also provide supplies for the class room or the school.

When did the schools stop providing paper?
And a follow up question, where the hell does my school tax payer money go?

Target asks local schools for lists, but they aren't given them and/or run out, so print up generic ones. I've seen clearly fake lists at OfficeMax and Office Depot as well. The unfortunate thing is, around here (San Jose), with the number of people in poverty, school districts basically don't have school supply lists, because they can't require families to pay for it, so people are getting duped into buying crap they don't need to.

These back to school lists have been pushed by stores for years. When my Mom died I was looking through her files and I found one from Bradlees (how retro is that?) from 1972. Not sure if it was approved by the local school district or not, but I'm not sure why the fuss here?

Walmart is evil for so many reasons beyond trying to move school supplies that aren't selling.

"Is this one rogue Walmart or some kind of systematic evil?"

That's a rhetorical question, right?

Retail seems to have caught on to the idea that if they market it right they can get an almost "Christmas" kind of frenzy going.

My girlfriend works at a major electronics retail chain and she manages the computer department (among others) and for her "Back to School" is her Christmas.

This is very deliberate and has been going on for a long time.

My daughters school mailed a supply list to us. Wal Mart had the same list. Perhaps, Wal Mart decided to suppply lists when the school(s) did not.

@Imaginary_Friend: probably things like crayons or other items that might prompt classroom conflict and is going to be supplied by the school anyway.

@B1663R: How is that misleading? It says that it's suggested, which to me means that it's a made up list that isn't approved of in any way by the school. And the ones I've seen have no school name anywhere on them, which should make it even more clear that it's a Staples made up list.

I have to say though, the college list is kind of funny. Laptop? Nice to have, but not needed. USB drive? Isn't that what email is for? Pencil pouch? I saw very few people using those in high school. Even less in college.

My youngest daughter came back from her first day of middle school (in East KY) with the rumor that we had to go to Wal-mart because that was where the school supply lists were posted. I knew I smelled a rat. The teachers around these parts usually hand out their own supply lists directly to the students. Although is was strange that they didn't do it on the first day.

The Walmart near me has a photocopy of our school list. It is real because I downloaded mine from our school website and it is indeed the same. Some teachers do make up their own and bring them in to Walmart and Staples themselves. Someone mentioned to me that some schools will order all your kids school supplies for one fee, saving you time at the store! Sounds good to me!

@SadSam: "When did the schools stop providing paper?
And a follow up question, where the hell does my school tax payer money go?"

1) No Child Left Behind. It's Federally required, but not Federally FUNDED.

2) Special Education. Obscenely expensive for kids that often need little more than babysitting, not "teaching." I'm not talking about the ones that are teachable, they are expensive but it's worth it.

well, at least in Florida (which is backwards as hell), there is barely enough money for schools to pay the teachers, much less get supplies.

Where does the tax money go? Not to the schools, that's for sure.

@The_IT_Crone: Ummyeah, no way in hell does pre-k need lined paper or pencils, nor would a teacher allow them play-doh. A kid uses maybe 2 glue sticks a year, probably 1, and 1 box of crayons would last them most of elementary school.

The list also leaves off a lot of things, like the box of tissues and reusable lunchbag.

@MrEvil: Many school districts just do not budget for school supplies any more. the budget was never that big anyway and elementary school teachers in particular have always spent out of pocket to set up their classrooms - that's why they even have a tax credit for it.

But these days, with large class sizes, dwindling budgets and a soft economy, teachers can't even afford to do what they once did.

My son is in private school, so I'm not surprised by his school supply list. I'd rather see my tuition money go towards maintaining facilities and teacher salaries - $20 on back to school supplies isn't a big deal to me.

Seriously folks, I think that it is parents that are over doing this. Yeah, what Walmart is doing is fishy, but common on now. 1st day of school, send you kid there with a pencil, pen, 3 ring binder, lunch and a backpack. Have him ask the teacher what will be needed then go shopping for it; or get the stuff on the fly, but don't depend on stores to give you a list supplies. It like depending on TV to babysit your kids.

@thalensmom: It's not just evil, it's illegal. If they printed out the lists intending for people to believe that they were the official lists, then they've committed fraud.

But, I don't buy it -- it's an awfully big risk that involves some work (finding out the teacher names at local schools, faking a fax header, etc) and I just don't see the manager of a neighborhood Walmart going through the effort. It would be much easier just to get the official lists.

It's more likely that they reused an old list or got the lists mixed up -- Mr. Smith, the shop teacher who demands that you come to school with a set of chisels is different than Mr. Smith, the Kindergarten teacher, who wants you to come to school with a set of chisel-point markers.

Around us, the schools and the stores don't communicate at all -- the schools have very precise lists "2 8-oz bottles Elmer's White Glue," "24-pack crayola crayons, primary colors," etc... and the stores never have exactly what you need.

@MrEvil: Schools have been pushing off a lot of the supply needs on the parents. This year, for example, every kid in my daughter's class turned in 2 packages of Clorox Wipes.

@B1663R: If it said "suggested", I don't see a problem with it. What Walmart is doing is a bit shady. Be honest about it by saying, "Although your school hasn't put out a list, here are a few things that you'll probably need."

I know its helpful for me to go shopping with a list because I'll always forget something. And besides, I'd rather have too much stuff on the list and then mark out what I don't need vs. having a barebones list then end up running back to the store for something else.

Wallly World does the same thing around here, I thought the fax line at the top was fake...

This year the district sent out handbooks early that had all of the grade supply lists on it. Since this years list was a tiny fraction of previous years lists that I grabbed at the store I have to wonder if padded school lists are a common thing.

At least this year nobody asked for a green ball point pen. It seemed like every year those were demanded and nobody carries them. Supposedly one small local drug store chain carries them. I am not making a 20 mile drive to a store I never shop at for one freaking green pen.

Last year the teachers confiscated all the students dry erase board erasers at the end of the year. Some vague statement to the students about using them for next year. Never mind the only way to obtain a new eraser is to buy an $8 pack of eraser and multiple pens. On this years list, guess what... dry board erasers. The kid is getting sent an old rolled up sock.

At least in New York State, I thought the Lottery was supposed to take care of all of our educational expenses!

@cf27: I'm not sure I'd go as far to say that it's illegal. Stupid, maybe. It would be one thing for Walmart to fake school stationary and write a letter on that stationary saying that buying Crayola crayons are better because of the wax-to-colar ratio. But faking a fax header...eh. For all we know it was faxed by someone. Not necessarily the school, but it could still be faxed.

Without a picture of the list, it's hard to say.

@SadSam: Where have you been? My sister-in-law, who is a teacher in the midwest, has had to buy her classroom school supplies for at least the past 7 years.

Not all teachers have the means (or caring relatives) to buy the school supplies that their districts won't provide so sometimes that means the cost is passed onto the parents.

@Norcross: Our money doesn't go to the teachers or for supplies and books. Most of it goes to the football team. The school spends obscene amounts of money on this and then we can't afford critical textbooks for required classes and the sad excuse for a school lunch is double what other districts charge. Rumor is the extra lunch fee is to help pay for the football team.

I am to the point that they need to shut down team sports in the public schools. Let the parents run them on their own time and money like the soccer and swim leagues do. Put that money back into the classroom.

No pics or copies of the list on the site. If she were truly so concerned or outraged, she could take the fifteen seconds to illustrate it. I don't doubt the possibility, but I highly doubt the credibility of the poster.

@dveight: And then the night after the first day you find everything to be sold out at your local stores.

It's happened to us before. It sucks.

@hellinmyeyes:

Yeah, I noticed the lack of details to be a valid issue. What exactly was banned?

@dveight: This

Just figure that the extra $5 or $6 spent is the cost of not doing your homework and calling the school directly to get the list.

I teach in a school district with a tremendous tax base, so my list for parents (for third grade) is very reasonable (5 each folders and notebooks, don't care what kind, pencils, erasers) and that's it. I am able to order and supply all other needs out of my considerable classroom budget.

Needless to say, districts vary WIDELY.

If you don't like the list your kid's teacher sent out, first, have an amicable conversation with the teacher, then complain to the school board, the meetings are public. Be polite and intelligent, but make your voice heard. Make an appointment with the superintendent. Write her/him a letter, and get your friends to do the same. This is what I always wish parents would do when they have a complaint. At least in my district, parent voices count WAY more than those of teachers.

If you click the link, one of the comments lists some items from the pre-k list that they found at their local Walmart.

It includes: 1 package large safety pins

Safety pins? Really?!

@The_IT_Crone: During my year of student teaching in a major urban district, the school ran out of paper for 3 MONTHS. No paper, no joke. My lead teacher refused to buy her own paper so she didn't hand anything out for 3 months. This was the best academic magnet school in the city, and it couldn't provide paper.

Come on, the OP couldn't have possibly thought a 12 gauge shotgun, a bible, 5 different NASCAR t-shirts and the George W. Bush autobiography were required for kindergarten students.