Abstract

In this personal research essay, I identified the problems that students and teachers face

when there are limited supplies. Children could face bullying and mental health problems while

teachers are constantly inhibited from doing their jobs. The paper analyzes national surveys and

perspectives from experienced teachers. This examination of the effects of a lack of school

supplies determines that there are solutions at a macro and a micro level.

How a Lack of Adequate Resources Hinders Student Learning

 Education is the foundation of our lives. Our adolescent, and even some of our adult

years, revolve school and learning. On average, we spend approximately seventeen years in some

sort of formal education. There are so many different aspects that affect our education, such as

our teachers, schools, and resources. These resources could range from sharpened pencils to

computers. Too many schools across the world are continually underfunded, under resourced,

and under developed. Without funds or resources, it is difficult and almost impossible to receive

or give a proper and adequate education that will prepare students successfully for their future.

Every year, parents are required to purchase the supplies necessary to ready their children for the

school year. Unfortunately, some parents are not able to do so due to a lack of money. When

parents are unable to provide the tools needed for school, this responsibility often falls onto the

teacher. Although teachers hold an important role in our lives, they are consistently under paid so

when the responsibility of supplying their shoulders fall on their shoulders, the money comes out

of their own pocket rather than the school’s. When it all comes down to it, school supplies,

although they seem quite small and unimportant, play a huge role in the classroom. Most of the

school day is spent with a pencil in the students’ hands and without a writing utensil, no work

can be done. Not only can it disrupt the learning process by delay, students’ may experience

bullying and anxiety or even avoid school to escape this.

For my research, I choose to find articles online as well as conduct an interview with a

Purdue Northwest professor, Carolyn Warren. Professor Warren has previously worked as a

teacher, principal, and assistant principal in elementary, middle, and high school settings. She

has experience in working with schools with low funding and a lack of supplies. Throughout her

years in teaching, she has collaborative with other teachers for the most effective ways to spend a

school budget. She has also seen how young students are affected when they do not have the
resources for school supplies. She noticed her students seemed discouraged and embarrassed if

we were not equipped with adequate learning tools. Too often, the students’ grades would fall.

To help, Professor Warren and her coworkers would give some students backpacks with school

supplies and food without drawing attention to the student. After I interviewed Professor Warren,

I went to the internet to complete my research. I searched for things such as “How does a lack of

school supplies affect students?” and “Statistics about school supplies”. I found three different

articles. The first article points out how a lack of materials inhibits student success in the

classroom. This article is written by Julia Taboh and references Meredith Broussard’s work.

Although this article was posted by The Odyssey Online, I do believe this is a trustworthy site.

The second article discusses the effects on students when there is a lack of school supplies. To

me, this article seems to be a blogpost of an interview of a teacher conducted by Brittany

Johnson, a student in Longwood, Florida.. The last article provides statistics on how the price of

school supplies has changed over the years for elementary, middle, and high schools. This article

was posted onto a Los Angeles news site in 2017. I find that the articles I found and the

interview I conducted will assist me.

Carolyn Warren is a Purdue Northwest professor and was a previous teacher, principal,

and assistant principal for elementary, middle, and high schools in multiple districts. Within the

districts she has worked in, she has had to deal with varying budget sizes. Although she was

given a budget from the school, Professor Warren would spend a couple extra dollars for her

students and classroom (C. Warren, personal communication, April 11, 2018). As a teacher,

Professor Warren felt that even a lack of materials for science experiments and field trips would

hinder her students’ learning opportunities. Individually, the students seemed discouraged and

embarrassed, she noticed, without their school supplies (C. Warren, personal communication,
April 11, 2018). She would never bring attention to those students and would give them a

backpack of materials, such as supplies and food, to take home at the end of day. Without doing

any research, Professor Warren was able to notice a difference in her students when their

families were struggling.

Brittany Johnson, a student from Longwood, Florida, interviewed a teacher in her district

to discuss the effects that a lack of school supplies can have on a young student. Johnson

paraphrased the interview and created a post, titled Lack of School Supplies in School: The

Effects on the Students, for her school’s blog where her classmates post as well. For her teacher,

the biggest problem in her classroom was that there was not enough material for every student,

resulting in a longer lesson so the students could share (Johnson 2012). Johnson mentions

kinesthetic learning, a form of hands-on learning and is also known as tactile learning (Sadker &

Zittleman, 2016, p. 35). With the loss materials, students who are better learning kinesthetically

will suffer. Every student learns differently, if teachers are not able to reach every student, the

job is not being done.

In Lack of Materials Hinders Student Success, Julia Taboh makes references towards an

article, Why Poor Schools Can’t Win at Standardized Testing, by Meredith Broussard throughout

her piece. Taboh makes a point to mention that poorer schools receive less resources and tax

money is not enough to supply them. Teachers spend at most $1,000 of their own money a year

to enhance the budget given them by the school for basic supplies while some buy supplies from

teachers in other districts (Taboh 2015). Some of books and other materials would not even be in

there curriculum, but the teachers were too desperate to pass them up. Schools will collect data to

determine if the students are learning the correct information and receiving adequate materials.

Due to state funding cuts, schools are often forced to let go of administration. With a lack of
administration, the data is either incorrect or incomplete (Taboh 2015). Thus, it is difficult for the

district to determine accurately what the students need to succeed in the classroom.

The author of Backpack Index: The Cost of School Supplies Nearly Doubled in 10 Years,

Sadef Kully, provides the definition of The Backpack Index; the annual survey of how the price

of school supplies changes. The purpose of The Backpack Index is to track the cost of the

required school supplies parents have to pay to prove that schools cost more than what is

evaluated for taxes (Kully 2017). Within the last 10 years, the price of school supplies and fees

has increased by 88 percent for elementary schoolers, 81 percent for middle schoolers, and 68

percent for high schoolers. The prices of school supplies is currently compiled between $600 and

$1500 for elementary, middle, and high school students (Kully 2017). The total amount raises if

the students participate in extracurriculars or sports. Since approximately one in five students

live below the poverty line, parents find the materials difficult to pay for which makes it difficult

for students to do well in school or join after schools activities.

With the information I have found, I find that a lack of school supplies in underfunded

schools is a bigger issue than people originally believe. Teachers are being forced to take time

out of their lesson to assure that every student receives an opportunity with the materials

necessary to learn a topic. Thus, time that could be used for learning is being wasted and the

students are missing learning opportunity. Not only are student losing time and learning

opportunities in the process, but their grades and self-esteem are being negatively affected, as

well.

With the information I have collected, I have come to a few reasonable solutions. The

easiest solution is to donate to impoverished schools whenever possible. Through my years of

back-to-school shopping experience, parents who are more wealthier than other purchase more
supplies than their students need. On a macro level, our local, federal, and state governments

need to recognize that just using taxes to fund a school is not enough. Teachers need to stop

being held responsible for supplying their students and classrooms. If people believe that

education is the best investment, they need to act like it.

References

Johnson, B. (2012, July 2). Lack of School Supplies in School: The Effects on the Students.

Longwood Blogs. Retrieved from http://blogs.longwood.edu/brittanyjohnson/2012/07/02/

the-effects-on-the-students/

Kully, S. (2017, June 26). Backpack Index: The Cost of School Supplies Nearly Doubled in 10
 Years. NBC Los Angeles News. Retrieved from https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/nat

ional-international/Rising-Cost-School-Supplies-Supplying-Our-Schools-

428650113.html

Sadker, D.M., & Zittleman K.R. (2016). Teachers, Schools, and Society: A Brief Introduction to

Education (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Taboh, Julia. (2015, Nov. 18). Lack Of Materials Hinders Student Success. The Odyssey Online.

Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/lack-of-material