Back to School Shopping

Though I'm going back to school soon, this isn't actually about me doing any back to school shopping. It is about the change in back to school shopping from when I was a kid.

Here were the stages. In elementary school growing up, it was all about what lunchbox you could get mom to buy. In middle school, it was trying to get them to fork over $20 for the Trapper Keeper. All 80's kids remember the Trapper Keeper. In high school, you focused on the clothes, and on which Texas Instruments graphing calculator you could get, for just under $100.

I was watching t.v. today. Circuit City was having a back to school sale. Electronics stores never used to do this. Target sold you everything you needed. They had lines of laptop and desktop computers on sale for a back to school special. I wish I was in high school now. My dad likes toys enough that I'm sure I could have convinced him that it was a school necessity instead of a high school graduation gift. Ah well, the times have changed.

At one point, pens, pencils, and paper were the necessary functions, with folders being the highpoint. I don't want to know what kids force parents to spend on backpacks nowadays (I'll be sporting my custom made Timbuktu bag ordered online for me this fall).

Remember when back to school shopping was about class supplies and not social or economic standards? Why did we let marketing and corporation take over? Fight the power.