Parent Ads: A Student’s Perspective
This is what my parents were presented with before school even began; the parent ads.
I have only just discovered this because I’m a senior and I have a few issues with the idea of a “parent ad”.
I believe that you should not have to pay money to show your child that you love them.
Publicly buying a page in a yearbook is saying “Look! I love my kid so much that I spent $200 on a full page ad!”
I understand that the yearbook needs money, but consider this: not everyone can afford that.
Is it not enough that parking tags are $150?
Is it not enough that senior pictures are even more expensive?
When I see this chart, it makes me sad. It makes me sad because I see a parent reading this letter and thinking about how they can barely put food on the table. How guilty they must feel with their children’s friends having pages dedicated to them.
Something is wrong with this picture.
A yearbook should be a celebration of a teen’s time spent in high school (and the fact that it’s over).
It’s not a competition to see who can get the bigger page. And the $200 one is at the top.
I’m all for advertising, but this is a guilt trip.
A Hallmark card telling your child that you love them is $0.99
A hug is free.
A $150 half page paragraph for the whole school to see is unreasonable.
I can appreciate that parents want to show how proud they are of their kids. But by doing so, they are throwing other kids who can’t afford such prices into the shadows.
Parent ads: Raising money, lowering equality.
Food for thought.