US Teachers Forced To Compete For $5000 To Cover School Improvements

As if it wasn't enough to be a teacher through the pandemic, or live in a country where there have been 31 school shootings this year alone, a video has emerged of teachers in the US having to literally scramble for $5,000 for classroom supplies.

Ten teachers from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, were made to crawl on the floor and compete against each other for the cash, which bizarrely had been donated for the 'Dash for Cash' event.

The event took place during Saturday night's Sioux Falls Stampede junior ice hockey game at the Denny Sanford Premier Center and was put forward as a good-natured promotion.

A representative from CU Mortgage Direct, a regional mortgage lender who provided the money, and even proudly told the Argus Leader it was an 'awesome' thing to do for teachers.

"With everything that has gone on for the last couple of years with teachers and everything, we thought it was an awesome group thing to do for the teachers," the rep said.

"The teachers in this area, and any teacher, they deserve whatever the heck they get."

They absolutely do deserve everything they get, but they don't deserve to crawl around on the floor for it like they're taking part in some ridiculous game show.

The teachers told the Leader they were planning on using the funds for school upgrades, like better seating for students.

"It just gives them options to be comfortable when they're in the classroom," Patrick Heyen, a seventh grade math and science teacher at Memorial Middle School, said.

Some of the other teachers said they were planning to use the money for sports equipment or just to cover additional small bits and pieces for the classroom that aren't usually covered by grants or funding.

Unsurprisingly, people have blasted the competition online, calling it stupid, cruel and comparing it to the Netflix hit Squid Game.

Perhaps even sadder is the fact that the teachers who were involved in the event said they loved the opportunity to get more funds for their students.

"I think it's really cool when the community offers an opportunity like this for things that educations a lot of times pay out of pocket for," Alexandria Kuyper, a fifth grade teacher at Discovery Elementary School, said.

Barry Longden, who coaches the e-sports club at Harrisburg High School, said his group is not considered a school activity and is therefore inaccessible to kids who don't have enough money to buy their own equipment.

"Getting that equipment for the kids is really just the big component of what gives them access to this because otherwise, it's really accessible for most kids," Longden said.

"I've been throwing my name in the hat everywhere I can find so that way I can get opportunities to get money for the kids."

I hate it here.

According to the Leader, the teachers got between $378 and $616 each and boy it really feels like it would have been better and more human to divide the $5000 equally between them huh?

Topics: News, united states

Hannah Blackiston