Cereal killer

I regard teachers with the utmost respect. Their job is extremely valuable, increasingly demanding and totally underpaid. And, it irks me to see them do the very most with the very least...I saw it in Montreal. I see it in Brussels.

Edouard came home yesterday with a little advertisement for Weetos (a Cheerios euro-equivalent) given to him by his teacher. In a nutshell: buy cereal and get classroom gym equipment. For every 6 stamps collected from a box of Weetos, the children get one tubular doodad thingamabob. Edouard insists that I buy a box. It's genious marketing on the company's part. My son wants to actively contribute to the collective classroom wealth. I don't want to disappoint my son. I will include Weetos in my next grocery. What's a few extra dollars? I even have a coupon.

In the end, I am going to be stuck with a damn box of cereal nobody wants to eat. More sadly, though, is a teacher who has to sell out to a cereal company...