Readers' reactions

$100K mobile phones but no textbooks

Imagine! Focusing on nonsense. In my time, my father’s first request after school opens — Bring me the book list. Got every book, whatever needed for class. Now some thinking gadgets/cheap trinkets to be eventually left behind? - @VernaPolitics

Sir, parents should not be asked to buy books for children in primary and high school! The government should provide that. The only time you should be asked to buy books is at the tertiary level! Why are we normalising and supporting this? - @Truth_Rights39

I buy all the textbooks every year. One textbook for almost $4K and, for the entire school year, less than 10 pages were used. Best believe I made use of the other pages over the summer. - Suzette Harrison Brown

Come on there Linvern; you have got that so right! My children at the college level laugh at my phone and refer to it as a 'BANGER'. My response: I have five children and they have needs. So, until those are met, the banger remains. Let us remind each other that we have a duty to give the best to get the best in every sense. - Claudette Moore-Paul

Parents should buy banger phones for their children and use the $100k to invest in the stock market or life insurance. - Junior Marshall Hastings

Parents are tired of buying those books that you don't use. - Amina Makeda

This can be good and can be bad because, if these phones are used wisely, u actually don't need any textbook because all the information in a textbook can be found online. - Michael Wellington

The phones are important too; it helps to keep a check on your kids safety and what they're up to. Phones are for security reasons, you can even turn on the tracker on the phone to track your child's movements. Not saying books aren't important as the phone as both are priorities for me. - Janice Larmond-McIntosh

It's 2026, they need both. - Camille Parchment

I am not buying a $100K phone for myself much less for a child. I am glad I had my children before this period and thank God the grandchildren are being trained correctly. - Dorothy Quest Buchanan

Readers' reactions sourced from The Gleaner's X and Facebook pages. Compiled by Khanique McDaniel