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A tone-deaf South Dakota"contest" featuring a bunch of teachers fighting over single dollar bills to fund buying supplies for their classroom sparked internet-wide discussions and backlash about how much teachers are paid.
In what some are calling Squid Game come true, the video went viral via podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, who shared the clip on his Twitter account.
JUST IN: An arena in South Dakota is holding a \u201cDash for Cash\u201d where teachers get on their knees and fight for one dollar bills that they can use for classroom supplies while spectators watch and cheer. (h/t @AnnieTodd96)pic.twitter.com/jIht84Ls9W— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen) 1639343971
South Dakota's Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls hosted the event, which pitted the teachers against each other for $5000 in single dollar bills in the center of the ice rink during a Sioux Falls Stampede hockey game.
Viewers were appalled.
I know this is done with the best of intentions but I kinda hate this.\nJust give the teachers the fucking money, or if you're gonna make them do this at least let it be for twenty dollar bills, not ones.https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— Matt Oswalt (@Matt Oswalt) 1639349918
It\u2019s bad enough teachers have to beg for the most basic class resources or buy them with their own money, but to have them be humiliated like this for \u201cfun\u201d is sickening.— athelas1001 (@athelas1001) 1639345392
This tells us everything we need to know about how much this country cares about educating its children and how much it values and respects its teachers.https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— Mary L Trump (@Mary L Trump) 1639356213
They should just give the money to them. Teachers work hard enough as it is.— Michael B Puskar, Social Justice Activist (@Michael B Puskar, Social Justice Activist) 1639355672
Imagine if we did this for cops as a means of funding their supplies\u2026— LeGate (@LeGate) 1639348564
They should've all just walked up to the rug, put the money in the middle, rolled it up, picked it up and walked it out to their cars whilst giving the middle finger to whoever tried to humiliate them in this way.— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1639347256
The money, which was turned into singles for the benefit of this event, was donated by CU mortgage direct.
In donating the money, the firm said:
“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.”
And while the teachers participated, most viewers found fault with the logic of this event.
this is nasty- u underpay teachers and then humili8 them just so they can provide 4 their students ??https://twitter.com/noliewithbtc/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— king (@king) 1639442178
Just a reminder that the US Defense budget that was approved last week was $753.5 billionhttps://twitter.com/noliewithbtc/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— Barra (@Barra) 1639439475
Remember when right wingers were mad at Squid Game because they thought it didn't portray a true capitalist society and was shallow with its themes?https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— Best RT's in the Game (@Best RT's in the Game) 1639433903
I have this radical lefty belief that we shouldn\u2019t spend $768,000,000,000 on a defense budget when 94% of public school teachers are forced to spend their own money on school supplies.https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— Robert Reich (@Robert Reich) 1639431690
Teachers most often will have to dip into their own money in order to provide things for the classroom. Government funding barely covers essentials such as markers or chalk, desks and chairs.
Anything else must be provided by the teacher. And as this event was an opportunity for the teachers to get some extra money, not every single person was against it.
But for the most part, the consensus was exactly what @VickerySec said:
"This is really sick and degrading. Why is this happening? Just pay the teachers a decent wage and give schools the necessary funding for classroom supplies."
this cuntry is so freakin weirdhttps://twitter.com/noliewithbtc/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— jesse (@jesse) 1639431154
good teachers are, considering the many lifetimes of productivity they enable through their own lives, the most valuable members of our society by far, and here we are literally treating them like circus animals. disgusting.https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— Geoff Thew (@Geoff Thew) 1639427827
gosh I just can't figure out why gen z is turning to socialism and communismhttps://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— Neb | \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Neb | \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1639427618
What if (hear me out) we just funded public schools insteadhttps://twitter.com/noliewithbtc/status/1470141286502080519\u00a0\u2026— Cait\ud83e\udda9 (@Cait\ud83e\udda9) 1639420772
According to local news source the Argus Leader, most teachers got more than $370, with one banking $616.
Unfortunately, not every South Dakota teacher got the same opportunity—a problem that could be avoided with more comprehensive education funding.
After backlash, the Sioux Falls Stampede and CU Mortgage Direct—the cash donor—issued a joint apology.
They stated:
"Although our intent was to provide a positive and fun experience for teachers, we can see how it appears to be degrading and insulting towards the participating teachers and the teaching profession as a whole."
As a further mea culpa, CU Mortgage Direct said they would be providing an additional $15,500 to area teachers.