Yahoo News Should school pupils stop giving teachers Christmas presents? Have your say
Consumer champion Martin Lewis has spoken out against pupils and parents giving individual Christmas presents to teachers.
Lewis, founder of the Money Saving Expert website, sparked a debate on Thursday when he told Times Radio: “I’ve been campaigning for years on banning unnecessary Christmas presents.
“That’s not the presents for the kids under the tree or your spouse, that’s the ever growing list of family, friends, teachers that we feel obligated to buy for.”
Lewis later clarified he was not calling for a “legislative ban on giving teachers presents”. He added: “Teachers do an amazing job and I know many people are grateful.
Should we ban gifts to teachers. I want to clear up my real view on this as its in some papers... so even though it's past midnight, I've quickly recorded this... pic.twitter.com/t3Tkme12K8
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) December 15, 2023
"But I do have slight worries that when you're talking about individuals giving teachers gifts out of their own pockets, then those with the biggest pockets are able to make teachers more grateful.
"I'm sure most teachers don't behave in that way, but I do think that sets a moral hazard.”
Lewis, who is one of the most trusted public figures in the UK - something he admitted this week causes stress which is “very difficult to manage” - also said of the gift debate: "We have to be very careful amidst a cost of living crisis that we don’t make it a matter of course that people buy gifts for teachers and therefore put unnecessary, unaffordable pressure on every parent."
He said his solution would be for a representative from each class to hold a collection, with those who can afford it putting money in and the present coming “from the entire class”.
But what do you think? Tell us in the poll below.
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