Opinion: Schoolchildren Shouldn’t Be Forced to Sell Items to Raise Money

Nonprofit groups that send children door-to-door or to visit their parents at work to hawk goods for charity are promoting the wrong ideals, according to a columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Jeff Opdyke, who writes a column for the newspaper, acknowledged that those practices seemed innocent to some people. But many others are tired of children’s fund-raising efforts “because it invariably becomes Dad’s fund-raising efforts.”

Many parents in the article reported that they bought the goods their children were supposed to sell and lied about it on forms they submitted to school or charity officials.

In addition, Mr. Opdyke said children do not learn the importance of charity because the prizes they earn for selling the goods occupy all their attention and distract them from any noble goals.

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