UUGGHHH! Other people piss me off!

I feel so flustered right now that I am not sure I should be blogging because I might just ramble, but oh well! I feel like I have been defending myself as a good teacher to someone who apparently thinks I am horrible! On one of the message boards I frequent, we got into a discussion about school supplies. I responded to questions about the topic from a teacher's perspective. I told them what supplies I requested in my syllabus every year, and one woman (I assume it was a woman) jumped down my throat because I ask my kids to have a 1" binder for the class. This is her response:

"If the binder is so important why don't you buy them then sell them to the students, for your cost, of course? That way you will get exactly what you want. Diid you even consider that you might be compelling some students/parents to run all over town at inconvenient times just to get the exact binder teacher wants, assuming they can find it?Also, I thought things like crayons, scissors, glue, etc was for elementary grades. What are you teaching thme in HS that they need crayons for? No wonder kids get fed up/discouraged with school. I mean, can't the schools give them something more age appropriate than cutting up paper and making little projects all day/"

First of all, WHAT???? I responded back to her more nicely than I wanted to, but I didn't want to tick off other people as well. The last part of her response is what irritates me more than anything. I had mentioned in an earlier post that I kept markers, crayons, glue, scissors, etc. for students to use, so it's not a part of the school supply list. Am I an idiot to think that HS students wouldn't enjoy a more fun activity every now and then? She must think we just do paper/pencil work all day long. I'd hate to be in her class!

ETA: The discussion went on during the evening. Here is another response from the same person: "What grade is this? You said HS--High School? In my opinion, that's too childish for a HS project. My dd did something similar for 4th grade, she found it somewhat boring, the assignment was to make a poster of an historical character, using crayons, markers, glue sticks, etc. When I was in HS we were doing actual term papers, complete with bibliographies, footnotes, etc., had to follow MLA style sheet, served me well for college. I know the teacher doesn't create the assignments, its the school that decides what is done in what grade, you as a teacher really have little control over that. But I feel the project you described to be way beneath what should be expected from high school."

The project she is referring to is the one I described where the kids get to use markers, crayons, glue, etc. When we are reading Of Mice and Men, each group creates a character poster with the following: picture of character, what character says, acts, feels, and how other characters respond, all complete with quotes from the book. I guess that is too childish in her opinion.

Here is another response by this same woman: "I want to gag reading this! That's busy work plain and simple. Its at the elementary school level. Just what do they do in college--more of the same? Can't schools think of something for a student to do besides cut up paper and color all day? No wonder there's so many incompentents in the work force and employers are falling over themselves to hire foreign workers, they're the only ones who can do the job, unless its coloring and drawing."

This thread was making me want to scream. I even did a little and scared Soze half to death! This is an example of a parent who does not understand what it is like to work with kids everyday.