Back to School Costs, Really?

Here comes the old man rant, so get ready.  Yes, it has been 40 years since I graduated from high school.  I also raised five kids and know what they need to go to school.  My oldest daughter is now a third grade teacher.  Here goes the rant.

With computer chalk smart boards, laptops in every room and internet everywhere, why is it such a big dollar amount to send kids back to school?  A box of crayons, a couple of binders and pencils and tissue paper and you are set.  I don't understand much past that.  My kids did their homework on paper and now do it online.  Grades are online, sports schedules are online, school picture appointments are online.  If everything is digital and computerized, why should I be stressing about a few sheets of paper, a couple of pencils and something to blow your nose in?  Want a textbook that has nothing to do with history the way it was?  Want the new math that makes no sense?  Want science that teaches us about how we are all going to die from climate change in 10 years?  You don't need books!  The teacher can find all of that online and print to their Lexmark 470 energy saving printer running off solar energy, or put it on the smart chalk board screen thing.

Okay, got to go, my 9th grader needs a ruler.  Why, I ask. Her smart phone can do that, has a compass, apps and can order food delivered right to the school so she doesn't have to interact or learn social skills.