# Why do kids give their teachers apples? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624 "2002-10-31T02:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/1 "2002-10-31T02:03:13Z")
Yeah, that’s basically it. Does it represent something? Is it something like the three layers each represent reading, writing, and arithmetic? Thanks for the help. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/2 "2002-10-31T02:15:18Z")
Do they? Cites? First-hand experience? ---
**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/3 "2002-10-31T02:21:03Z")
i’m pretty sure there’s some substance to it, considering the saying “an apple for the teacher”. also, you can see it done in various cartoons, children’s books, and other places. at least in america i’ve seen it. i’m not sure kids do it anymore, considering how old-fashioned it is. anyway, they do or did do it. i want to know why or at the very least, why, if it is a UL, it started in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/4 "2002-10-31T03:00:56Z")
Bribery? ---
**Author:** ![pud\_lumpkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@pud\_lumpkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pud_lumpkins)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/5 "2002-10-31T03:11:02Z")
maybe their parents hate the teacher and make the kids bring in crappy apples. then it evolved into just clueless parents making kids bring in apples for no apparent reason. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/6 "2002-10-31T03:16:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*Do they? Cites? First-hand experience? \*\* I guess that this is something that does not exist in the “Old World”. It is an old Norman-Rockwellesque American cliche’. The teacher always has a shiny red apple on her desk. I don’t know why. But it is synonymous with teaching in America. Whenever an award is given to a teacher, it is usually in the shape of an apple, anytime there are papers with teaching related graphics there will usual be an apple there with a cartoon worm wearing a mortarboard. I should note that this applies mostly to grade-school teachers. I too have wondered where the heck that tradition of giving the teacher an apple got started and why. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/7 "2002-10-31T03:24:39Z")
I saw it in _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/8 "2002-10-31T03:34:44Z")
You can see some examples of it in these pictures. [http://www.nrm.org/educational/edu\_tours.html](http://www.nrm.org/educational/edu_tours.html) [http://www.aabc.com/rockwell/pet.htm](http://www.aabc.com/rockwell/pet.htm) [http://members.sockets.net/~ctrycuty/TeacherApple.htm](http://members.sockets.net/~ctrycuty/TeacherApple.htm) [![](http://www.suncatchers.com/3019j.jpg) ](http://www.suncatchers.com/3019j.jpg) [http://ideanet.doe.state.in.us/toy/welcome.html](http://ideanet.doe.state.in.us/toy/welcome.html) [http://www.datasync.com/~teachers/teachers\_survival\_kit.html](http://www.datasync.com/~teachers/teachers_survival_kit.html) [http://www.abcteacher.com/catalog/pages/sp-pn-apple.shtml](http://www.abcteacher.com/catalog/pages/sp-pn-apple.shtml) In america, the symbol for learning is the apple. Hmmm… Apple from the tree of knowledge maybe? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/9 "2002-10-31T04:20:20Z")
School traditionally started around harvest, and students would bring gifts form the harvest to the teacher (perhaps as payment - pay for school by feeding the teachers, since they don’t have the time to farm themselves). September is just about when the apple harvest is ready, and so it is a “handy” item to bring in, and not too difficult to carry for the little kids (such as a pumpkin!). it’s just a WAG, but it makes sense to me. When I was in elementary school, every year my class would go apple picking in September. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/10 "2002-10-31T05:32:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muad’Dib \* > \*\*I guess that this is something that does not exist in the “Old World”. \*\* No, we have the same folk tradition over here, and it’s shown in our kids’ comics, cartoons, and storybooks too. But none of those are reliable sources for anything more than a folk tradition. The same sources show ostriches with their heads buried in the sand and lots of other situations that don’t exist in reality. If the OP is looking for a serious explanation as to why an apple should be used as a bribe for a teacher, as opposed to anything else there’d better be a more substantial cite than a strip cartoon or a Norman Rockwell painting. My WAG? The most likely explanation is that any bribe would have done, an apple came to hand a couple of times and was a memorable enough image to begin the tradition. There’s unlikely to be any deeper symbolism involved. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/11 "2002-10-31T12:27:20Z")
My guess is that it started in the old days when teachers were paid very poorly. An apple or any fruit would have been a welcome gift ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/12 "2002-10-31T16:32:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scm1001 \* > \*\*My guess is that it started in the old days when teachers were paid very poorly. An apple or any fruit would have been a welcome gift \*\* That’s what I figured, too, plus the fact that even the poorer families might be able to scrounge up an apple to give. RR ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/13 "2002-10-31T18:23:25Z")
> [@](#): > > My guess is that it started in the old days when teachers were paid very poorly. As the spouse of a teacher, I only wish that poor pay for teachers _was_ back in the old days. Although I must admit we can afford the occasional apple. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/14 "2002-10-31T18:35:27Z")
It’s so ingrained here, when I read **everton** ’s first post, it never even occured to me he was questioning the “apple for the teacher” part (I thought he was questioning the “three layers …” speculation at the end of the OP). It took took reading several more posts for the possibility that it’s just be a myth to even sink in. So _does_ anyone have any real cites for the actual practice, not just the myth? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/15 "2002-10-31T18:54:28Z")
Most folk traditions do have _some_ basis in fact, but the “apple for the teacher” thing is just the sort of assumption that so often gets debunked in Cecil’s column. For what it’s worth, I think **mnemosyne’s** guess about the school year starting in the autumn when apples would have been fresh and available is the most convincing explanation I’ve read so far. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/16 "2002-10-31T19:00:45Z")
Most folk traditions do have _some_ basis in fact, but the “apple for the teacher” thing is just the sort of assumption that so often gets debunked in Cecil’s column. For what it’s worth, I think **mnemosyne’s** guess about the school year starting in the autumn when apples would have been fresh and available is the most convincing explanation I’ve read so far. ---
**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/17 "2002-11-02T00:37:43Z")
I think I found something. I don’t have any sites; however, let me explain the background of my question. A friend had the assignment to find the answer, so I told him I’d look on this message board. In the mean time, he found a site that said the apple represents the tree of knowledge from the Bible. I don’t have a link, but it also doesn’t make much sense. If this was true, then the teacher should be giving apples to the students. Or maybe, the students wanted to make sure they were teaching the kids correctly. I don’t know. Just mroe speculation. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/18 "2002-11-02T00:46:57Z")
It’s generally frowned on for people to use the SDMB to get other people to do their homework (or their friends’ homework) for them, so that might affect people’s willingness to help any further. But FWIW your reasoning about the tree of knowledge angle seems sound to me. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-kids-give-their-teachers-apples/134624/19 "2002-11-02T01:35:33Z")
1. Probably not explicitly related, but interesting coincidence: Jewish New Year (generally in September) includes giving kids apples dipped in honey. 2. This very morning, a (university) student muttered, “Apple for the teacher” and put an apple on my desk. Might have been a bribe–it was right after a midterm. Since it’s the day after Halloween, I checked it for razors. 🙂