anger of the backpack variety...

Was it this bad when you were in school? Im in 11th grade and i have what my dad estimates to be a 40-50 lbs backpack! I'm 98 lbs the last time i checked. Thats not right at all! They dont give us enough time to get to our lockers so we can switch books, nor do they let us leave lunch to go to our lockers. They sit at the exits of the lunchroom so people dont leave.

my dad said that if i seriously hurt my back because of the weight that hes going to sue the school, kids arent sposed to carry that much. Kids are sposed to carry 15% their weight... for me that would be about a 15 lb backpak... not 40!


sorry for the rant but im mad! ....and my neck hurts

Perhaps it is time for your parents to get together and talk to the school about letting you get to your locker. That is totally insane to expect you to carry that kind of weight around.

I have the same problem with my kids. My oldest son got in a fight with someone who was playing with the pull handle on his backpack with wheels, so now he refuses to carry the wheeled variety.

At a school meeting last week, I learned that in the future, schoolbooks will be on computer discs. Until that time, I don't know why schools have to choose bigger and bigger books! Couldn't they put the books in 2 or 3 volumes of paperback, so they didn't weigh so much? Or like you said, allow time to get to your lockers.

Be sure to alternate which shoulder you carry the pack on, and if going for a longer period of time, carry it with both straps over both shoulders to evenly distribute the weight. And ask your Dad to go to the school board meetings to bring this up! Maybe he can make a difference!

Yes, that's not right. Fifty pounds might not be much for the 200-pound-plus football players, but it's half your weight!

When my husband's little sister lived with us her freshman and sophomore year, she was getting into trouble at home because she would have detentions for between-class tardies all the time. That is, until I went to the first parent-teacher conference and was expected to get to her next class in the same time (four minutes or whatever) that she did. No WAY did she have time to stop at her locker.

Just because an authority figure expects something does not make that thing reasonable.

Maybe you could ask your teachers to let you leave the books in each class. If you had homework you could just take that book with you. Then those would be the only books you needed to carry.

A few years ago, kids in my neighborhood were taking those rolling carry-on bags to school, but I don't see it anymore so it might not be 'in' anymore.

I recall those days and yes my backpack weighed like a ton of bricks too. And I hated it. BOY DID I HATE IT...*fumes* something does need to be done about it.

its not so much that its not "cool" to use the rolliing backpacks... its just not possible. in the main hallway it is about 6-7 feet wide and there are about 2-3000 kids trying to get through there at once. Its literally sholder to sholder, push and shove. My friend was telling me that because of the lack of time to get to lockers she hasnt been able to be on time once, to one of her classes.

I can sympathize with not having time to go to your locker. I was in high school back in the olden days (early 1970s) before backpacks were popular. My junior year my last 3 classes were in the opposite hall of my locker. If I took time to go to the locker, I would miss the bus home. So I would have to take the books I needed from the first half of the day plus lug home the ones from the last half - even if I didn't need them. And I weighed way more than 98lbs!

Then at the university - no lockers until my sophomore year and you had to have a quarter!

Yes, I have also wondered why texts couldn't be divided up.

And yes, complain!!!! The adults should have to pack your load for a while!

thats another thing, some of the adults at the school do not seem to care about the kids. The first day of school last year me and like 10 other people couldnt find a table because its so overcrowded. So we sat in a corner on the floor out of everyones way, and this big important guy came up and said that we were making te school "look bad"

It was the same when i was in High school. We had 6 different school buildings, the 3 'main' buildings had lockers separated by grade.. one building 10th, another 11th, and the last 12th. We also had well over 2500 kids there... So it was crowded, all the time. We had six minutes to get from class to class. It was damn near impossible. So yes, most everyone carried all of their books to every class. I got to a point in my senior year where i quit taking ANY of my books to ANY of my classes and just took a notebook and pen.

My brother actually had to get a new backpack the other day because his ripped through because of the weight. He is now carrying a heavy duty military issue backpack(an "alice pack"). I am pretty muscular and I can just barley lift it. I couldnt imagine carrying it on my back.

The time between classes is so short because teachers want to prevent students from loitering in the halls... but they are also preventing students from getting to their lockers to exchange out class material.

The school might increase the time, but it would take a whoooole lot of people complaining. My sophmore year, they added 1 minute to the time between classes(from 5 to 6 minutes), but in turn, our classes started 10 minutes earlier in the morning.

i dont see what the harm of cutting down each class like 2 minutes would do... no one is paying attention at that time because everyone is packing up so they can attempt to get to their lockers.

Originally Posted by ilovejoelyo

i dont see what the harm of cutting down each class like 2 minutes would do... no one is paying attention at that time because everyone is packing up so they can attempt to get to their lockers.

Click to expand...

our principal actually enforced a rule, that if teachers were caught letting a class go early, they, as well as the students, would get in serious trouble. that didnt stop them though. They would just let like a few go at a time and we had tobe quiet and take the side stairs.

you should talk to other students and teachers, and parents about it and see if you can get a simple petition requesting extended periods in between classes... it wouldnt hurt to try... the worst thing they can do is say no.

yea, i think my dad is going to talk to some people about it... but for now... does anyone know how to get rid of a tension headach?

You need to go to your family doctor and get checked out and get a note that your bag is to heavy... it is extreme but I was that way too and my teachers luckily understood so we got five minutes passed the bell to get to class

I'm sure lad I'm done with those days!!!

I am in the same year as you. We have five minutes between classes to go to our lockers, but I don't even have a locker because my books aren't heavy.

You could "chop up" your books by removing the binding. Holes are then punched and the relevant chapters are brought to school. You can then attach your own notes to those relevant chapters which make revision easier.

OR
Alternatively, with the aid of todays technology, you could scan the pages into your computer and convert it to PDF to save space if necessary then just bring the laptop to school.

I remember those days, (all of 3 years ago, haha) but just wait til U get to college, the books get heavier, and you have 10x's more of them! I hope that you can lighten your load a little bit, we don't want you to hurt yourself!!

I had the same problem in school. I went to a vocational school with probably 500 kids in it (just 11th and 12th grade) and we had two minutes between classes. The first half of my day was math, english, etc, and I usually put all of those books in my bag because even just walking straight from one class to the next took longer than 2 minutes. Before going to lunch, I'd put whatever books I didn't need to take home in my locker, the rest in my bag, plus my books for my lab class. Which consisted of a HUGE paperback, a huge plastic binder, a file card box, a few other books ugh. I don't know what it weighed, but it seriously made my shoulders and neck hurt to carry it. And then they made a rule that we weren't allowed to carry our bags to class with us. That was my senior year, and most of us said "Well, then we'll just be late." and we were late to class most of the time, but the teachers didn't say anything. I don't know if they did anything about it the following year or not. When I went to the regular high school, it was 3 stories, with 4 minutes between classes. And not only was I expected to go get my books from my locker, I was expected to use the bathroom then, too! Sorry there's just not time! They make completely unrealistic expectations of the kids in school these days. The faster they put the books on CD, the better it will be for everyone. There's no reason they can't be doing it now, one of my college books was on a CD.

Amber