- Share This Post
- submit
- 2
-
Sparkle (0)
My daughter started middle school this year. I'm only exaggerating a little when I tell you that I spent the first two weeks in a permanent clench, memories of my own awkward middle school years washing over me in an unexpected wave of PTSD. But the good news is that she absolutely loves it; she's adjusted well, both academically and socially, and most of my fears, it turns out, were for naught.
The only thing she doesn't like about middle school is just about the only area where I never had any sort of problem, back in my day. The issue: Backpacks and lockers.
Her elementary school had a row of hooks outside each classroom to hold bags and coats. The truth of the matter is that the only time her backpack came home full was when the art teacher told everyone to take their projects -- she just didn't have much "stuff" to tote.
We knew middle school would mean more gear, and she was excited to be getting a locker, and we discussed how to best manage what she carried when so that she wasn't schlepping eight sets of books and binders around all day long. In theory, it was all going to be fine... and in reality, well, it's been a little more challenging.
Challenge the first: At my daughter's school, sixth graders are given one locker break each day. That's it. I guess in seventh and eighth grade they get a bit more freedom to visit their lockers between classes, but for these kids, once a day is all they get. And for about the first month of school, that one locker break was only about an hour in -- for the rest of the day, everyone had to carry everything they needed for practically every class. (That break has since been moved to a bit later in the morning.) That was particularly problematic because...
Challenge the second: Backpacks are not allowed in the hallways. I'm pretty sure that -- upon hearing this -- I actually said the words, "Say what?" Kids are allowed to tote their stuff to and from school in backpacks, but according to school rules they are to head directly to their lockers and stow their packs immediately upon arrival, and backpacks may not be taken out again until the end of the day.
If I work very hard at it, and make my thinking as convoluted as possible, I almost understand why the school has chosen to ban backpacks as a matter of safety. So, fine. They felt it had to be done, they don't want kids carrying packs in the halls. Okay. But the kids aren't being given multiple opportunities to visit their lockers, and they have a lot of stuff. My daughter has class materials as well as a musical instrument and a packed lunch, and although she's big enough to start stealing my shoes, she's still only about 70 pounds with a couple of bricks tied to her. Plus she's only got two arms. It is physically impossible for her (and many of her fellow students) to manage everything she's required to carry without a bag to put it all in.
The school doesn't want to be unreasonable, of course, and so... students are allowed to use tote bags. Yes. Tote bags are permissible in the hallways and classrooms.
Do not ask me to explain to you why an opaque tote bag is somehow safer than a backpack (truly, if it's a safety issue, make students use clear or mesh backpacks, I say), because I cannot. But that's the concession the school is willing to make.
Every day my daughter packs up her backpack and heads to school. Upon arrival, she puts her backpack into her locker and transfers its contents into a tote bag I brought back from BlogHer '09. She's still carrying way too much stuff, but at least now she has to carry it all on one shoulder rather than in the ergonomically-designed backpack I bought her!
(I find the situation a little frustrating, in case you were unclear.)
In the grand scheme of things, maybe it's not a huge deal. But we're not the only ones struggling with backpacks and/or regulations designed to "keep things running smoothly."
Laura at Catholic Teacher Musings asks if her readers' schools have rules regarding backpack weight:
How heavy are your children's backpacks?
Yikes! Sometimes, I lift the backpacks to see how heavy they are and I am amazed that a 100 pound middle school child isn't in traction from the load.
