I particularly noticed it last week with Valentine's Day Elementary school kids who already had a heavy back pack, a water bottle hanging from it, maybe even a lunch bag. Then they'd carry their musical instrument. A Boot bag with winter snow boots, and the Valentine's box for cards and candy. The back pack sometimes is 1/2 the kids body weight, boot bag is 12-15 pounds and the musical instruments were as much as 20+ pounds. Several kids looked like they were carrying more than their own weight.
I'd look as they would struggle up and down the steps then trying to find a seat on a 40 foot long bus aisle less than the width of their load.
Meanwhile traffic would be impatiently waiting for them to get in their seat or get off the bus.
4 days a week my 13 year olds carry 2 bags to school. Ones books and normal school stuff the other is for whatever current sport. Right now it's wrestling and that's a lot lighter then the football bag! Our local school is pretty good about allowing kids a homework period so most of them don't carry much in the book bag at all.
RevRico
UltimaDork
2/15/21 6:36 a.m.
One in middle school one in kindergarten, they both carry considerably less than I had too. When they actually go to school instead of this bullE36 M3 virtual school crap.
In junior high my backpack weighed 90lbs every single day. I really don't know how the smaller kids managed it.
It's no different than it was when I was in school. Half the schools I went to either didn't have lockers or would assign one as far away from your classes as possible. It was easier and faster to just carry everything.
We did have the advantage of the driver not waiting for people to sit down. It made getting to the back of the bus much faster.
Now that lockers aren't a thing due to Covid the kids have to carry everything in their backpacks. I've compared my 7 day hiking pack weight to the weight of their backpacks now. Can't be good for their backs.
I think it's the lack of lockers as well, and/or they have lockers and don't use them.
When I was a kid, we had a president who knew how to ride a horse, 64kb was a lot of ram, and Atari was the dominant game system. Changing classes appeared in fourth grade, but lockers didn't appear until 8th grade. I broke three backpacks in the first month of school, and loading the bag took special effort. By the time lockers were available, I didn't bother. It was just an opportunity to fight a recalcitrant combination lock for the privilege of being late for class or arriving without the right book.
I don't understand why we haven't solved this yet. Why can't we get a kid's core subject load down to maybe a couple notebooks, writing tools, and a device? Art, shop, music and phys ed will still have their load, but fifteen pounds Houghton Mifflin is too much.
Placemotorsports said:
Now that lockers aren't a thing due to Covid the kids have to carry everything in their backpacks. I've compared my 7 day hiking pack weight to the weight of their backpacks now. Can't be good for their backs.
Yep. I'm shocked at how heavy my (very small) 6th grader's backpack is.
RevRico
UltimaDork
2/15/21 9:20 a.m.
In reply to Mike (Forum Supporter) :
I think a lot of it is still fear of technology and behind the scenes deals with book companies to be honest.
There's no reason anymore, when we were issued laptops 20 years ago, that what kids carry around today isn't entirely digital.
RevRico said:
There's no reason anymore, when we were issued laptops 20 years ago, that what kids carry around today isn't entirely digital.
There is a great reason for this: the education system is terrible at creating/managing digital content. There are many other downsides to it as well of course.
I remember my old middle school backpack being stuffed with a Trapper Keeper and 3 or 4 text books. It probably equaled 25% of my own weight at the time. Amusingly, I still have that backpack somewhere...
I'll go out on a limb and say the textbook printing industry is heavily embedded into lobbying the education decision makers...
ProDarwin said:
RevRico said:
There's no reason anymore, when we were issued laptops 20 years ago, that what kids carry around today isn't entirely digital.
There is a great reason for this: the education system is terrible at creating/managing digital content. There are many other downsides to it as well of course.
Given all of the digital content there is for gaming, maybe we have our system priorities a little off... Or at least the compensation schedule. There's clearly a demand for better digital content for learning....
alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:
ProDarwin said:
RevRico said:
There's no reason anymore, when we were issued laptops 20 years ago, that what kids carry around today isn't entirely digital.
There is a great reason for this: the education system is terrible at creating/managing digital content. There are many other downsides to it as well of course.
Given all of the digital content there is for gaming, maybe we have our system priorities a little off... Or at least the compensation schedule. There's clearly a demand for better digital content for learning....
That's not going to happen. A decent digital system could replace the teachers and the textbooks. They can't even get homeschooling figured out after a year plus of trying. Possibly because it's not in their best interest to do so.
The 'education system' is actually thousands of different education systems under 50 umbrellas under a larger umbrella. Almost all of them have been failing hard to address the issues of the last year.
alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:
There's clearly a demand for better digital content for learning....
There is plenty of quality content. What there is not is a good way of managing/consolidating/administering it.
Wait, aren't we supposed to be complaining about how kids these days have it too easy? 
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:
alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:
ProDarwin said:
RevRico said:
There's no reason anymore, when we were issued laptops 20 years ago, that what kids carry around today isn't entirely digital.
There is a great reason for this: the education system is terrible at creating/managing digital content. There are many other downsides to it as well of course.
Given all of the digital content there is for gaming, maybe we have our system priorities a little off... Or at least the compensation schedule. There's clearly a demand for better digital content for learning....
That's not going to happen. A decent digital system could replace the teachers and the textbooks. They can't even get homeschooling figured out after a year plus of trying. Possibly because it's not in their best interest to do so.
I think you might be surprised at how many school kids don't have access to digital stuff. I know the Harrisburg School District has something along the lines of 1/4 of their kids without internet. Carlisle school district has a large rural/farm population and for some of them it's not a financial issue, but a geographic issue. Some of the rural areas only have DSL (slow and expensive) or satellite (ridiculously expensive).
Online educational content is somewhat viewed as discriminatory against lower income/rural populations. Until we get basic universal gubmint internet access, and enough funding for schools to offer low cost tech to students who don't have a laptop/tablet, I don't think it will be a viable option.
Even my old school district with more money than they know what to do with has a significant population of kids that don't have internet - either because they can't afford it or don't have physical access to it. A couple years ago they tried to move toward getting rid of snow days and instead do online when in-person learning was canceled. It didn't go over well.
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:
Wait, aren't we supposed to be complaining about how kids these days have it too easy?
None of us will be the first to sound like an old person.
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:
It's no different than it was when I was in school. Half the schools I went to either didn't have lockers or would assign one as far away from your classes as possible. It was easier and faster to just carry everything.
We did have the advantage of the driver not waiting for people to sit down. It made getting to the back of the bus much faster.
That's dangerous and against policy. (Starting before everyone is seated) I do do it to some of the kids that just want to saunter and chat rather than promptly sit down.
What is it that makes them want to take that long walk to the back of the bus and be the last ones off anyway?
dropstep said:
4 days a week my 13 year olds carry 2 bags to school. Ones books and normal school stuff the other is for whatever current sport. Right now it's wrestling and that's a lot lighter then the football bag! Our local school is pretty good about allowing kids a homework period so most of them don't carry much in the book bag at all.
Yeh, I forgot to mention sports equipment. Thanks.
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:
Wait, aren't we supposed to be complaining about how kids these days have it too easy?
Not me! I think they have it much worse. With helicopter parents constantly hovering over them how can they grow up and find out stuff for themselves?
Not only that but acting as chauffeur's the kids can't get jobs to learn the value of work and how to be independent. Local fast food restaurants and grocery stores are eager for 14-15 year old kids to do entry level work but simply can't get any. Even those a reasonable bike ride away aren't allowed to work by their parents.
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:
alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:
ProDarwin said:
RevRico said:
There's no reason anymore, when we were issued laptops 20 years ago, that what kids carry around today isn't entirely digital.
There is a great reason for this: the education system is terrible at creating/managing digital content. There are many other downsides to it as well of course.
Given all of the digital content there is for gaming, maybe we have our system priorities a little off... Or at least the compensation schedule. There's clearly a demand for better digital content for learning....
That's not going to happen. A decent digital system could replace the teachers and the textbooks. They can't even get homeschooling figured out after a year plus of trying. Possibly because it's not in their best interest to do so.
That's a particularly negative way of looking at the sacrifices teachers give. While there are certainly duds and self centered teachers out there, The vast majority are dedicated and very hard working. Willing to work for wages that any plumber, truck driver, carpenter, or union laborer would turn down. ( please remember to add the cost of student loans to get the required teaching certificates).
I know I started as a teacher and couldn't work for the entry level pay so I went into sales. I started as a school bus driver for a supliment to retirement but found I care deeply about those kids. Even the brats.
ProDarwin said:
The 'education system' is actually thousands of different education systems under 50 umbrellas under a larger umbrella. Almost all of them have been failing hard to address the issues of the last year.
alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:
There's clearly a demand for better digital content for learning....
There is plenty of quality content. What there is not is a good way of managing/consolidating/administering it.
Parents are finding out just how hard it is to teach their kids at home. They only have their kids not 30-40 at once. If their children are failing don't look at the teachers look to themselves.
We always had lockers assigned and we used them. We started and ended every school day at our locker. This gave us a place to keep school materials that we didn't need to take home. We could manage our load according to classes we had before and after lunch. It worked, and it worked well. Some kids may have hidden contraband or weapons in their locker, but I was never aware of anyone doing it. Anyone getting caught would have been expelled.
At some point, school administrators gave up trying to keep a safe environment for kids by enforcing the rules. Too much trouble to police the locker area, so we'll remove the lockers. Now it's "kids might catch germs at school, so we'll send them home and let them watch zoom meetings and learn on their own." It's a defeatist attitude, and our education system is thoroughly defeated.
My son is in 5K and has to bring not only his backpack (with lunch, spare clothes, spare masks, and whatever library book or school work) but also has to bring a bag with winter clothes (boots, snow pants, extra gloves, etc.) and it seems a bit excessive. I remember in 3rd grade and up having to carry my backpack and trumpet, but the instruments could be left at school if you wanted in a special locker.
