Lighten the load

While I trudge to school, bracing my body as a 70-pound backpack crushes into my fragile spine, it occurs to me that something’s wrong. School books should be condensed to a smaller size or be on CDs, so backpack weight is decreased drastically.

Look at a timeline on how kids’ posture and back health has declined. Every day I watch kids walk to school, first-graders with packs larger than them. Kids wheeling their packs like suitcases. Come on, is school really an airport?

This is horrible for all the kids, especially those who are still growing and developing. My cousin even has scoliosis, a condition where your spinal plates fall out of alignment, which can cripple you for life. According to his doctor, this was mainly caused by his heavy backpack. Many parents would probably not want to see their child in this position, so let’s change it.

Although we’ve had school books since the 1800s and before, they were never supposed to grow as large as they are. Whatever happened to those nicely sized books from the ’70s, perfect in every way? A great solution for our schools would be books on CD, small, equivalent, modern.

Kids could be provided with laptops, property of the school still, but would belong to the student for the year. No more lost homework or lame excuses, like my dog ate it. Kids would have a much more organized life as well. If there are troubles with money, there are always good old scholarships. This would be a great improvement to our schools.

Last, why are these textbooks as big as they are? Pick up any modern day textbook and look inside. What are they filled with? Nothing but pictures and unnecessary backgrounds and borders. This is a mistake the companies make. Kids don’t find these books appealing. All kids need are the questions and info like they had in the ’70s and before, very compatible. So if schools don’t have the right amount of funding for laptops, turn to the alternative of smaller books.

Overall, we should turn away from these giant textbooks and make a change for the best. School books should be condensed to a smaller size or have CDs.

Nicky Byrne, seventh-grader

Aspen Middle School