November 10, 2004
Give the Kids a Break!
I just saw a kid about ten years old sitting on a skateboard and pushing himself down the sidewalk, his little ten-year-old hands protected from the gum- and loogie-pocked concrete by black fingerless biking gloves. On the front end of the skateboard was the cause of his awkward mode of transportation: the kid's backpack, which must have weighed a hundred pounds.
Teachers, please note: If your students have to carry one hundred pounds of books back and forth to school often enough that they need special gloves to keep their hands out of gum and loogies, you are giving them too much homework. Ease up, will ya?
I was a nanny for two kids, one in first grade and one in third. They would often have TWO hours of homework when they got home from school! I thought it was so sad they had to come from sitting in school all day to sitting at home. No wonder kids are overweight!
My son's backpack must weigh about 30 pounds. Seriously. I think I will send his future chiropractic bills straight to the Portland Public School Board!
I was going to say that near me there IS a high school near me that has two sets of textbooks, one for class and one for home. It also doesn't have any lockers – partly for security but also to save money and space. And kids' aching backs.