So I heard on the news the other day about the poor little kids whose school backpacks are so full of books they’re developing debilitating back pain… Oh please.
If they’d worked on their homework during the time allotted for just that purpose, instead of text messaging the person next to them, one painstaking letter at a time, to send the monumentally important query ‘hey brittiny ow r u’, they wouldn’t have so much left over to take home.
If they’d paid attention during class, engaged their minds in the mental effort required to learn something, they might have even finished it during that allotted time.
If they wore their backpacks properly with both straps over their shoulders and high up, instead of oh-so-fashionably slung low over one shoulder, they wouldn’t develop such back pain.
If mandatory physical education hadn’t’ve been cancelled, or if they actually played outside after school instead of watching tv, or walked the five blocks to and from school instead of getting chauffeured by mom or dad, they might have enough strength in their little backs – wait a minute – are these the same kids for whom pens with rubberized grips are designed because the user’s thumbs and forefingers are just too weak to hold onto them firmly otherwise?
2 comments
I honestly find this insulting. I expected more of this site than broad, demeaning generalization. As a person set to graduate college in 2016, I am insulted by the level of contempt you display for my generation. At my school, tasks were assigned one minute *after* the bell rang to progress to the next class, so it could not be finished during the hour. I went through six backpacks in four years of high school simply because the weight of books in my bag often exceeded thirty pounds (yes, I weighed them) and would overly stress the sides and straps of the bag. My walk to school was just over a mile each way, and yet, I was responsible for getting myself there and back, regardless of weather or time of day. And while there were some kids like those you mention, the vast majority of us paid attention in class, worked a job or two, got ourselves everywhere, and yes, suffered back pain. With the American job market as it is, anyone looking to start a successful career needed a competetive edge over everyone else, so as early as seventh or eighth grade, we began to prepare ourselves for the college application process, knowing full well that most of us would not make it to elite institutions. Yet we still did our best. Could you say the same about your generation?
I suspect you went to a good and unusual school. Yes, I’m making a generalization, but it is based on having taught at many schools in many regions. I seldom saw the kind of student you describe, except for three rare experiences in which my whole class was like the one you describe. They were so rare, I still remember them.