by Rowan O’Brien-Williams

Thirty five pounds: that’s how much my backpack weighs; the same backpack I carry five days a week, thirty seven weeks a year. Not to mention the additional five pounds that my netbook weighs. That’s a total of 40 pounds, 40 pounds of pure torture.

According to military.com, soldiers carry backpacks that weigh at least 45 pounds to train for the Special Forces. Just think, all I have to do is add five pounds to my load and I could be training with the US military. Here’s the thing though, these soldiers are training for armed combat in Iraq, and I’m merely attending high school.

However, in the process of preparing me for the Special Forces, this outrageously heavy backpack has caused me health problems. Recently, I started getting pains and muscle twitches in my chest and back. These pains were so severe that I thought I had a heart condition and went to see my doctor. After my doctor examined me and we discussed my daily routine, he concluded that my heavy backpack was causing these problems. The best solution, according to my doctor: get a new backpack, take Tylenol and take hot baths at night to soothe my muscles.

The next day, I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods with my dad to search for a new backpack. Initially, we looked in the section with all the Jansport, North Face and Adidas backpacks: backpacks students typically use. Unfortunately, literally every backpack was too small. After consulting with an employee, we were directed to the extreme hiking backpacks – the backpacks adventurers use when scaling mountains and trekking through the wilderness. Did I really need to use an extreme sports bag to carry all my books?

Yes, these ideas helped ease the pain, but they didn’t solve the underlying problem. I, on the other hand, can think of several possible solutions.

First, the administration could allow students a couple additional minutes between periods to access their lockers. If we could go to our lockers to switch books between classes, we wouldn’t have to carry ALL our books with us ALL day long. These extra minutes would extend the school day by only a small amount and would make all the difference for my aching back.

Second, the school could provide two sets of each textbook, one set for the classroom and one set for home. This way, students have access to the book at school and at home without having to lug it between locations. Yes, this would cost more money, but in the end it makes more sense. The textbooks would last longer because students wouldn’t bang them up as they transport them between school and home. This means the school wouldn’t have to buy new textbooks as often, so they would be spending less than or equal to what they’re spending on books now. In addition, it would help decrease the weight of students’ backpacks.

Third, the school could make a greater effort to get not just some, but all textbooks digitalized. I’ll admit, the school has made a good effort in this area. Half of the textbooks I use in my own classes are online. But it’s the ones that aren’t that count. Even one or two textbooks a student must take home every night add a significant amount of weight to her already heavy load.

Many different factors apply to this issue, but I think the most important one should be the health of students. STA, please help student lighten their loads, they’re not ready for military training just yet.