No Backpacks--concerning problem?

[Patronus]

[size=1][b]Ever since the school shootings of Columbine, our school district has a "no backpack, no violence" rule. They think that condemning backpacks will stop the use of drugs and the carrying of weapons.

While it might of stopped weapons being brought from school (not that there were any cases in our schools before Columbine), it really didn't stop violence. People can use their fists as well as a brass knuckle to kill someone. You can use a pencil to stab someone.

While enforcing this, they switched their reason to "students who have to carry backpacks develop back problems". While that might be true, it is also true that students with no backpacks can develop back problems possibly more so.

Before lunch, I have to carry my binder, four notebooks of paper and one book. After lunch, I have to carry my binder, [i]five[/i] notebooks of paper and [i]two[/i] books. Nonetheless, my school is three stories high. That means that I have to walk up and down three flights of stairs (literally) each day numerous times carrying my books. In order to do so, students have to hold their arms in an uncomfortable way to get from class to class with no problem.

Here's my question: Do you think that the "no backpacks, no violence" rule is a good one? Do you think that students are better off with backpacks?[/b][/size]

[slasher]

In our school, we can use backpacks but only before and after school. We have to put stuff in our lockers.

[Eclectic]

Of course it's not. No matter what, if someone wants to carry a weapon, they'll find a way. I also have the same problem. Since my lunch is so early, I have to carry five periods' worth of books plus my purse, planner, and sketchbook (which is nice and empty). Anyways, if they were really concerned about back problems, they would allow backpacks and shoulderpacks, which would keep you from stooping under the weight of the books. But that's just my opinion.

[OtakuSennen]

o_O No backpacks, no violence? That's sort of an.. [i]Interesting[/i] concept.. Of course, some people with backpacks DO hide drugs and weapons in them.. But then that is quite a major inconvenience to everyone else..

Well, lugging around all those books and such COULD, in theory, hurt backs of weaker people with bigger textbooks (Well that's a stretch).. Plus that would slow people down some, carrying all that around in their arms.. They'd drop stuff, and try not to go so fast so as not to drop their things. Thus that would lead to more tardies between periods.. Right?

Besides, if a student seems suspicious or shady or something, maybe the workers at the school could do random backpack searches or whatever, like they do in airports nowadays.

*looks at his backpack with a handle and wheels* See? That one doesn't hurt backs.. It just rips my arm out of its socket when someone steps on the back of it.

[Assassin]

[size=1][color=crimson]My school allows backpacks at all time. I mean that kinda stinks cause you never know if there is a syco[sp] in school. They could carry guns and stuff. Any way in another case with out backpacks they can be some problems. I had problems dropping my books all over the place. Loosing papers. Forgetting books [ That lead to after school detentions alot ] Any way there is advantages and disadvantages.
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[quietstranger16]

[color=green]I think my school doesnt follow that idea. I cant imagine not having my backpack. 2 years ago, my school got a bunch of bomb threats, so they made the rule that no backpacks were allowed at lunches(one of the threats talked about blowing up the cafeteria). Plus, whenever we get a new threat now, we're all immediately moved to our football field, and they search our bags for the next couple days. It gets annoying, but it doesn't sound as bad as your school.

I totally agree with you. If a kid is gonna bring a weapon to school, he'll find a way around any precautions the school makes. Plus, what about the tools in school that kids could use to kill.
[list]
[]compasses
[]metal rulers
[]sporks(its possible!)
[]art knives
[]like you said, pens/pencils
[/list]

Almost anything can be used to inflict bodily harm against somebody else, so the schools need to lighten up. Maybe if they stress the use of student mediators or something. Unfortunately, this is a really difficult issue. I cant think of anything that will solve it outright.[/color]

[Syk3]

It sort of depends on the school and the district, but even then, it's not going to completely stop the voilence, weopons, and drugs. It will indeed limit them, but from experience, not having a backpack will certainly put you at more of a risk for backproblems if that means you'll have to carry all of your books and be hunched over like that.

Back when I was in middle school, even before the incident with Columbine, they wouldn't allow us to have backpacks between classes, and made us carry our heavy text books and notebooks in our arms. They would only allow us to go to our lockers between certain periods, and it was completely awful, but I didn't know any other way. When I look back, though, it was a pretty bad school, where people would get suspended for bringing knives, and fights in the hallway were commonplace, plus they had a good 3 security guards and metal detectors. This school, as yours does, has three floors.

When I moved to my new middle school, I remember coming in on the first day and carrying my notebooks, and the person taking me around to my different classes was like "what are you doing? Where is your backpack?" It was a completely new thing to me, where we would actually be able to carry our stuff in our backpack and be able to go to our lockers when ever we liked. All of this still continues into my high school now.

By getting a taste of both sides, I can easily say that I prefer having my backpack and going to my locker whenever (plus my high school is all on one floor, heh), but if this violence stuff really is an issue in these schools, having no backpacks will really limit it.

[moon-scar demon]

I think that rule is al load of b.s. If they are not going to let you use backpacks then they need to lay off of the book work,that is way too much to carry. I myself am lucky,we are allowed to carry backpacks still.Someone should go the school board and say something about it!

[Patronus]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by moon-scar demon [/i]
[B]Someone should go the school board and say something about it! [/B][/QUOTE]

[size=1][b]Already been done.[/b][/size]

[Harry]

I find this very true. At our school there were constant fights broken out over people dissing each other's backpacks and other general nonsense.

[James]

[color=#707875]This is really just a case of dealing with a symptom. You won't get rid of the problem until you deal with the violent people themselves.

It's like with violent video games. Get rid of the games and you solve the problem...or so say various groups. But once again, it's only a symptom. It will never solve the problem.[/color]

[Baron Samedi]

I personally, find it an absolutely stupid idea. Under the light of the chance that kids could be hiding a weapon /drugs in their bags, it makes sense. But they should at least come out and say their true reasoning for it. But, who is to say that a kid wouldnt just bring it in under his coat? Or a knife in his pencil case? Hel, ZIf they are going to all this effort, having security guards and metal detectors, why not get an airport scanner thingie, and everyone has to put their backpacks on it before they are allowed in. Jeez, this is just bad. I feel extremely fortunate that I live In Australia, where those kind of measures are unnecessary. It is a shame that it has to come to those kind of measures.

[Luminaire]

[color=crimson]The middle school I just finished had the same rule. I don't know why, but it has been there for years. I tried to make as many stops at my locker as I could, and I started making one-subject notebooks multi-subject. @_@
Now, going to highschool, the rule is not enforced there. I just don't get it.

~Lumi ^_^[/color]

[Mitch]

[size=1] It is obviously a stupid rule...but what can I say. So many people that are at the top of the school boards think stuff like this is right.

I carry all my books in my backpack this year; it is pretty heavy, but I don't care. I'm mostly used to it now anyways...it will also improve my upper body strength lol. Because it definitely isn't as strong as my lower.

Carrying around all the books you listed isn't [i]that[/i] bad..I did the same thing last year and the year before. You just live with it. Such is life, suck is life, and so on.[/size]

[Raiha]

[color=royalblue].....it's just as easy to hide stuff in jackets and pockets and wallets.

To really make it safe, I suppose everyone should just walk around naked and hope for the best. Lockers suck. You can basically be violent without backpacks, or anything else for that matter. I can strangle someone with my headphone wires, or just push them from the second floor of the school buildling.[/color]

[PiroMunkie]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Raiha[/i]
[B][color=royalblue]To really make it safe, I suppose everyone should just walk around naked and hope for the best...[/color] [/B][/QUOTE][size=1]Well, hold on now, people could take after Houdini and conceal items in pockets of skin. You could conceal things such as razor blades or whatnot, and just make sure the edge it sheathed somehow. *rolls eyes*

Obviously the attempt to cut down on school violence by taking away the priveledge to carry around backpacks is absurd. As others have pointed out, it is easy enough to store weapons in other places besides one's backpack.

Taking away the backpacks does not solve anything, but taking away those who [i]do[/i] conceal weapons will solve something.[/size]

[SpikeSpiegel]

i dunno. my school has allowed backpacks only in the high school. all other grades is a no go. but what i dont get is that i lived in a bad nieghborhood. we would all bring weapons to school. ask anyone an 99% of us had some sort of knife(i had a butterfly knife myself). so u would think it would be the other way around. as for a columbine inccident, i think the white population of the school was too afraid to pull a stupid stunt like that. all the gang members would proabably whip out their piece an shoot back. so that wasnt a major issue. but like the others said we had some kid who hid a hammer on his back, strapped with a belt. whammed this gang member in the face with it. it wasnt pretty. i saw it happen..almost lost my lunch. so even if he didnt have a backpack he would have gotten it in. i believe its sort of how your school looks at things. mine kinda knew we would do what we had to do to bring in the "goods". so they never bothered with a no backpack rule. they used thier time with drug abuse help an roamin the halls to stop fights. if anything big hapend the cops were always in the parking lot just in case. so i guess ur school has a different way of looking at the problems. thats my take on it anyway.

[Semjaza]

I wound up developing a cyst in my wrist due to all the books I had to carry between classes in high school. You usually wind up curving your hand and wrist around your books, no matter how many you might be holding at the time. We were only given 5 minutes between classes, and if you were late you got a detention. It could be 5 seconds late, it didn't matter. So you wound up carrying 4 or 5 classes worth of books at times.

It's not beneficial, in my opinion.

[Baron Samedi]

Or oo cou juss carre the we-on i yo mouf ie eh *translation : Or you could just carry the weapon in your mouth like me* I suppose I am removed from the realities of the situation, living in Australia, and all.

[Spikey]

Our school allows backpacks. Nobody has really ever brought drugs to school, or anything like that. There's a small chance that someone will bring a gun to school. In our school we have a D.A.R.E officer, and nobody wants to mess with him.

I think that taking away backpacks can be a good thing, and a bad. There's a smaller chance of someone bringing a gun to school, or a pocket knife, but it can still happen. Kids still wear those really baggy pants, you can fit a pocket knife in there. It won't look like it's there, but it is.

At a lot of schools they do a locker check for guns or drugs, I wouldn't mind if they checked my locker, all I have in there are my books and bags. I do not decirate my lockers, so they can check mine. But some people may be against that, I don't mind if they are, just as long as there is not a gun, drugs, weapons etc... in it.

But I think the banning backpack rule can be a good thing and can be bad. Yes if they ban it you will have to carry a lot of books, I would hate that, but it's the smaller chance of someone getting killed. Well, somewhat.

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]I hate the no backpack thing, but you really can't do anything about it. Once people in authority have made up their minds about violence and safety, you really can't change their minds. Now, I get to carry my bookbag wherever I want to. *Huggles her pink Jansport* It's so pretty...[/color][/size]

[Jamvis]

Tip: Adult reasoning is pointless and foul, I can carry an entire aresenal of weapons in my pocket if I wanted to, but I dont so they should just let what happens happen. Someone stabbed someone else at a highschool last year. I now attend that High School. We must pay for his mistakes by wearing name tags and if we dont, we get a day of ISS. However, we curse out a teacher to the brink of tears and we get a simple repremandation and sent out of the office. Nothing else. Tell me, is THAT justice? I think not.

~ James.... Against the authority since birth.

[Raiha]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Spikey [/i]
[B]There's a small chance that someone will bring a gun to school. In our school we have a D.A.R.E officer, and nobody wants to mess with him.[/B][/QUOTE] [COLOR=royalblue]Oh you lucky child. At our school, we have two Resource Officers [cops] and everyone basically thinks they do nothing. Which is true. They're never around to break up fights, they're losers, and they don't even load their guns. I'm quite sure they're all just to make people all "scared." Fortunately, I'm above such petty stupid things. Like not messing with cops.[/COLOR]

[Xaru Silverfire]

I carry around a knife all the time in school. Somtimes I take it out in class. The teachers watch me. Then, they go on with there day. I've even poked a teacher with that knife. The knife is conscealed in a pen. I bought it because I lived in florida before and the basers carry around weapons and stuff. The point is it is [i]so[/i] easy to bring a weapon to school. You can burn down a school with a simple ballon. some gassoline, and a long wick. Not that I intend to. But terrorism cannot be stoped.

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

~Xaru.

[stardust]

Up until highschool we couldn't have them,but now we camn.It doesn't make any sense to me. Anyways,I hear it's nice to carry all your things with you,you never leave anything behind but y'know. I don't carry mine around just because it seems easier to carry my large pile of books than a full backpack. It's kinda stupid the middle school doesn't allow it,and the intermediate school won't even allow trappers.