August 31
...serving up your daily dish.
Apparently, it's Back-to-School Month for New Jersey's department of Homeland Security, which urges everybody to be on the lookout for unattended backpacks.
We guess, given the discombobulation that usually attends the first week back in school, in addition to the gas masks at Bloomfield High School, we'll need K-9 units in every Staples, school and front hallway in Baristaville to protect us against errant backpacks. Just don't tell the kids: if they start calling in every stray backpack as a bomb scare, they'll spend the entire month marching outside in single file.
Instead of demonizing backpacks maybe we should... um... demonize backpacks? How about a national campaign against kids carrying 75 pounds of books on their backs every day?
Kids already call in bomb threats just toget out of tests. Last year, I got 3 phone calls in one week from Montclair school district announcing they were closing school due to a bomb threat. I don't even have children inthe school system.
And as far as kids carrying 75 pounds of school books, why? Can't kids figure out what books to leave at home, leave in the lockers/desk and bring with them. That seems so silly to me, in fact most book bag companies have addressed the issue by putting wheels on their backpacks. Maybe if they spent more time execising or doing chores instead of playstationing they'd be strong enough to carry their backpacks. Ah, the downside of being smart and having big books to carry!
Posted by: MyManMisterC | Aug 31, 2005 10:11:32 AM
I have no idea of the enrollment at Montclair High School, but certainly there is not enough square footage for a student to roll a backpack down the halls of Bloomfield High. Also, being so crowded some students are assigned to 8th period lunches, with the school so far flung and the hallways so crowded, students cannot always incorporate a trip to their lockers between the changing of classes. This means carrying up to seven classes' worth of books, notebooks, etc throughout your morning.
But it's easier to blame students for being too stupid to figure out which books they do or don't need &/ or for being out of shape nintendo playing wimps.
Posted by: Agent 99 | Aug 31, 2005 2:08:58 PM
Eighth period lunches, so your saying kids go 7 straight periods without a break or having classes adjacent to one another or their lockers? I am assuming the 8th period is the last period of the day. How long do you get in between classes?
Posted by: MyManMisterC | Aug 31, 2005 2:52:00 PM
