School books

Dave!

Hey folks,

Has anything been done in recent years to reduce the number/size of books that have to be brought into primary and/or secondary school daily?

Back when I was in school I had to bring a RIDICULOUS amount of books in every day.... I don't think it did me any damage, but I can see how it could.

Even in primary school I remember there being loads to bring in, and an even weaker back on which to carry them.

I recently saw some random kid at the bus stop and his bag was huge also, leading me to believe that there's still schools that require this!

What's the good word?

TequilaMockingBird

No. its still far too many books in Primary School (my dds anyway) bags. We have a long walk to and from school and I have to carry it for her, when you add in the weight of the lunch, water etc its pretty heavy.

Weidii

When I was in primary school we had a load of books, but we didn't need to take them home every day. Everyone had a desk where they could leave whatever books they didn't need for homework when they went home.

This didn't make a whole lot of difference though, as you were guarenteed to get maths, english, Irish and maybe history, geography homework every night, so that meant carrying home a book and copy for each of those subjects.

I had three friends in my estate who were in the same class as me in primary school, so we used to arrange that one person took home the english book, one person took home the Irish book, and one the maths book. It worked quite well

deisemum

My older boys bag weighs over 2 stones then add his lunch and some days his sports stuff and he's only in primary. The younger lads bag is roughly the same weight.

What I think is totally mad is not being allowed fill in the workbook but to rewrite it out into a copy which means they've to bring home the schoolbook, workbook and copy.

Creachadóir

Perhaps you should make your childs teacher aware that they are carrying a lot of books and that it is too heavy. They mightn't be aware that it is adding up to 2 stone. Most parents complain if they can't resell the books, that's why answers are put into copies instead of books/workbooks. The copies don't weigh too much!

A lot of children in primary school (up to 6th class) are using those wheelie school bags now. However, I think that girls like them more than boys, though I've seen 6th class boys use them... I'd imagine they would take pressure off little backs.

deisemum

I'd prefer if they used the workbooks because even if they're not used the following child will have a different set of books and workbooks as the lists for each class changes most years. What annoys me is having to copy out what's in the workbook into a copy. Maybe if the teachers children had to carry bags to school then teachers may take it more seriously.

Every year without fail parents complain to the school about the weight of the bags but nothing gets done about it. I've tried the school bags with wheels but they don't last long with the weight of the books plus as my boys use the school bus the bags get a fair bit of abuse getting dragged onto and off the bus. Most years each of my boys gets through 2 school bags a year especially as they get older.

I'm the eldest of 9 and nearly all of my schoolbooks were passed down from one to the other. Now I've got 2 children, one in 6th and one in 4th class and the religion book is about the only one that I can pass down to the 2nd lad. The publishers seem to have some influence or incentives for schools to keep changing the books. I can't even give the books away.

Femelade

My daughter is in 1st class, she has quite a few books but each child has a shelf in their classroom, and are only given the books they need for homework when they are going home..So her school bag is never very heavy.
I presumed all primary schools did this nowadays, they didnt do it when i was in primary school though.

deisemum

My lads get homework for every subject so they need to bring their books home. Once they get into 3rd class onwards the work increases