By Emily Stahl

Trojan Tribune Staff

With the announcement of next year’s “no backpack policy”, many students are distressed with how they’re going to carry around all the essentials while still having only two hands. Alongside the fact that there’s going to be no change in the amount of time between classes, there are some definite holes in next year’s plan.

For one class period, students could need or want a calculator, book, notebook, folder, computer, headphones, some type of music player, a water bottle and pencil pouch. Even with a backpack, they might end up carrying something–like some books or a water bottle. Between the distance from one class to another, and crowding in the hallways, some students don’t even have adequate time to stop at their locker to drop off a book and grab another, so they end up carrying two or three at a time. Take away the backpack and leave the same amount of time, and you have a mess on your hands.

Backpacks actually benefit students, allowing them to have everything with them at one time. Let’s say a student needs two books, a calculator, pencil pouch, computer and notebook for their class. Plus, they want to bring along homework from another class that they could work on if they finished everything from the block they were in. Without a backpack, they would have to stack all these items on top of each other and weave through the crowded hallways without spilling. It may not sound that hard to teachers, who have all their things in one room and don’t need to drag them around the school, or administrators, who keep everything in an office, but it’s stressful getting everything you may need from point A to point B on time, without a backpack and without dropping everything in your hands. Even those who work in an office have a briefcase for all their things so they don’t have to pile all the essentials in their arms. The same should go for students. If there’s a big problem with backpacks being in the way on the floor, have the student put it under his or her desk for the class instead of banning backpacks from the room.