Backpacks were originally used to help soldiers carry around things that they would need during battle and have been helpful to all people who need an easier, hands-free method of carrying heavy items. They have evolved from military use items, to camping items, to items students use to carry books, and even into fashion statements. In a college setting, a backpack is a useful thing to own, as trying to carry all of your necessary textbooks and notebooks around from home to school, and from one class to another would be a difficult feat without one.
The backpack is not simply an item that one purchases to be helpful, but an item that represents the typical student. From the time a student begins kindergarten and carries their first Disney character backpack to and from school, this meaning begins to evolve. From elementary school through college, students lug back and forth, from home to school, their homework, textbooks, and school supplies. At the college level, school is no longer something that is easy, a student cannot simply attend and expect to pass as they may have done at the high school level. In college, the weight of one’s backpack and the weight that a backpack puts on a student’s shoulders is literally representative of the course load, amount of work, and book “weight” that they are trying to carry throughout the semester. When leaving class for the day, the backpack represents and reminds the student that even though their classes might be over, their work is not. They must go home, open up their backpacks, unload all of the “weight,” and begin reading long chapters from textbooks and working on their papers.
5 comments:
Backpacks do represent the psychological weight that school burdens students with. Being a commuter I keep all of my books for the day in my backpack. I sometimes appreciate the physical weight however, because it gives me exercise as I walk between classes. I think I may overload my backpack because it always tears from the weight, forcing me to buy a new one every year. I wish manufacturers would make backpacks to be a higher grade. My backpack is also like my survival kit since I keep everything from snacks to high-lighters in it. Being away from home and my truck for most of the day, I often need supplies that I do not feel like buying.
I like how you compared the weight of the backpack to the burdens placed on students for which backpacks seem to symbolize. Even though they offer a more hands-free approach to carrying books, I often find myself not trying to wear my backpack, substituting it for a shoulder tote in order to veer away from looking and feeling like a kid.
Your post reminded me of when right before freshmen year of college I went out an bought a new book bag. I didn't use a book bag all through high school, but felt that I would need one for college. I think I've probably used it all of ten times, because I prefer the look of a shoulder tote. But a shoulder tote can be a hassle to as when I have to carry a lot of books it tends to be heavy on one shoulder. But backpacks seem to totter on that line of adolescence and adulthood.
I really liked how you compared the actual weight of a backpack to the "weight" on student's shoulders due to class loads. I think that this can be argued however because some people do not take school as seriously as others. Some students may come home, drop their bags and never return to them until the next day- that is, if they even go to class. I think you have a great argument here though.
It's an interesting, but not unheard of idea that the back pack represents the burdens one has to face as a student. I think that you make that point and argument very well.
But for me, my backpack is more of a tool than a symbol. I simply use it to haul my books around in because it would be an even bigger pain to carry them by hand. To each his/her own I guess.
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