Although clear backpacks could help schools limit unsafe items, there are better ways. I began seeing the misguided and wasteful nature of this idea because faculty and staff don’t even glance at the interiors of our backpacks. Clear backpacks are useless, wasteful, and an invasion of privacy.
Clear backpacks are useless. As clear backpacks become older and more used, they begin to lose their clearness. This means that the reason we use clear backpacks -- to be able to scan and check backpacks for unsafe items quickly -- is diminished or disappears. Also, despite the strict regulations on clear backpack use, they are not even checked or looked at when entered into school. Instead, they have become ways for students to express their personality through graffiti stickers and rude messages written in pen. As the backpacks are plain, however, the schools do not even control the display of such character expressions. Many parents have issued complaints, one snappy retort including, “Our children need bulletproof backpacks, not clear ones!” As all pockets of a clear backpack are clear, thievery is much easier, and physical bullying to tease about something that someone is carrying becomes much more common.
Clear backpacks are wasteful. They are made of a thin, flexible nylon. While nylon is considered relatively strong, it is extremely susceptible to heat. The backpacks melt in hot weather, and if left outside, become sticky and scalding hot. If heated up and cooled down, it becomes brittle and sometimes even releases toxic fumes. Backpacks become one use items, thrown away and repurchased every few months! At my school, several of my friends have gone through over 3 backpacks in a semester. That means they will have gone through 42 backpacks by the time they graduate highschool! Just one less clear backpack from every student in the U.S-- over 1.6 pounds per clear backpack -- would mean over 90 million pounds not added to the massive pile of waste we already have!
Clear backpacks create a tandem of fear. Every student that wears a clear backpack on the shoulders is reminded of the reason that they do so. They are reminded that one of their fellow students, one of their friends, could be carrying an unsafe item straight into the school. Every day that a teacher sees these backpacks, they realize that everyone in that building’s safety is in danger. Every parent that packs a clear backpack realizes that they’re sending their child to a place where no one can be trusted, not even children.
I challenged clear backpacks because they are useless, wasteful, and create a tandem of fear. In the end, my words and complaints reached the district, as have many others. Concerned parents, upset students, bewildered teachers, -- they all have issued complaints against these horrendous backpacks. Clear backpacks are a ridiculous, childish idea that only has a basis on the stubbornness and refusal to admit otherwise that those who require such measures possess. Many students cover every opening with paper or stickers. This simply goes to show that these backpacks are a waste of money and plastic.
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