THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512150041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
``World Literature'': 5 pounds.
``Biology'': 4 pounds.
``Applications and Connections Algebra I'': 4 pounds.
``Nuevos Amigos'' Spanish book: 3 pounds.
Three binders and two workbooks: 6 pounds
Book bag itself with writing utensils and a pack of crackers: 3 pounds.
Total book bag burden: 25 pounds.
This is what Maria Terry, 15, a sophomore at Tallwood High School, lugs to school every morning in her jam-packed purple JanSport book bag.
Teachers always claim that reading the textbook is crucial. But the truth is, bringing books home can cause spinal problems, even scoliosis. And Hampton Roads students are lugging around loads that doctors say are too much.
To find out just how much local students can pack into those backpacks, we sent a reporter out to weigh a total of 150 local college, high school and elementary students and their books. The results were startling.
Of 56 backpacks weighed at Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach, more than half weighed more than 10 pounds. The heaviest book bag weighed 37 pounds.
``That's too much a weight on the spine,'' said Dr. Staci M. Vella, a member of the Hampton Roads Chiropractic Association. Vella, a practicing chiropractor for seven years, noted that many students carry their packs slung over one shoulder. Putting weight put on one side of the body can deteriorate the vertebrae over a period of time, causing it to curve, she said. ``Every child should be checked by a chiropractor to detect spinal problems and correct them,'' she said.
Kathryn Bryan, 15, is a sophomore at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach. Although she had already been diagnosed as having scoliosis, Kathryn last year got into a bad habit. ``My book bag last year was broken, so I carried it on one shoulder. It kept making my back and shoulders sore,'' she said.
Kathryn, who weighs 132 pounds, usually carries three textbooks, one notebook, one workbook and several personal items for a total backpack weight of 15.5 pounds. She now receives treatment for chronic neck and shoulder pain and carries her new backpack on both shoulders.
Vella said more than 15 percent of the children who receive check ups at her clinic have scoliosis and that book bags carried over one shoulder could either eventually cause scoliosis or make it worse. Vella said that the best book bags to wear are bags with two shoulder straps. To balance the weight, packs should be carried on both shoulders.
Backpackitis is not just an American thing.
The mayor of Cantu, Italy recently instituted a crackdown on heavy book bags, according to a June edition of Awake! magazine. School bags that weigh more than 15 percent of a student's body weight are now illegal. Parents who allow their children to carry heavy loads can face fines of $250 and up to six months in jail.
After the policy was put in place, city police established checkpoints outside of schools. Armed with scales, the police weighed the students. Only two students met the legal weight.
If a similar policy was adopted in Chesapeake, most parents of middle school children would be burdened with the fine.
A weigh-in of 50 Indian River Middle School students and their book bags revealed that less than half - only 21 students - carried book bags weighing less than 15 percent of their body weight. In fact, one student who weighed 100 pounds was carrying a 35-pound book bag, a normal load, she said.
Students blame the publishing companies for the heavy books.
``My English book is a big fat sucker,'' said Kelly Martin, 17, holding her hands about 5 inches apart to demonstrate the book's size.
Kelly, a senior at Tallwood High School, said books should be made lighter. ``They (publishing companies) should make the books smaller. You only use half of the book in a school year anyway,'' she said.
Ryan Alejo, 16, a junior at Tallwood, said teachers should assign more work sheets instead of book work. He said that every day he takes almost all his books home - including a 5-pound chemistry book.
Gail M. Niemeier, product specialist for Prentice Hall publishing company (the company that publishes a mammoth 5-pound American literature book), said that Prentice Hall offers some books both in hard- and soft-bound editions, but most schools choose hard-covers because they are more durable. Niemeier said that most school systems rotate textbooks every 10 years, so books need to be tough.
The good news is that publishing companies are moving toward making lighter textbooks.
In the spring, Prentice Hall will market ``Writer's Solution,'' an interactive computer program for grades six through 12. The program comes with a hard-cover, 310-page book - lighter than the average 800- to 1,000-page grammar book. Writing exercises are completed on the computer, so students simply take a disc home to do homework.
Prentice Hall already offers the ``Writer's Companion'' computer program for grades six through 12. Teachers generate work sheets from the computer program. Like ``Writer's Solution,'' ``Writer's Companion'' has no book exercises. And Prentice Hall's ``Integrated Science Program'' for grades six through nine features 19 small textbooks, each the size of a chapter, instead of one large textbook.
The McGraw-Hill Book Company offers an electronic database that allows teachers and college professors to pick and choose educational materials a la carte. Using the ``Primis'' database, teachers can build their own lightweight paperback textbooks in subjects like accounting and quantitative methods. An engineering textbook, for example, might weigh 2 pounds.
Mark Harrop, director of public relations for McGraw-Hill said the Primis books, now used on 1,200 campuses nationwide, were developed with ``the element of convenience'' in mind.
``Why make students carry around two or three textbooks containing as much as 350 pages that they would never need . . . when we could custom make a leaner textbook that combines all the essentials?'' Harrop said. Plus, the books are cheaper.
Publishers say that the day will soon come when textbooks weigh less than 3 pounds or are on computer disc. But there are some scholars who don't mind the status quo.
``Books weigh what they need to weigh,'' said Paul Fritzinger, 29, a student at Tidewater Community College's Virginia Beach Campus. Fritzinger, who totes a 19-pound pack, added that most of his classes cover all of the book. ``Like Mozart - not too many notes, not too few notes, just enough notes.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot
Ryan Alejo's backpack: 19 lbs.
Leah Selby's backpack: 5 lbs.
by CNB