Books, notebooks, and pens – these are the usual things you would expect to find in a school bag.  Many parents sympathetically associate the weight of a school bag with the amount of work the student needs to complete.  However one thing often gets overlooked.  It is intangible, and yet is the main source of heaviness, a weight perpetually pulls the students down.  It is pressure.  Yes, the pressure to complete the ever increasing numbers of assignments within deadlines and the pressure to answer all questions.  It cannot be seen (the way we can see a book or a copy) but is nevertheless packed inside the simple school bag.

 As children, we all started our pre-schools carrying bags with glitters and cartoon characters on the front.  This is perhaps our last memory of carrying light bags.  In some ways it symbolized our light-heartedness, our ease, and our innocence. Our only physical burden at that time was a jacket, or a half empty water bottle inside our school bag.

This, of course, would soon change as we moved up in our grades.  Bags with cartoons and glitters got replaced by those with dull colors and larger zippers. Chewing gums wrappers and pencils gave way to hefty books, copies, and fountain pen.  And our light-hearted selves and carefree nature finally got replaced by solemn faces carrying heavy school bags.

 Long gone are the cheerful children, they are now dedicated students with a goal.  While their body trudges under the weight of the heavy bags, their mind is also trying to deal with the pressure of school work.

Now shrugging off the pressure of school work isn't as easy as shrugging off our bags when we reach home. Yet, when we do take off our bags, we feel lighter, as though we can breathe a second longer. As a society we constantly push our students to try to be their best. In many ways, it's fine.  However, we need to remember that this constant push and pull adds a load to their already heavy school bags. And maybe, in a few years from now these students will end up not only with crooked backs, but also with heavy hearts. Lighten up the school bags but more importantly ease up on the pressures on students.  We will all be better-off in the long run having done that.