Comments for NPCpp Blog http://www.npcpp.ie/blog Just another WordPress weblog Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:26:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 Comment on Weight of School Bags by Ted Bradley http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-212 Ted Bradley Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:12:19 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-212 It is easy for me to compliant about this problem and expect other to take action, so I am trying to find ways of lighten my daughters load (just under 2 stone). Firstly I am lobbying the government to take action and you can help me by "like"-ing my facebook page, "lighten the schoolbags" and then I am scanning my daughters books and creating electronic copies. This maybe illegal but what the publishers are doing is dishonest as they are fully aware of the issue of the weight of book and have been for sometime. The old Cicero saying comes to mind "Cui bono" who benefits! It is easy for me to compliant about this problem and expect other to take action, so I am trying to find ways of lighten my daughters load (just under 2 stone). Firstly I am lobbying the government to take action and you can help me by “like”-ing my facebook page, “lighten the schoolbags” and then I am scanning my daughters books and creating electronic copies. This maybe illegal but what the publishers are doing is dishonest as they are fully aware of the issue of the weight of book and have been for sometime. The old Cicero saying comes to mind “Cui bono” who benefits!

]]> Comment on Weight of School Bags by Ted Bradley http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-209 Ted Bradley Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:20:27 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-209 Sorry, I forgot to add my contact details which are:- Ted Bradley, Ballyhea, Charleville, Co. Cork - 087 2171089 email dromcollogher@gmail.com Sorry, I forgot to add my contact details which are:- Ted Bradley, Ballyhea, Charleville, Co. Cork - 087 2171089 email dromcollogher@gmail.com

]]> Comment on Weight of School Bags by Ted Bradley http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-208 Ted Bradley Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:19:07 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-208 I have started a campaign page on Facebook to collate information on this subject call "lighten the schoolbags", I am happy to work with anyone who wants to do something about this issue. I have had a relatively positive response from the school who feel this is an important issue but haven't been able to get it resolved. I believe the onus is on the Dept. of Education, HSE, Health & Safety Authority and the Child Protection Dept. to make a policy decision which will lead to legislation and action on this. I also believe that the Publishers presently have the most to gain from having heavy schoolbags. There are electronic copies of all schoolbooks but the publishers give these freely out to the teachers but not to the students. I have started a campaign page on Facebook to collate information on this subject call “lighten the schoolbags”, I am happy to work with anyone who wants to do something about this issue. I have had a relatively positive response from the school who feel this is an important issue but haven’t been able to get it resolved. I believe the onus is on the Dept. of Education, HSE, Health & Safety Authority and the Child Protection Dept. to make a policy decision which will lead to legislation and action on this. I also believe that the Publishers presently have the most to gain from having heavy schoolbags. There are electronic copies of all schoolbooks but the publishers give these freely out to the teachers but not to the students.

]]> Comment on Weight of School Bags by Elizabeth T http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-207 Elizabeth T Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:45:15 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-207 This morning my son, who weighs 37kgs, had to carry a 10kg bag to school. He is in First Year in Secondary School. He has a locker. They have a homework club in the school. He wants to walk to school. He would like the freedom of it. His bag has wheels on it, and he doesn't mind using them, but I cannot let him do so. The paths to the school are rough and damaged, due to building work being carried out in the area. The bag will not wheel properly under these conditions and it bumps and turns over, causing more strain. When he gets to school, he has four flights of stairs to get up to his locker. He maintains that he only brings home the books he needs to finish his homework (as he never gets it all done in the hour of homework club), and he brings the books from home that are needed that day. Anything that is not needed is left at home. Like so many stories above, his new bag is already ripped from the amount of books being forced into it. Also, as above, he will bring lunch every day and some days he will have gym gear or extra equipment needed for certain subjects. As so many of you have said, I also have to drive him to and from school as I cannot allow him to carry this weight every day. I have talked to the teachers and the Principal, and while they are sympathetic to this problem, they find it hard to do anything about it. Surely there could be some case for using tablet type computers. The books cost so much. I have paid out €493.83 so far, just for his books and stationery, (his school uniform, school bag, gym gear etc are in addition to that). Could a piece of computer hardware be that much more expensive? I know it would take some organisation, but we don't all have to re-invent the wheel. There are some good ideas here, if we could only get the teachers to go along with them. The idea of using sections of books (changing the way they are bound), or teachers using photocopied sheets for homework purposes (God knows they charge enough for photocopying). I can see that the problems are the same, year in year out, and nothing is done. This morning one teacher I talked to about the weight of the bag said "He'll just have to grow some muscles". Great. This child is 12 year old. He is only a little lad at present. He hasn't done any major growth spurts yet. Hopefully that will happen soon. In the meantime he is no Charles Atlas and cannot carry that bag around all year and not expect injury as a result. There has to be some way to make a change to this situation, for the sake of all our children. This morning my son, who weighs 37kgs, had to carry a 10kg bag to school. He is in First Year in Secondary School. He has a locker. They have a homework club in the school. He wants to walk to school. He would like the freedom of it. His bag has wheels on it, and he doesn’t mind using them, but I cannot let him do so. The paths to the school are rough and damaged, due to building work being carried out in the area. The bag will not wheel properly under these conditions and it bumps and turns over, causing more strain. When he gets to school, he has four flights of stairs to get up to his locker. He maintains that he only brings home the books he needs to finish his homework (as he never gets it all done in the hour of homework club), and he brings the books from home that are needed that day. Anything that is not needed is left at home. Like so many stories above, his new bag is already ripped from the amount of books being forced into it. Also, as above, he will bring lunch every day and some days he will have gym gear or extra equipment needed for certain subjects.
As so many of you have said, I also have to drive him to and from school as I cannot allow him to carry this weight every day. I have talked to the teachers and the Principal, and while they are sympathetic to this problem, they find it hard to do anything about it. Surely there could be some case for using tablet type computers. The books cost so much. I have paid out €493.83 so far, just for his books and stationery, (his school uniform, school bag, gym gear etc are in addition to that). Could a piece of computer hardware be that much more expensive?
I know it would take some organisation, but we don’t all have to re-invent the wheel. There are some good ideas here, if we could only get the teachers to go along with them. The idea of using sections of books (changing the way they are bound), or teachers using photocopied sheets for homework purposes (God knows they charge enough for photocopying). I can see that the problems are the same, year in year out, and nothing is done. This morning one teacher I talked to about the weight of the bag said “He’ll just have to grow some muscles”. Great. This child is 12 year old. He is only a little lad at present. He hasn’t done any major growth spurts yet. Hopefully that will happen soon. In the meantime he is no Charles Atlas and cannot carry that bag around all year and not expect injury as a result. There has to be some way to make a change to this situation, for the sake of all our children.

]]> Comment on Weight of School Bags by Manzur http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-199 Manzur Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:05:41 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-199 I was really eager to learn something more precise,not just how to reduce the number of books or what type would be more effective.How much weight a child can carry on her back?How much does it really vary according to age,sex or the body weight,these are my question.Unfortunately I didn't get any answer. It would be even better if a specialized person like a pediatrician or a an orthopedician dealing child problems answered all those queries. Manzur I was really eager to learn something more precise,not just how to reduce the number of books or what type would be more effective.How much weight a child can carry on her back?How much does it really vary according to age,sex or the body weight,these are my question.Unfortunately I didn’t get any answer.

It would be even better if a specialized person like a pediatrician or a an orthopedician dealing child problems answered all those queries.

Manzur

]]> Comment on ISN’T it time that the Department of Education changed its syllabus in relation to the teaching of languages in our schools? by John http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2010/02/24/isnt-it-time-that-the-department-of-education-changed-its-syllabus-in-relation-to-the-teaching-of-languages-in-our-schools/#comment-191 John Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:02:17 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=7#comment-191 Time to move on languages.Growth areas and where Ireland has to look for opportunities are the so-called BRIC countries,Brazil,Russia,India and China.We are stuck in the mud with our old way of thinking on languages.Same for all schools,French,German or Spanish.We need to be ahead of the game,already we are playing catch up.We need Portuguese(Brazil),Russian and Chinese .Bring in native teachers of those languages.While the Irish language is 'nice' to have we need to think of our place in a wider world. Time to move on languages.Growth areas and where Ireland has to look for opportunities are the so-called BRIC countries,Brazil,Russia,India and China.We are stuck in the mud with our old way of thinking on languages.Same for all schools,French,German or Spanish.We need to be ahead of the game,already we are playing catch up.We need Portuguese(Brazil),Russian and Chinese .Bring in native teachers of those languages.While the Irish language is ‘nice’ to have we need to think of our place in a wider world.

]]> Comment on Weight of School Bags by mary j http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-179 mary j Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:43:47 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-179 please could someone tell me what are the recommended school bagweight guideline for a 1s yr secondary schoolgirl? my girl carrys between 1st 5lb and 1st 8 every day! surely this cant be allowed! please could someone tell me what are the recommended school bagweight guideline for a 1s yr secondary schoolgirl? my girl carrys between 1st 5lb and 1st 8 every day! surely this cant be allowed!

]]> Comment on Weight of School Bags by Eileen Coleman http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-178 Eileen Coleman Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:45:32 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-178 If the way that books are compiled could be changed. that may help. for instance instead of binding books, they could be bought loose leafed and kept in a master folder. then a student could just pick out the chapter they need for their homework and only carry these home. the weight of the school books has resulted in walking and cycling to school not being viable options for getting to school. this is in direct contrast to government policy for encouraging walking and cycling in which they hava an organisation dedicated to, An Taisce Greenschools. If the way that books are compiled could be changed. that may help. for instance instead of binding books, they could be bought loose leafed and kept in a master folder. then a student could just pick out the chapter they need for their homework and only carry these home.
the weight of the school books has resulted in walking and cycling to school not being viable options for getting to school. this is in direct contrast to government policy for encouraging walking and cycling in which they hava an organisation dedicated to, An Taisce Greenschools.

]]> Comment on Weight of School Bags by Sade Ajose http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-176 Sade Ajose Sat, 18 Sep 2010 16:54:46 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-176 Awesome! I have been looking for information on this all week. I really wish that people would write more about this. Greatly appreciated Awesome! I have been looking for information on this all week. I really wish that people would write more about this. Greatly appreciated

]]> Comment on Weight of School Bags by R Dunne http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/2008/04/28/weight-of-school-bags/#comment-175 R Dunne Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:58:28 +0000 http://www.npcpp.ie/blog/?p=5#comment-175 My daughter started first year recently and uses her school locker as much as possible. She has just packed her schoolbag for tomorrow and has asked me to feel how heavy it is. She weighs 39kg and the bag weighs 9.5kg - just over 24% bodyweight! Her schoolbag is a reasonably big backpack with wide straps. The books are already showing signs of wear from being constantly stuffed in and out of a full bag. These books cost over 300 euro in total. Her Irish and History books are in her locker and her cspe books, several workbooks and dictionaries are in a shelf in the house here, not being needed tomorrow. So this schoolbag covers barely 60% of the Junior Cert course content. For comparison, I've just weighed a set of textbooks which covered at least 80% of a Science degree back in the 80s. (I bought most, but not all of the recommended texts) These books rarely travelled to college as we made use of the library there. They weighed in at 9kg, less than the weight of my daughter's schoolbag. The Government, the publishers and, I suspect, most of the teachers are not interested in the long term muscle/skeletal damage that this is most certainly doing to this generation of young people. In my view, the weight and size of these textbooks is unnecessary and is driven primarily by the greed of the book publishers. My daughter started first year recently and uses her school locker as much as possible. She has just packed her schoolbag for tomorrow and has asked me to feel how heavy it is.

She weighs 39kg and the bag weighs 9.5kg - just over 24% bodyweight!

Her schoolbag is a reasonably big backpack with wide straps. The books are already showing signs of wear from being constantly stuffed in and out of a full bag. These books cost over 300 euro in total.

Her Irish and History books are in her locker and her cspe books, several workbooks and dictionaries are in a shelf in the house here, not being needed tomorrow. So this schoolbag covers barely 60% of the Junior Cert course content.

For comparison, I’ve just weighed a set of textbooks which covered at least 80% of a Science degree back in the 80s. (I bought most, but not all of the recommended texts) These books rarely travelled to college as we made use of the library there.

They weighed in at 9kg, less than the weight of my daughter’s schoolbag.

The Government, the publishers and, I suspect, most of the teachers are not interested in the long term muscle/skeletal damage that this is most certainly doing to this generation of young people. In my view, the weight and size of these textbooks is unnecessary and is driven primarily by the greed of the book publishers.

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