I always thought that my first blog post was going to be something substantial.  Maybe I'd finally finish that article on the Japanese structure of academic literature and its visible effect on story telling in Japanese games.
 
Nope, instead my first blog is going to be a knee jerk reaction to one incredibly dumbfounding rule I discovered at the middle school where I do tutoring at.  For awhile now, I've had many students with folders and binders almost bursting at their seams.  I finally decided to ask one today why he didn't just carry multiple folders, one for each subject.  He responded it would be a bit harder to keep multiple folders with him from one class to another.  Puzzled, I ask why not just keep them in the book bag instead of carrying them by hand.  His response: the middle school does not allow students to carry book bags because there could be a bomb in one of them.  
 
I...seriously...what?  I don't have words that can describe my complete and utter puzzlement at the logic behind that rule.
 
Edit: had I bothered to scroll a bit further down the screen, I would have realized this is not actually my first blog post.  But that's not the point!

" I always thought that my first blog post was going to be something substantial.  Maybe I'd finally finish that article on the Japanese structure of academic literature and its visible effect on story telling in Japanese games.  Nope, instead my first blog is going to be a knee jerk reaction to one incredibly dumbfounding rule I discovered at the middle school where I do tutoring at.  For awhile now, I've had many students with folders and binders almost bursting at their seams.  I finally decided to ask one today why he didn't just carry multiple folders, one for each subject.  He responded it would be a bit harder to keep multiple folders with him from one class to another.  Puzzled, I ask why not just keep them in the book bag instead of carrying them by hand.  His response: the middle school does not allow students to carry book bags because there could be a bomb in one of them.    I...seriously...what?  I don't have words that can describe my complete and utter puzzlement at the logic behind that rule. "

Did you confirm this with the staff...? That sounds rather far-fetched to be legitimate. Though if it is, that's pretty insane.
 
I remember lots of kids not wanting to use backpacks when I was around that age just because it didn't look cool.

Yay for stupidity
 
I'm so glad I don't live in the city and so my son will not have to deal with this kind of assinine bullshit.

Back when I was a kid we weren't allowed to use our lockers between classes for pretty much the same reason. You'd see kids carrying 4-5 heavy ass textbooks the entire day, it was by far the stupidest rule I had ever heard of in my life.

When I was in middle school, they had this same rule. No book bags after the first bell rang. They said it was because the school was over crowded and they would create more congestion and be dangerous in the halls with people swinging them everywhere. I believe them though, because that rule didn't drag over into the larger, more spacious high school.

Whaaaat!? Where is this school you're talking about? Is it a public one?

My high school recently instituted this, although it is loosely enforced. However, they are really strict about bookbags and backpacks in the library.

" Bags can conceal other items besides bombs? What? like...books? pencils?  It sickens me that our society has become what it is. People fear everything, everywhere at anytime. It's ridiculous. "

" Bags can conceal other items besides bombs? What? like...books? pencils?  It sickens me that our society has become what it is. People fear everything, everywhere at anytime. It's ridiculous. "

It's truth..
 
In my highschool in the city (and grade schools) you couldn't carry bookbags.
 
Yet now i'm in the country and we could..odd

" @CowMuffins:  But from what my students tell me, it's causing a whole lot of congestion in hall ways from students opening their lockers to get separate notebooks and text books for every class.
 
@Apathylad: It's a public middle school in Madison, Wisconsin. "

" @Turambar said:

" @CowMuffins:  But from what my students tell me, it's causing a whole lot of congestion in hall ways from students opening their lockers to get separate notebooks and text books for every class.
 
@Apathylad: It's a public middle school in Madison, Wisconsin. "

Wow. Really? In Wisconsin? I can understand out here in California. Though I should ask my girlfriends little sister if she's allowed a backpack in her school. "

That's pretty messed up. Can't imagine that kind of thing happening at my old school.

at my school bookbags are tthe norm, only nerds use lockers

That's what happened at my middle school. the funny thing is that my high school doesn't care, and the high schools seems to be more likely to have people who want to carry bombs into school.

" That is really stupid rule but from a certain perspective I guess I can somewhat understand. I went to a middle school (private) very recently and we were freely allowed to use backpacks and in the high school I currently go to (private again) we can have backpacks and lockers. I wonder why it is mainly public schools that have these very inconvenient and annoying rules. "

That's...weird as hell. I used to carry my Backpack to every class in HS (started doing that near the end of Middle/Jr. High) because it was easier to carry all of my school crap in it.

We're free from that BS in Canada, thank god.
 
@Godlyawesomeguy: It's because any dumbass can go to a public school.

i have never seen this before
every kid i see that goes to school has some kind of bag for his books

My HS didn't allow backpacks either, but tons of kids carried them around anyway. It was never really enforced.

It won't be long until somebody gets worried about the possibility of hiding a bomb inside those book folders too, and then those will be lost.

Well, he could just keep folders in his locker, but there is a simple answer in the step to prevent bombs like that, and it would be metal detectors. Sure, this is a middle school. But this idea is just so far-fetched that it isn't a legitimate reason to not allow book bags. If they are so afraid that someone is going to bring a bomb to school, then maybe they should consider metal detectors, as opposed to banning book bags because there MIGHT be a bomb in one of them.
 
It is pretty messed up that they ban book bags like that. What is even more messed up is that they are afraid of somebody bringing a bomb to school. Not just the fact that it is a long stretch, but the fact that anybody would do something like that, and that it has to be protected against.