Sir, – My secondary school going children arrived home on Wednesday with their new homework journals. Hard-backed books with pages to write down their homework on (fair enough) and even more pages filled with pictures and “information” (is there not enough “information” in the other 15 kilos of books they have?). Each journal weighed in at a grand total of 900g! My primary school child’s journal, (a simpler little book) weighed in at less than 400g, a more reasonable weight.
There is a lot of talk these days of heavy school bags and maybe replacing books with tablets and technology. In the meantime, could I suggest they stop over engineering the books, and print them on lighter, cheaper paper with fewer coloured pages and pictures. Surely this way, a couple of kilos could be knocked off the average schoolbag?
Also, there is no need for such fancy publishing, as all the books have a short shelf life and cannot be passed on as each new student will require the latest edition! – Yours, etc,
SARAH GRIMLEY,
Grange Manor Road,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.