Kids backpacks for heavy books?

alan

Answer
The only backpacks that hold up are the ones by LLBean. Before we bought the LLBean backpacks, I had to buy new backpacks every year. My teen has had her LLBean backpack for 5 years and I just replaced my 9-year-old's backpack with a bigger one from LLBean as well.

Why do teenagers use small kids' backpacks?

RachelB613

I live in Oakland, CA. I frequently see young teenagers, especially African-American teenage girls (around Claremont Middle School and in some parts of Berkeley) wearing backpacks that seem specifically for younger kids (primary grades; K-3rd). I have seen these girls, and possibly even boys, with Dora the Explorer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Spiderman, Superman, Strawberry Shortcake and various Princess backpacks. They are always small backpacks (about 16") and don't seem like they would be big enough for a middle schooler to fit all their stuff that they'd need for school.

- How do these backpacks fit into the lives of these teenagers I see?
- Do certain groups more than others tend to use them? (i.e. I've never seen Latino kids wearing them, but maybe they do.)
- Why?
- In what ways?
- What function do the backpacks serve?
- What do these backpacks tell us about these kids who use them?
Please do not answer this question unless you know the answer to WHY these specific kids or other kids that you know use these backpacks. I tried to explain earlier... I am a graduate student at UC Berkeley in the Education Department. I doing this investigation as part of an assignment for my Urban Education class. (Please do not post random answers just so you can get points. That is not very helpful to me. Thanks!)

Answer
I see that in Oakland too, mainly around Oakland Tech. It's just a fashion thing really. They've been popular for at least a few years, mainly with the African-American community in Oakland. I guess it has something in common with the Finding Nemo cup I have on my desk.

The amount of books and papers these kids are bringing to and from school really does fit in a little-kid backpack. They'll probably have a notebook or two, maybe a binder, a few pencils, and possibly a book or two. Mostly they can leave things in their lockers. I went to a competetive private school, so I had a lot of books to carry back and forth every day, but public schools often don't have enough textbooks to go around, and don't let kids take them home even if they want to.

Once in high school I went to a debate competition that was held at a public school in Utah, and it started before the end of classes on Friday (since Utah refuses to allow any debate rounds to take place on Sundays). I remember being struck by the fact that many kids when they were leaving for the weekend didn't even have a backpack at all - just a couple books/notebooks tucked under their arm.

The little-kid backpacks serve the same function as any other backpack, and they have enough room for everything that the kids need to bring home with them. So what's wrong with having a backpack with cartoon characters on it?

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