“Ugh, my backpack is so heavy. I don’t want to carry it,” said everyone who has received two massive textbooks on the first day of school and is forced to carry them around in their heavy backpack for the rest of the day.

Most people choose to suffer through it, while just a few others get lockers. This year in Journalism, I was forced to get a locker to save space in the classroom, due to an increase in class size, which placed the issue front and center in my mind.

At Linganore High School and several other high schools in the area, students only choose to use lockers if they sign up for them or if they are required to get one for a particular class.

Having to put things in a locker during a class can cause a hassle when I need something from it and, depending on what’s going on in the classroom, I can’t access materials. It also takes time that could be used on learning when we have to pack up and get to our next class, and there just isn’t enough time. Although, lockers do save a lot of space and encourage student organization…

At this point in time I realize that there are some bold pros and cons of using lockers.

One reason lockers shouldn’t be used is budget. Why do schools need to spend all of this money on locker construction when only a few students use them? The cost of unused lockers could be used to supply the school with materials like computers and other teaching aids that would actually be of use.

According to an article in USA Today by Elizabeth Crisp about lockers, a high school in Mississippi completely removed lockers from their school, which saved them $200,00 and created an increase in school security.

“There’s no need for them, and I don’t like lockers,” said junior Alyssa Yammarino.

There are only five minutes between class, and there is nowhere near enough time to get to class on time if your class is on the opposite side of the school… and don’t forget the need for bathroom breaks!

Junior Emma Wynkoop said, “I don’t have time to go from a class to a locker and then across the school.”

With lockers, if a student forgets materials, the supplies that are necessary to have during class are hard to access once a student is in class.

Another reason lockers shouldn’t be used is security. Nowadays, weapons and drugs within schools are a problem. It would be quite easy to hide these things inside a locker rather than carry them around in a bag all day. At this point, lockers would be more of a hiding spot rather than a place to place academic materials that students have to carry around each day.

Considering the amount of supplies students are forced to carry throughout the school day, maybe there are some pros after all…

One pro of school lockers is physical health.  Students who carry heavy book bags can do damage to their spines after a few years of carrying excessive weight on their backs each day.

When weighing students book bags in the Journalism classroom, the average weight of the book bags was 14 lbs, which could be strenuous for a student a period of time.

According to Jane E. Brody in a New York Times article, the heavy weight can cause, “stress fractures in the back, inflammation of growth cartilage, back and neck strain, and nerve damage in the neck and shoulders.” It’s harder for students to focus on studying and school work when they have an aching back and shoulders.

If there is a break from carrying around a book bag throughout the entire school day, injuries that occur from the heavy weight could be dramatically decreased, and thus be better for students in the future.

Another PRO is security. During some parts of the day students are forced to leave things like school supplies and electronics for gym class, a locker would provide security when the student isn’t near.

Most people love being able to carry their backpacks around because they’re convenient. Since there are more cons than pros when it comes to having lockers, so maybe we are fine without them.