I remember when I was in the eighth grade; I had one of those de facto worst days of my life. I had homework in just about every single class that day, it was rainy and I forgot an umbrella, and at the time, I was a walker to and from school. My backpack couldn’t contain anymore text books and weighed a million pounds, and I had to relegate to stuffing things into my trumpet case by the way I was in the band back then and had a huge cumbersome trumpet case to lug around too. I walked home in the rain, furiously upset and discouraged, lugging about 20 lbs. of extra weight, and when I got home, I changed into dry clothing, and sprawled out on my back on the carpet and closed my eyes.
Nowadays, if an eighth grader were in a similar predicament, a parent would complain to the school board to reduce homework, or the necessity of textbooks outright, and in today’s economy, would ultimately go through. If the parents didn’t pick up the child in their Toyota Sienna with the button-touch automatic opening and closing doors, the child would still be forced to walk home, but instead of carrying a backpack, they would undoubtedly be dragging a rolling bag on wheels.