By: Elson Elizaga I HAVE two kids studying in grade school, and each of them carried about two kilos of textbooks every day. But I found a way to reduce the weight by half. Before I describe the process, let me state that for three years my wife and I did not see any problem at all with the weight of school materials, because the kids used trolley bags. But this year, one of the kids turned grade 3, and his classroom is on the second floor of the school. To reach the room, he has to pull his 3.8-kilo trolley bag filled with two kilos of textbooks and about one kilo of notebooks and a bottle of water up two flights of stairs. We realized my son did not have to experience this ordeal. I decided to lift the trolley bag for him every day. Some parents also helped their kids in this manner. Eventually, I came up with an idea––split the textbooks. I wanted to do it at home, but because I did not have the tools, I went to a printing press. If a textbook had 200 pages, I had it split somewhere in the middle. The middle did not have to be between pages 100 and 101, but between two chapters. This method ensured that each half of the book was complete. I discovered that when a textbook was split, the first half no longer had a back cover and the second half lacked a front cover. But this condition was easily solved. The printing press simply had the original cover photocopied––in black-and-white. A black-and-white photocopy did not seem to be a good idea, but I saw an advantage: The first half of each textbook retained a full-colored front cover and acquired a black-and-white back cover. The second half acquired a black-and-white front cover and retained a full colored back cover. The beauty of this difference is the ease in knowing which half of the textbook is first and which is second. Later I realized another benefit from splitting the textbooks: Usually, an entire textbook suffers from wear-and-tear because of regular use. If split, only the first part, the one used in school, initially degrades. The second remains new because it is kept in a locker at home, until the kids need them. My family is happy with the result. My only concern is that, as a friend said, I might be accused of copyright infringement because I have photocopied the covers. I hope the authors and publishers use the idea instead, and split the textbooks in their own printing press. Otherwise, I will replace the covers completely next year. I hope people from the Department of Education (DepEd) get to read this article, and consider requiring publishers to split their textbooks. Already I have split the notebooks at home, using a staple remover and a long stapler. This has further decreased the overall luggage of my kids, to a point that they can now use backpacks instead of trolley bags. Excessively heavy backpacks is a major cause of back injuries among school children worldwide. In 2002, a mother in California angrily organized a protest because her son was carrying 43 pounds of school books daily in a bicycle. A politician then filed a bill requiring the California State Board of Education (SBE) to find solutions. In response to the bill, SBE conducted research and consulted stakeholders in 2003 until 2007. Among the adopted recommendations was a weight standard for elementary and secondary textbooks. SBE also required publishers to offer light versions of textbooks if they exceed a weight threshold. “These lighter weight alternatives may include, but are not limited to, split volumes, electronic editions, softcover editions or other alternate physical formats.” Pediatricians and chiropractors consulted in the SBE research “recommend that students not carry more than fifteen percent of their body weight in a backpack, or risk negative health impacts.” (See also elson.elizaga.net.)