The JCPS Backpack was launched in 2018, and has been enforced ever since then. Students make a slide presentation showing off their work, and are then judged to see if they are ‘transition ready.’ In a slide presentation posted by JCPS titled, What Is A Digital Backpack, it is said that the backpack was created to, “Increase learning and equip students with the skills they need to be successful in school and in life.” It also mentioned that it came about after, “Taking a long, hard look at our data; acknowledging where we are (and); identifying where we need to be.” Now, it is understandable that it is necessary that students meet certain expectations, but The JCPS Board Of Education needs to realize that students are more than just test scores. 

Students are adolescents, developing independence and are overwhelmed with life choices. In an article by Taylor Clark called The Three Real Reasons Why Americans Are More Anxious Than Ever Before it says, “As psychologist Robert Leahy points out: ‘The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.’” Students should not be being put through this, stress and anxiety are bad as it is, but they can lead to much worse things too. Although stress is bad, it is not the main point of this argument, because there will be more stressful things to deal with in life. What are the main points? For one, students should not have to defend their right to graduate, if they pass the tests you give them, they're obviously doing something right; and for two if JCPS really wants all students to be prepared and ready for the real world, why don’t they start teaching them things they will actually need?

Provided is a list of life skills that should be taught in schools: How to do taxes; How to buy a house; How to pay debts; How to get a credit/ debit card and how to use them responsibly; Self defense; How to take care of kids (All high school students should have to bring home an ‘infant simulator‘. The sad truth nowadays is that lots of kids are having sex, they should have to bring home the consequences of unprotected sex for a week or two, so they know how to take care of a life.); What a credit score is. (What is a credit score? What is it for, what does it do? I have no idea.) How to manage it; How to make a home mortgage; Time management; Cooking. (Some kids don’t even know how to cook a simple meal! What are they going to do when they're alone?); Personal finance; How to drive; Survival Skills; Math we will actually use; The study of different cultures, (anthropology.)

JCPS says they care about all students' futures, but yet they don’t teach them things that they need to know to function in society. Of course they will figure some of it out on their own, but why is this not being taught? Why are they learning that Mentos makes soda explode but they're not learning basic necessities for life? If JCPS really cares about their future why don't they learn any of these things? Instead of focusing all their energy on the backpack they should be focusing their energy on teaching them life skills, things they will need, things they will use and carry with them.