Students are now forced to carry their cumbersome school supplies by hand at Jordan Vocational High School in Columbus, Ga. after the school banned the use of book bags by its students, effective Monday, August 15, 2022. The ban has been enacted after a student was found with a firearm hidden in a book bag on Tuesday, August 9, 2022.

The ban does very little to actually keep weapons out of the classroom. 

While it is an unfortunate reality, public schools across the nation have grown accustomed to metal detectors at the doors to catch weapons before they are brought into the building; an effective technique employed by the New York City public school system for decades. 

However, it appears the leadership at Jordan High is unaware that malicious students are capable of concealing weapons in locations other than a book bag. As a result, the school has illogically banned book bags for all students, including those who have no intention of doing anything wrong. 

The hastily-formed and emotionally-driven ban does not hold up to even the simplest of scrutinies. The ban is not applicable to student-athletes, who will remain permitted to bring a gym bag provided it remains in the gym — an inconsistency that defies even the most basic logic of this ban. This exception to the rule is based purely on the notion that athletes wouldn’t be capable of hiding something in their gym bag. It begs the question of, “and how does that make any sense?”

Bans such as these often “feel” good to those enacting them, but offer very little to actually help solve the problem. They ironically punish those who have done nothing wrong in the first place. They are impractical check-the-block actions that allow officials to say “we did something” without actually doing anything — often at the expense of common sense and practicality.