Our country has always prioritized education among its youth, but has our generation reached the tipping point, at which the simple act of carrying around textbooks or investing in an eBook could make or break our chances at success in the future?

Films such as “The Race to Nowhere” and “Superman” have exposed the fact that the curriculum at various public and private schools has, at the very least, intensified to the point where many students find themselves running on six or seven hours of sleep, and two or more cups of coffee, all while strapped to an obscenely heavy backpack that could probably accommodate a mini fridge.

Math teacher Mr. Paul Chiment is one of the several advocates for students’ welfare in schools. “There’s absolutely no reason that students are carrying around pounds of paper in 2011.”

Blaming schools for the psychological and physical stress on high-school students has become a trend within the states.

Not enough solutions have been presented to balance out this nationally-recognized problem.

Thus, advocates for our students’ wellbeing have been at an impasse, since pro- and anti-reformers have not been able to come up with a compromise that would cater to the needs and wants of both parties, until now – the eBook Era.

America has watched the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Nobles Nook, Apple iPad, and Sony PRS505 gain popularity.

But, many school administrators have yet to take that leap of faith either because of a common fear of being met with disapproval, or quite frankly, because of the lack of digitalized, high-quality textbooks.

“The irony is it’s easier to digitize words and pictures, than it is to digitize music,” said Mr. Chiment.

Students are carrying their 50 favorite music albums around on their fun-size iPod or MP3 Player, as opposed to lugging pounds and pounds of CD cases that would probably require a U-Haul.

Many high school students suffer back, neck, shoulder, or knee pain from carrying heavy backpacks around.

So, what’s the point to all of this needless hardship?

There is none.

All that can be done is to urge the eBook industry to take that extra step and help undo the damage done to so many students and to create more electronic textbooks for high school students.