The following appears on qz.com

On a sunny January afternoon, the heaviest things in six-year-old Miriam Foster’s backpack were her lunch box and her jacket, making it manageable for the kindergartener’s walk home.

“She does it herself from here to home, and home to here,” said Miriam’s mom, Tawankon Foster, 31.

Her light load was not unique. At Emerson Elementary School in Berkeley, California, the occasional library book provides some heft, but the 20-lb. pack is a thing of the past.

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