OP-ED: Let’s End the Stigma of Handing in an Exam with Your Backpack On

Riddle me this, fellow test-takers. Do you all strive for exercise more than efficiency? Test-taking is all about efficiency, so why does that suddenly all change when you’re about to hand in an exam? It’s time for us all to come together and end the stigma of getting up to hand in a midterm while having your backpack on your back.

Be honest with me here. Why do you get up, hand in the exam, and then return to your exam seat to retrieve your backpack? Are you nostalgic to return to your seat of knowledge and absorb any intellectual essence left on its perch? Is it an attempt to distance yourself from the society from which you emerged to show up to this dimly lit lecture hall? Do you think that by not showing an underpaid TA that you have belongings and a heart and a soul that your grade will automatically be boosted?

Where is this secret universal handbook that says I have to make two trips when handing in my bluebook of trash in order to retrieve my stuff and walk out with my dignity on my back?

You go and get your bag separately, peasants. Lucky for me, I’ll be able to make it outside at least 3.4 seconds before you.