Whatever Happened to Walking to School?

[natty]

I walked in elementary school. One of my oldest memories is giving the old lady at the crosswalk a box of oreos for christmas.

[CharlotteBeer.com]

Hell no I don't want my kids walking to school.

I would be fine with them walking to a mutual bus stop, but that's just not safe today. If there were a parent-led group like Zod's talking about, then maybe that would be okay.

My bus dropped me off almost a mile away from my house in the afternoons. Several people would ask me if I wanted a ride to my house and, like a naive little kid, I accepted. Nothing went wrong, but it could have.

[natty]

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/09/parental_fears.html

Based on surveys Barnes collected, the top five worries of parents are, in order:

Kidnapping

School snipers

Terrorists

Dangerous strangers

Drugs

But how do children really get hurt or killed?

Car accidents

Homicide (usually committed by a person who knows the child, not a stranger)

Abuse

Suicide

Drowning

Why such a big discrepancy between worries and reality? Barnes says parents fixate on rare events because they internalize horrific stories they hear on the news or from a friend without stopping to think about the odds the same thing could happen to their children.

[Murph]

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/09/parental_fears.html

Why such a big discrepancy between worries and reality? Barnes says parents fixate on rare events because they internalize horrific stories they hear on the news or from a friend without stopping to think about the odds the same thing could happen to their children.

__________________

Just one of several reasons why I slowly phased the news (especially from TV) out of my life since last fall.

[Wither]

Both of you have not only answered the question but also defined numerous problems with society.

And saying, "well, that's just the reality of life these days" only makes it worse.

If you want to continue to advance as a society you will have to deal with these "numerous problems." Just how the hell is not being able to walk to school a huge problem? Its great if there is an adult to be a guide or something, but that alone pretty much goes against the point anyway.

Don't get me wrong; I don't like buses (no real specific reason). But, when I was a child (still am) my parents found a way to get me to school in a manner other than the bus anyway (i.e. they drove me or "pooled" with other kids).