Why Don’t Kids Walk To School Anymore?

I am not embellishing or exaggerating when I say that my mom and dad never gave me a ride to school my entire life unless it was raining or snowing.  This is a fact.  When I was in the first grade, in Texas, I used to walk to school by myself.  I had to cross a creek and then a big clearing of tall grass.  By the time I got to school, my pants were usually damp up to my knees.  In third grade, in Ohio, the school was too far away and I had to walk to the bus stop and ride the yellow school bus to school.  Here in San Diego, I would walk to school with several friends every morning.  By this time my sister was old enough to go to school and it was my job to keep an eye on her.  I used to make her walk ten steps behind me so nobody would know she was with me.  How’s that for older brother harassment?

High school was the same story, but there was another option.  Walk, ride your bike, or get a ride.  In tenth grade, I rode my bike to school for the first half of the year, until I got tired of that.  I joined a car pool and my friend Ken would pick me up every morning.  He drove a Ford Maverick and the only cassette he had was Bruce Sprinsteen’s Born in the USA.  I think I still know most of those songs by heart.  Of course the ultimate is getting your driver’s license and never having to rely on other people to get from one place to another.

Fast forward to present day.  Parent’s have become the limousine service for the pampered generation.  It makes me want to puke.  The local elementary, middle and high schools are one mile from my house.  Most people around here don’t live too much farther away than that.  What do you see every morning and afternoon?  A big traffic jam is what you see.  There is a line one hundred cars long at the entrance  to the school.  It’s not any better in the afternoon.  The kids’ are so pampered they don’t seem to walk or ride there bikes anywhere these days.

I have been told that I am a dinosaur and just don’t understand present day.  It’s much too dangerous today to walk to school.  Really?  Is there is a pedophile on every corner?  Are these the streets of Tijuana?  Your personal safety is at stake walking down the sidewalk?  I am not going to look up crime figures for the last thirty years, but I would have to think that the percentage of violent crime isn’t any different today than it was thirty years ago.  The internet is an amazing tool, but one of the downfalls is that it has us living in fear.  If a violent crime happens in San Diego, then people in Florida can know about it within minutes.  I don’t think there is any more crime than in the past;  you hear about more crime due to the instant availability of the information.

Whatever happened to the buddy system?  Don’t talk to strangers and all that good stuff.   Stick together.  I’m not saying five year old kindergarteners be cut loose on the street or kids walk home alone.   Be sensible.  Let the kids gain some confidence.  Let them enjoy the fresh air and get some exercise and hang with their friends.

I’m done with my rant.

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