{"id":49507,"date":"2015-02-06T14:21:06","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T14:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/06\/the-walk-to-school.html"},"modified":"2015-02-06T14:21:06","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T14:21:06","slug":"the-walk-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/06\/the-walk-to-school.html","title":{"rendered":"The Walk to School"},"content":{"rendered":"

I walked to school — or, in junior high, biked — pretty much every day. It wasn't until high school (at least the first two years) that I ended up going by car or bus, and that was because it was that distance away. I was fortunate enough to live close-by my elementary school, at least, but there was never the massive traffic jams I see in front of schools today.<\/p>\n

While the decline of walking to school is almost certainly in part due to paranoia about child snatchers, I'm pretty sure there are a couple of other factors:<\/p>\n

1. "Neighborhood schools" aren't as common. Especially as neighborhoods have aged out, school districts have realigned catchment areas to balance populations (for numbers, if not for other demographic reasons like integration), resulting in schools that are far too far to walk to.<\/p>\n

This is what happened with us and +<\/span>Kay Hill<\/a><\/span> — our neighborhood was put into the catchment for an elementary school in an older neighborhood some distance away. She's ridden the bus on a regular basis through her whole school career.<\/p>\n

Ironically, as she has progressed in her school career, each school has gotten closer; her high school is the closest of all.<\/p>\n

2. School schedules and after-school activities have increased, often requiring parental pickups.<\/p>\n

3. Newer neighborhoods have been less designed for walking than in the past. <\/p>\n

I still suspect that paranoia is still a big part of the picture, though. Given the trouble parents have gotten into by busy-body folk calling the police and CPS when they see someone below the age of ten that isn't tethered to an adult, it's not surprising more parents simply load up the young'uns in the SUV and take them to school.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\nEditors’ Picks<\/a><\/span>
\nIn the late 1960s, nearly 50 percent of American children walked to and from school each day. In this short film produced by City Walk, experts discuss the decline of a once-common activity—and why it would still benefit children today. “Kids need to walk to school so they learn about active transportation,” says University of Utah professor Elizabeth Joy. “When you have to go two, three, or four blocks, that doesn’t mean you get in the car. You …\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I walked to school — or, in junior high, biked — pretty much every day. It wasn't until high school (at least the first two years) that I ended up going by car or bus, and that was because it was that distance away. I was fortunate enough to live close-by my elementary school, at … Continue reading “The Walk to School”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130904,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/19\/cant-tell-your-philosophical-schools-without-a-program.html","url_meta":{"origin":49507,"position":0},"title":"Can't Tell Your Philosophical Schools Without a Program!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 19-Jun-16 12:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A brief (and, doubtless, oversimplified) History of Philosophy (via http:\/\/www.visualistan.com\/2014\/10\/history-of-philosophy-infographic.html). \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137908,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/02\/22\/let-them-eat-grade-books.html","url_meta":{"origin":49507,"position":1},"title":"Let Them Eat Grade Books!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 22-Feb-19 5:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An Arkansas state legislator is fed up with schools that don't improve their reading scores.His solution: cut lunch funding from schools that don't perform well.Guess which party he's in. Arkansas legislator proposes cutting lunch funding from schools that struggle to improve reading skills One Arkansas lawmaker wants to get more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135584,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/08\/tax-dollars-work.html","url_meta":{"origin":49507,"position":2},"title":"Your tax dollars at work","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 8-Dec-17 7:58am","format":false,"excerpt":"What do school vouchers mean in this age of Betsy DeVos? Vouchers for private education are not new to this Administration, but as Trump's Secretary of Education, De Vos has been pushing those programs like crazy. Public schools, after all, are full of government and unions and even (crazy though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/betsy-de-vos.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":131361,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/27\/the-unexpected-nationalizing-of-state-universities.html","url_meta":{"origin":49507,"position":3},"title":"The unexpected nationalizing of state universities","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 27-Aug-16 4:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"A number of states have tried to balance their budgets (ravaged by tax cuts, among other factors) by reducing funding to their public college and university systems -- raising tuitions, reducing in-state advantages, etc. These public, state-run schools were generally intended for local state residents to attend, but rising costs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128322,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/15\/oh-the-humanities-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":49507,"position":4},"title":"Oh, the Humanities","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 15-Oct-15 7:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"While public universities (especially) are cutting back on fripperies like philosophy and anthropology and German, some surprising schools that are much more -- well, vocational -- are speaking out in favor of the liberal arts. What Military Schools and Culinary Academies Have in Common They\u2019re fighting to save the liberal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132786,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/07\/so-yeah-betsy-devos.html","url_meta":{"origin":49507,"position":5},"title":"So, yeah, Betsy DeVos","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 7-Feb-17 4:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An awful decision in terms of quality of candidate, but ... well, +Doyce Testerman summarizes why it's not the disaster that some of Trump's nominees look to be (glances wild-eyed at Jeff Sessions).https:\/\/plus.google.com\/u\/0\/+DoyceTesterman\/posts\/36paErrkBvgIn short, even though everyone bitches about the Dept. of Education, the majority of funding and program work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}