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The current cultural trend in the United States is essentially that its citizens are helpless and need the government to do everything for them and to protect t

The current cultural trend in the United States is essentially that its citizens are helpless and need the government to do everything for them and to protect them from themselves. ;-) If two parents left for work and let their 6-year-old walk to school, they'd be risking serious legal trouble and/or the possible confiscation of their child by the government.

kuschku 11y ago
It’s effectively an impossibility to do it differently – kids have to walk to school, and have to take bike or public transit at age 10 to secondary school – often biking 20km in one direction, or using the bus halfway across the city. Parents can’t afford to waste time (or money) taking their kids to school when those can go to school perfectly safe anyway. So it makes sense that children age 10 would be able to use the bus and go into the city and buy stuff themselves.
- trav4225 11y ago
  I generally agree with you. When I was growing up we weren't this (over?)-protective. Culturally, it was a completely different world from today. :) Anyway, in the United States, most school districts operate their own bus systems and, in most areas, these buses pick up and drop off the children very near to their house, if not right in front of their house. Still, many children are driven directly to/from school each day by a parent. Most people that I know who do this have work schedules that are flexible enough to accommodate this.
DanBC 11y ago
Your hyperbolic snark misses the fact that children are in fact helpless to defend themselves against abusive and neglectful parents, and thus the state needs to fill that role. We agree that the state sometimes oversteps the role (one or two cases of children who walked to school being aggressively pursued by child protection social workers per year) but it's frustrating that you ignore the hundreds of deaths (4 per day) caused by abusive or neglectful parents, and the many thousands of deaths caused by carelessness. In 2008 about 1,700 children died as a result of abuse or neglect. https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/statistics/can/stat-fatalities/ https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/statistics/ca...
- kuschku 11y ago
  Ah, okay. The German quota of child abuse per capita is over 3 times lower than the US quota, so it makes sense that you are more focused on that. Still, children walking to school is not neglect. Children of age 10 walking and taking bus halfway across town is not neglect either.
- trav4225 11y ago
  My apologies. I believe my intent was misinterpreted. I was not, in the slightest, commenting on the need for social services; I was commenting on the general cultural attitude that children need to be constantly coddled and, tangentially, that it is the state's job, not the parents', to ensure that the children arrive safely to school (e.g., via school buses).

kuschku 11y ago

It’s effectively an impossibility to do it differently – kids have to walk to school, and have to take bike or public transit at age 10 to secondary school – often biking 20km in one direction, or using the bus halfway across the city. Parents can’t afford to waste time (or money) taking their kids to school when those can go to school perfectly safe anyway. So it makes sense that children age 10 would be able to use the bus and go into the city and buy stuff themselves.

trav4225 11y ago
I generally agree with you. When I was growing up we weren't this (over?)-protective. Culturally, it was a completely different world from today. :) Anyway, in the United States, most school districts operate their own bus systems and, in most areas, these buses pick up and drop off the children very near to their house, if not right in front of their house. Still, many children are driven directly to/from school each day by a parent. Most people that I know who do this have work schedules that are flexible enough to accommodate this.

DanBC 11y ago

Your hyperbolic snark misses the fact that children are in fact helpless to defend themselves against abusive and neglectful parents, and thus the state needs to fill that role. We agree that the state sometimes oversteps the role (one or two cases of children who walked to school being aggressively pursued by child protection social workers per year) but it's frustrating that you ignore the hundreds of deaths (4 per day) caused by abusive or neglectful parents, and the many thousands of deaths caused by carelessness. In 2008 about 1,700 children died as a result of abuse or neglect. https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/statistics/can/stat-fatalities/ https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/statistics/ca...

kuschku 11y ago
Ah, okay. The German quota of child abuse per capita is over 3 times lower than the US quota, so it makes sense that you are more focused on that. Still, children walking to school is not neglect. Children of age 10 walking and taking bus halfway across town is not neglect either.
trav4225 11y ago
My apologies. I believe my intent was misinterpreted. I was not, in the slightest, commenting on the need for social services; I was commenting on the general cultural attitude that children need to be constantly coddled and, tangentially, that it is the state's job, not the parents', to ensure that the children arrive safely to school (e.g., via school buses).