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Japan is such an outlier in so many things, especially things involving care and precision, that I don't think it's reasonable to assume that things elsewhere c
by ggg9990 9y ago
Japan is such an outlier in so many things, especially things involving care and precision, that I don't think it's reasonable to assume that things elsewhere can be similar. 6-year-olds take the subway alone in Japan, and it would be great if we could do that in the US, but most places, we can't.
- nihonde 9y agoA lot of that difference is attributable to setting high standards and holding yourself accountable to them.
- TillE 9y agoIt's fairly common to see small children out on their own in German cities too. I'd suggest that the US is frequently the outlier in many things, and of course it's easy to see them as normal if you've only ever lived there.
- stevekemp 9y agoIn Finland it's extremely common for 5 year olds to walking and cycling (on the pavements) to school, and back. (Both those things occur even in winter, where the temperatures might reach -25 degrees for a couple of weeks of the year.)
- Larrikin 9y agoElementary kids travel in packs, often without adults, but almost never alone. A large reason this isn't allowed in the US is because of helicopter parents who insist it's impossible to teach this skill to children and report parents who try to give teach their kids independence.
- dreamcompiler 9y agoThat's true today in the US, but it was common as late as the 70s for 6-year-olds to walk to school alone here.