5 ms·

There are a lot of high schoolers who do not live within walking distance of their school, or who aren't safe walking to their school. Buses are unreliable, eas

There are a lot of high schoolers who do not live within walking distance of their school, or who aren't safe walking to their school. Buses are unreliable, easy to miss, and public transportation can be expensive. It's a whole thing.

chrisandchris 5y ago
I think discussing this topic without mentioning the country you live in is not meaningful. I assume you are not Swiss (as the article is from a swiss university)? Because I am and I went to school by bus beginning with 12 years, and busses here are reliable (like "by minute reliable").
watwut 5y ago
Sounds like quality of public transport problem. Also, high schoolers are fully competent not to miss busses.
- vanviegen 5y ago
  Actually, most of them are not, but that's a learning opportunity! :-)
  - watwut 5y ago
    Here, public transport is super normal way to go to school, work, whatever. High schoolers generally do manage to catch those busses. Middle schooler do manage to catch those busses. Once in a while someone comes in late. But, it is not that regular thing. Most of them in fact catch busses just fine.
  - inglor_cz 5y ago
    If you can solve a quadratic equation, you can take a bus at 14:34 without any hassle. Missed connections are usually missed deliberately, regardless of what is said to the parents later.
  - Broken_Hippo 5y ago
    This is simply untrue. Loads of students in the "high school" age range manage to get to school on time most days. Depending on the country, your 16-18 year old student might not even live at home.
shafyy 5y ago
In the US, maybe. In Europe, it's very unusual for a kid older than ~9 years to be driven to school.
- math_denial 5y ago
  it depends where in Europe. Where I live at least 70% of high-schooler were driven to school.
- sdoering 5y ago
  I have to anecdotally disagree. I am living near to a big high school. Every morning parents, primarily mothers, drive their high school kids into school. One has to know that every 10 minutes the train stops at the school as it has their own stop. Busses also stop at school. Nonetheless the amount of kids in their teens being driven to school by parents is staggering.
  - emerongi 5y ago
    I also lived next to a high school. Anecdotally I can say that the amount of kids being driven to school has risen. There is a huge traffic jam now every morning, people in the nearby buildings have adapted to either leave 30min before or after the traffic jam. It definitely wasn't as bad when I was a kid.
- mantas 5y ago
  Not anymore. I see more and more people driving kids to school.
- jhgb 5y ago
  When I was 9 years old in Europe, I was walking to school almost two kilometers on my own. And since that age I've never been hauled to any school by my parents using any means of transportation.
- onion2k 5y ago
  In Europe, it's very unusual for a kid older than ~9 years to be driven to school. Here in the UK there are parking restrictions around practically every school to stop parents clogging up the roads to drop off or collect their kids. I'd suggest that's evidence that a lot of children still get taken to school by car.
vladvasiliu 5y ago
As others have said, in Europe (at least in the cities where I grew up) transportation is not an issue. I went to several schools and kids being driven to school has always been an exception. They mostly walked or took public transport [0]. My sister went to high-school in a more rural area (read far-away suburb) and kids from the surrounding towns used to take the school bus. Yet, school still started very early, a little past 8:00 AM. I absolutely loathed having to get up so early in the morning (7-ish) and used to be half asleep for the first few periods. While US issues around transportation certainly don't help, there must be something else going on with the school schedules since they seem to be roughly the same in areas where transportation is not an issue. --- [0] I know there were exceptions for kids living far away, I was one of them since we moved during high-school, but I didn't change schools. However, this is absolutely not the norm where I grew up.
- AmericanChopper 5y ago
  > As others have said, in Europe (at least in the cities where I grew up) transportation is not an issue. Having spent many hours on the Parisian metro, there’s no chance I’d let my children anywhere near it. Even supervised.
  - laurencerowe 5y ago
    Anywhere you have enough density for a metro local schools are going to be within walking distance.
    - AmericanChopper 5y ago
      Ah yes. The Parisian streets. Much safer.
      - gpvos 5y ago
        What would be your solution? I hope not the car, that ruins children's self-reliance and is generally to be avoided. Also clutters the streets.
HerrMonnezza 5y ago
This article is from a Swiss University. In the Canton of Zurich, kids are supposed to be walking to school alone by age 6 (law mandates that there must be a school within $WALKING_DISTANCE of any residential building). High schoolers that need to be taken to school by their parents are definitely the exception.

chrisandchris 5y ago

I think discussing this topic without mentioning the country you live in is not meaningful. I assume you are not Swiss (as the article is from a swiss university)? Because I am and I went to school by bus beginning with 12 years, and busses here are reliable (like "by minute reliable").

watwut 5y ago

Sounds like quality of public transport problem. Also, high schoolers are fully competent not to miss busses.

vanviegen 5y ago
Actually, most of them are not, but that's a learning opportunity! :-)
- watwut 5y ago
  Here, public transport is super normal way to go to school, work, whatever. High schoolers generally do manage to catch those busses. Middle schooler do manage to catch those busses. Once in a while someone comes in late. But, it is not that regular thing. Most of them in fact catch busses just fine.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  If you can solve a quadratic equation, you can take a bus at 14:34 without any hassle. Missed connections are usually missed deliberately, regardless of what is said to the parents later.
- Broken_Hippo 5y ago
  This is simply untrue. Loads of students in the "high school" age range manage to get to school on time most days. Depending on the country, your 16-18 year old student might not even live at home.

shafyy 5y ago

In the US, maybe. In Europe, it's very unusual for a kid older than ~9 years to be driven to school.

math_denial 5y ago
it depends where in Europe. Where I live at least 70% of high-schooler were driven to school.
sdoering 5y ago
I have to anecdotally disagree. I am living near to a big high school. Every morning parents, primarily mothers, drive their high school kids into school. One has to know that every 10 minutes the train stops at the school as it has their own stop. Busses also stop at school. Nonetheless the amount of kids in their teens being driven to school by parents is staggering.
- emerongi 5y ago
  I also lived next to a high school. Anecdotally I can say that the amount of kids being driven to school has risen. There is a huge traffic jam now every morning, people in the nearby buildings have adapted to either leave 30min before or after the traffic jam. It definitely wasn't as bad when I was a kid.
mantas 5y ago
Not anymore. I see more and more people driving kids to school.
jhgb 5y ago
When I was 9 years old in Europe, I was walking to school almost two kilometers on my own. And since that age I've never been hauled to any school by my parents using any means of transportation.
onion2k 5y ago
In Europe, it's very unusual for a kid older than ~9 years to be driven to school. Here in the UK there are parking restrictions around practically every school to stop parents clogging up the roads to drop off or collect their kids. I'd suggest that's evidence that a lot of children still get taken to school by car.

vladvasiliu 5y ago

As others have said, in Europe (at least in the cities where I grew up) transportation is not an issue. I went to several schools and kids being driven to school has always been an exception. They mostly walked or took public transport [0]. My sister went to high-school in a more rural area (read far-away suburb) and kids from the surrounding towns used to take the school bus. Yet, school still started very early, a little past 8:00 AM. I absolutely loathed having to get up so early in the morning (7-ish) and used to be half asleep for the first few periods. While US issues around transportation certainly don't help, there must be something else going on with the school schedules since they seem to be roughly the same in areas where transportation is not an issue. --- [0] I know there were exceptions for kids living far away, I was one of them since we moved during high-school, but I didn't change schools. However, this is absolutely not the norm where I grew up.

AmericanChopper 5y ago
> As others have said, in Europe (at least in the cities where I grew up) transportation is not an issue. Having spent many hours on the Parisian metro, there’s no chance I’d let my children anywhere near it. Even supervised.
- laurencerowe 5y ago
  Anywhere you have enough density for a metro local schools are going to be within walking distance.
  - AmericanChopper 5y ago
    Ah yes. The Parisian streets. Much safer.
    - gpvos 5y ago
      What would be your solution? I hope not the car, that ruins children's self-reliance and is generally to be avoided. Also clutters the streets.

HerrMonnezza 5y ago

This article is from a Swiss University. In the Canton of Zurich, kids are supposed to be walking to school alone by age 6 (law mandates that there must be a school within $WALKING_DISTANCE of any residential building). High schoolers that need to be taken to school by their parents are definitely the exception.