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Can you please explain how the child would get home from the after school activity, if it existed? I’m being clear when I am saying there really aren’t any EC

Can you please explain how the child would get home from the after school activity, if it existed? I’m being clear when I am saying there really aren’t any EC options . In poor areas , there’s no money because school funding comes from property tax . Where I went, the funding was so tight they had to fire the foreign language , art teachers and music teachers . If they can’t afford regular instructors , where is the money coming from for the ECs?

WalterBright 4y ago
I walked home from school. I can't recall my parents ever picking me up. The Boy Scouts didn't run on money. A chess club, book club, drama club, dance club, photography club, math club, etc., don't require money. Besides, creating something from nothing is going to look a lot better on an application than following a course that is laid out by instructors and papered with cash.
- atonse 4y ago
  Yup same here. Public school was walking distance (20 min walk but not a big deal) so I didn’t rely on my parents. We also had a public metrobus route with discounted fare.
- actionablefiber 4y ago
  > I walked home from school. I can't recall my parents ever picking me up. In the United States in the 2020s being able to walk yourself to and from school without A) having your life in grave danger from motor vehicle traffic and B) having someone call CPS or the police on your parents is an incredible luxury. The neighborhood where I grew up was built in the early 90s and its elementary school and middle school are on the opposite side of an eight lane highway that has no crosswalks or sidewalks (on the school side) for at least a quarter mile. The town believes so strongly that no one should walk or bike to school that they zoned the school and built out the roads such that attempting to do so would sooner or later result in certain death.
  - metalforever 4y ago
    Yeah this was the issue. It’s probably a common one in rural areas like the one I am from. These areas also tend to lack public transit.
  - andrepd 4y ago
    /r/fuckcars moment, but yes you're absolutely right. Transportation in the US seems to be getting worse as time passes, it's actually incredible.
    - actionablefiber 4y ago
      Yes, absolutely an /r/fuckcars moment, growing up in suburbia with no survivable means of transportation besides the car made me extremely receptive to the thesis of that subreddit.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    We're talking high school, not elementary school. College admissions don't look at elementary school activities. High schoolers can walk around unattended. Even a quarter mile, both ways. It's not a big deal. In the summer I often try to get in 5 miles a day of running/walking. > incredible luxury Don't overstate your case. The irony in this thread is all the complaining about "can't do things that will look good on a college application" just means that another student who does find a way around obstacles is going to be the one admitted. Surmounting obstacles makes one a standout candidate.
    - actionablefiber 4y ago
      > High schoolers can walk around unattended. Even a quarter mile, both ways. It's not a big deal. In the summer I often try to get in 5 miles a day of running/walking. Extremely location dependent. Where I live today, in Virginia very close to DC, I commute by bike and do lots of biking/walking for fun and to run errands. What you are saying about walking around as a means of getting from place to place is just completely untrue in many parts of the United States. I made a specific point about my ES/MS because of how egregious it was to have them at a half mile's walk away but with unacceptably dangerous terrain, in the very place I grew up. My HS was a couple miles away and, until ~2010 when they built a protected ~800ft long MUP, would have required walking/riding on the highway to reach without a car as well. The point of that is that if you live in an area like this and your parents work, you are extremely handicapped in what you can do by yourself. You would need a third car to get yourself around and if you cannot manage that then you are completely subservient to your parents' availability and your local school bus schedules for all of your transportation needs. Which has repercussions on clubs, extracurriculars, your social life, really the full range of experiences you can have growing up. When I was in K-12 my life consisted mainly of school, sleep, and playing video games in the basement. Now that I am in a city and can go wherever I want whenever I want I find I am extremely active and social and have many different hobbies.
atonse 4y ago
Our school was in a better neighborhood but still a part of the historically pretty dysfunctional DC Public Schools system. Not sure how much was teachers volunteering, but we did have old instruments, old computers, etc.
Mezzie 4y ago
Poor or rural. One of my school systems had less than 100 kids in the middle school over an area of several square miles. There just wasn't the population density for many/any non-sport ECs (and even those were difficult).
- WalterBright 4y ago
  Then create your own extracurricular activity. There aren't any rules about it. It just has to be something that shows initiative, drive, and ability to accomplish something significant. I did things like build a gokart out of scrap (had a lot of fun with that, too!). No adults were involved in any way.
  - pixl97 4y ago
    Next you're going to tell this group to lift themselves up by their bootstraps....
    - WalterBright 4y ago
      Overcoming obstacles makes one an attractive candidate for admission.

WalterBright 4y ago

I walked home from school. I can't recall my parents ever picking me up. The Boy Scouts didn't run on money. A chess club, book club, drama club, dance club, photography club, math club, etc., don't require money. Besides, creating something from nothing is going to look a lot better on an application than following a course that is laid out by instructors and papered with cash.

atonse 4y ago
Yup same here. Public school was walking distance (20 min walk but not a big deal) so I didn’t rely on my parents. We also had a public metrobus route with discounted fare.
actionablefiber 4y ago
> I walked home from school. I can't recall my parents ever picking me up. In the United States in the 2020s being able to walk yourself to and from school without A) having your life in grave danger from motor vehicle traffic and B) having someone call CPS or the police on your parents is an incredible luxury. The neighborhood where I grew up was built in the early 90s and its elementary school and middle school are on the opposite side of an eight lane highway that has no crosswalks or sidewalks (on the school side) for at least a quarter mile. The town believes so strongly that no one should walk or bike to school that they zoned the school and built out the roads such that attempting to do so would sooner or later result in certain death.
- metalforever 4y ago
  Yeah this was the issue. It’s probably a common one in rural areas like the one I am from. These areas also tend to lack public transit.
- andrepd 4y ago
  /r/fuckcars moment, but yes you're absolutely right. Transportation in the US seems to be getting worse as time passes, it's actually incredible.
  - actionablefiber 4y ago
    Yes, absolutely an /r/fuckcars moment, growing up in suburbia with no survivable means of transportation besides the car made me extremely receptive to the thesis of that subreddit.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  We're talking high school, not elementary school. College admissions don't look at elementary school activities. High schoolers can walk around unattended. Even a quarter mile, both ways. It's not a big deal. In the summer I often try to get in 5 miles a day of running/walking. > incredible luxury Don't overstate your case. The irony in this thread is all the complaining about "can't do things that will look good on a college application" just means that another student who does find a way around obstacles is going to be the one admitted. Surmounting obstacles makes one a standout candidate.
  - actionablefiber 4y ago
    > High schoolers can walk around unattended. Even a quarter mile, both ways. It's not a big deal. In the summer I often try to get in 5 miles a day of running/walking. Extremely location dependent. Where I live today, in Virginia very close to DC, I commute by bike and do lots of biking/walking for fun and to run errands. What you are saying about walking around as a means of getting from place to place is just completely untrue in many parts of the United States. I made a specific point about my ES/MS because of how egregious it was to have them at a half mile's walk away but with unacceptably dangerous terrain, in the very place I grew up. My HS was a couple miles away and, until ~2010 when they built a protected ~800ft long MUP, would have required walking/riding on the highway to reach without a car as well. The point of that is that if you live in an area like this and your parents work, you are extremely handicapped in what you can do by yourself. You would need a third car to get yourself around and if you cannot manage that then you are completely subservient to your parents' availability and your local school bus schedules for all of your transportation needs. Which has repercussions on clubs, extracurriculars, your social life, really the full range of experiences you can have growing up. When I was in K-12 my life consisted mainly of school, sleep, and playing video games in the basement. Now that I am in a city and can go wherever I want whenever I want I find I am extremely active and social and have many different hobbies.

atonse 4y ago

Our school was in a better neighborhood but still a part of the historically pretty dysfunctional DC Public Schools system. Not sure how much was teachers volunteering, but we did have old instruments, old computers, etc.

Mezzie 4y ago

Poor or rural. One of my school systems had less than 100 kids in the middle school over an area of several square miles. There just wasn't the population density for many/any non-sport ECs (and even those were difficult).

WalterBright 4y ago
Then create your own extracurricular activity. There aren't any rules about it. It just has to be something that shows initiative, drive, and ability to accomplish something significant. I did things like build a gokart out of scrap (had a lot of fun with that, too!). No adults were involved in any way.
- pixl97 4y ago
  Next you're going to tell this group to lift themselves up by their bootstraps....
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    Overcoming obstacles makes one an attractive candidate for admission.