4 ms·

In my experience this was multi-fold (and nothing to do with helping the poor) - Housing would be built w/o appropriate ratios of schools being built in the sa

In my experience this was multi-fold (and nothing to do with helping the poor) - Housing would be built w/o appropriate ratios of schools being built in the same zone (poor city planning, and over reliance on connections vs rule of law) - You could use connections to get to a well-rated public school w/o living in the zone, but at the expense of a local student being pushed out of zone. Note, this usually favors the rich/connected, not the poor. - Application acceptances were at the discretion of the school w/o bright-line criteria, making favoritism a huge issue. Note, this usually favors the rich, not the poor. White the applications are straight-forward, NYC public school registrars could and would refuse to accept an application. Ultimately, the causes do not matter -- all that matters is that the situation isnt palatable -- if you have 2 kids in two different school in two vastly different locations, and have no car, its close to impossible to drop the kids off with public transport and get to work on time. I rely on remote work now. I go into the city 2x/wk. The school drop-offs are simple and live in a suburban township where local public school seating is guaranteed by law based on my lease/ownership address. No school registrar can mysteriously refuse to register me (havent faced that issue since i moved out of NYC), I dont need to lobby the local congress-preson to register my kids in school, nothing. It "took a toll on NYC" but there wasnt really any real option provided by NYC.

LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
I'll never understand why kids have to be brought to school. I went by myself, on foot, bicycle, or bus/subway. Nothing bad happened. Why does it seem to be mandatory in large parts of the US?
- decafninja 4y ago
  I too walked or biked to school. But that was nearly twenty years ago. I imagine the change comes from how sensitive people have become over leaving children alone under any circumstances. I.e. I don’t have kids myself, but according to a coworker who does, kids playing alone in the neighborhood would have been absolutely normal twenty years ago, but nowadays you might have Child Protection Services unleashed upon you, get accused of child neglect, and even have your kids taken away? I recall someone did an experiment where they let their kid play at a playground, then took a seat on a bench where he could monitor his child, but still be far enough away to seem like the kid was alone. The goal was to see how fast some “Good Samaritan” would rush to the child in fear that he was being neglected. It didn’t take long.
- TuringNYC 4y ago
  I similarly walked to school myself when I was a child in the US (1980s.) We were also left home alone with the door locked while parents were at work/groceries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latchkey_kid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latchkey_kid) Today, this would be illegal where we live. From what I understand, it would also be enforced and child-services would get involved. It is hard to get an answer on what the cut-off age is when kids can be left alone, we have not received an answer from any place we've asked. While I appreciate the spirit of the law, and while we're well off enough that we dont need to worry about things like this...I do feel kids are quite coddled these days.

LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago

I'll never understand why kids have to be brought to school. I went by myself, on foot, bicycle, or bus/subway. Nothing bad happened. Why does it seem to be mandatory in large parts of the US?

decafninja 4y ago
I too walked or biked to school. But that was nearly twenty years ago. I imagine the change comes from how sensitive people have become over leaving children alone under any circumstances. I.e. I don’t have kids myself, but according to a coworker who does, kids playing alone in the neighborhood would have been absolutely normal twenty years ago, but nowadays you might have Child Protection Services unleashed upon you, get accused of child neglect, and even have your kids taken away? I recall someone did an experiment where they let their kid play at a playground, then took a seat on a bench where he could monitor his child, but still be far enough away to seem like the kid was alone. The goal was to see how fast some “Good Samaritan” would rush to the child in fear that he was being neglected. It didn’t take long.
TuringNYC 4y ago
I similarly walked to school myself when I was a child in the US (1980s.) We were also left home alone with the door locked while parents were at work/groceries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latchkey_kid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latchkey_kid) Today, this would be illegal where we live. From what I understand, it would also be enforced and child-services would get involved. It is hard to get an answer on what the cut-off age is when kids can be left alone, we have not received an answer from any place we've asked. While I appreciate the spirit of the law, and while we're well off enough that we dont need to worry about things like this...I do feel kids are quite coddled these days.