"Mike Jacoubowsky" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
>
> Except that people just don't think that way. You're trying to look at it
> logically. It's not difficult for them to get into the car and start it
> up, nor is it inconvenient. It's routine. It also happens to be totally
> absurd! But trying to convince someone that their normal routine is absurd
> usually doesn't get very far.
My daughter rides her bike to school. She's been riding her bike to school
since she was in kindergarten. (Okay, in kindergarten she thought she was
pedaling, but she was being pulled by mom.) Now she is in 7th grade, and
the school is a little over a mile away, rather than the very sheltered 1/3
mile she used to ride to get to the back entrance to her elementary school.
She still rides her bike because thats what you do, and she's never thought
much of if. My dad is in town, and was talking about her school, and
mentioned he rode to her school once with her, and boy was it far, he wasn't
sure he was going to make it. Definitions of normal routine definitely
varies.
I've been on various school and city committees discussing traffic around
the schools and how to increase biking and walking. I am still surprised
and saddened at some of the issues that come up. First, the schools don't
realize how hard they make it. For instance, at my daughter's junior high
they do have a second set of books for the kids, so they are not bringing
books back and forth between school and home. But, they require a separate
binder for each class. And in each class binder they keep all their work
for the year. And they do bring the binders back and forth. And, all
English and Math classes are on the second floor, and they are not allowed
to used the elevators unless they have a disabled pass, so rolling back
packs are useless. Often the binders in my daughter's backpack alone weigh
12 pounds, and she has the lightest binders we could find, it's just the
work that weighs that much.
In elementary school they almost weekly have various projects (diaramas,
posters, sleeping bags for reading day, stonehenge made from food, book
reports reassembled into paper cubes, cells made from jello....) that can't
be carried in a backpack, and for that matter, are often too unwieldy to
carry a couple hundred yards. And then add musical instruments on top of
that...
Second, the global news have warped perceptions of safety. There are a
number of parents that won't let their kids walk out of their sight, as they
are afraid they will get kidnapped. And this is an incredibly safe
community. We could come up with solutions for lots of issues, but this one
we could not. It's not a rational fear, and there are no rational
solutions.