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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > September > 14 > Entry
Huber strike, walking debated
There are two great conversations going on right now under two of my recent posts.
Last week I wrote Let the healing begin? as a wrap up to the Huber Heights school strike. But under the comments there’s a bit of a debate going over who won in Huber and what it means going forward.
Before that, I wrote a post called Walk this way? in which I proposed letting my two kids, in second grade and kindergarten, walk a half-mile to school alone.
The response to that one has been fascinating. While many commenters admit THEY walked to school every day as kids, few were willing to allow their own kids to do so today. To which I asked, is the world really that much more dangerous now than when we were kids?
Have a thought to add about the Huber Heights strike or the walk-to-school debate? Click the links and add your own comment.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Schools and Politics, Young Children
Comments
By Dave
September 15, 2006 1:18 PM | Link to this
Scott, you seem to want to make a “rational” decision here. I made my living for quite a few years evaluating safety risks in the petrochemicals industry. Risk is the probability of a problem occurring times the severity of that problem. R = P x S. If we look at the case of YOUR child being seriously injured, killed, or kidnapped, the severity is clearly astronomical. So the only think we can do to hold down the risk is to minimize the probability of problems to get a risk level you can live with. You are probably in a nice neighborhood, so let’s assume it is as safe as it was 5 years ago and will still be that safe 5 years from now. The folks in the Nuclear Industry worked out that if nothing serious has happened to a kid in your neighborhood in the last 5 years, you are 95% confident there will be no more than 3 significant incidents in the next 5 years. That’s ALL that zero fault data can tell you. So just sending your kids alone is probably not a very good option. So what can you do to reduce that probability? You state it is NOT a real problem for you to walk them to school. And that makes them a LOT safer. So for now, walk them to school. So much for being “rational”. As several folks said before, you have to find your own comfort level. And good luck. Raising kids is NOT easy, but it’s wonderfully rewarding.By Tegan
September 15, 2006 12:11 PM | Link to this
I walked four blocks to and from school during the late 80’s and early 90’s without a problem at my Baltimore City schools. (I attended two schools one Catholic and one public every day long story short these schools were more dangerous on the inside than what was outside the building because of the school rivalries, bullies etcetera.) Of course I had older siblings to accompany me to school when I was younger but by the time I was seven I was walking back and forth to school alone or home with the school patrols fine. The area changed rapidly as I grew older and sometimes encountered trouble on the way from school. If I still lived in that area I certainly would not let a second grader and a kindergartener walk without an adult or a larger older group of children to school. But I suppose your area is different and not Baltimore city. With two children that young age if possible I would try to arrange walking patrols with older children at first because it really discourages trouble from bullies and preditors. Then again I am not a parent so maybe my opinion is biased. I think I gained a lot of self-esteem from walking to and from school alone. I was proud that my parents had confidence in my ability to avoid harm and potentially bad situations.