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The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

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Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#181

Post by dylan604 »

Y_Y wrote: post #21
giarc wrote: post #4

I think this article misses the one big problem (as I understand it). It's that schools need to dismiss the kid to their parent. I have family in North Carolina and I understand that cars have the family number displayed, and someone with a radio communicates to the school staff "Car 315 is here", they then find that kid and dismiss them. Just do away with that. When the bell rings, send the kids outside and they wil…

Would be much more efficient to assign numbers to the child abductors instead, assuming that they are less numerous than the legitimate families.

some (most?) times the abductor is legitimate family

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#182

Post by alistairSH »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #72
legitster wrote: post #32

Unfortunately we are one of those families. The bus service is completely unreasonable. They shopped it out to the lowest bidder and the stops are all in terrible spots on busy streets. It also takes longer to sit and wait in the cold with a 6 year old than it would be to just drive there and back.

> takes longer to sit and wait in the cold with a 6 year old than it would be to just drive there and back 1st grade is probably too young to wait alone. But by 3rd grade I'd expect a child to be able to bundle themselves up.

Putting the bus stop on a major road without adequate place to stand is a problem. But a 5 year old is totally capable of waiting for a bus, given the appropriate location to do so. Even more so in a typical suburb, where there's likely several of them waiting at the same place (when I was a kid, we walked half a block to the corner and waiting in a group of ~5-~15 kids).

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#183

Post by smogcutter »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #138
EA-3167 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ngl if the price for that is a Japanese level of social control, conformity, and their mad justice system... I'll take a car line.

> I'll take a car line Push this out thirty years. One set of kids was navigating the real world since they were 4. The other has been mollycoddled with overparenting and screen time. Which cohort do you think will be happier, better adjusted and better off? Then realise that it's not uncommon to see grade schoolers taking the subway to and from school in New York.

Consider that the fact that there’s a tv show about it means it’s a novelty in Japan as well.

It’s great that Japan has a civil society that makes a show like that possible, but don’t mistake it for more than it is. It’s the same mistake as generalizing from what you read in the news: it’s news because it’s unusual.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#184

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

bink wrote: post #151
mmooss wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone here should watch the Japanese TV series, Old Enough! . 2-4 year olds are sent out on their own to run errands, etc. Yes, really, 2-4 years old. And they succeed and are fine. https://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/2011/02/old-enough.html

I really dislike it when Japan is brought up as a comparison with the US, especially when it comes to crime or schooling. The cultures, poverty levels, and crime rates are so vastly different that it's never helpful.

It is if you consider cultures, poverty levels, and crime rates to not be immutable geographic traits, but a result of policy choices. The US can't take a giant leap to kids having Tokyo-like freedom, but it can look at what Japan does differently that results in such a society (eg. its public education system, public transit, policing, street design, typical vehicle size, etc).

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#185

Post by Aurornis »

lvl155 wrote: post #83
vidarh wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I lived in the kind of third world hellhole where this was a realistic scenario, I'd leave the country.

It’s the US. People on here are so sheltered.

The majority of the US is absolutely not like this.

You keep accusing other people of living in a bubble, but you're indexing your entire experience on to anecdotes of where you grew up as an individual experience.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#186

Post by mmooss »

spenczar5 wrote: post #172
mmooss wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone here should watch the Japanese TV series, Old Enough! . 2-4 year olds are sent out on their own to run errands, etc. Yes, really, 2-4 years old. And they succeed and are fine. https://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/2011/02/old-enough.html

It is importamt to understand the whole cultural picture of this practice: 1. Neighbors and friends are notified in advance. "If you see my daughter and she looks lost, please help her, she is doing an errand." 2. The destination is usually notified. "My daughter is coming to buy rice, let me know if she isnt there in two hours." 3. This practice is somewhat old-fashioned and rural. Many parents wouldnt consider it t…

Have you seen the show? It's often (usually?) filmed in towns, and I don't recall adults often being notified.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#187

Post by crooked-v »

aqme28 wrote: post #156
Aurornis wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an entire section and even a chart in the article that explains why this is different now In 1969 only about 30% of kids lived too far away from school for walking to be a realistic option. In 2009 (and today) that numbers is around 80%. Walking to and from school is great if you can do it. Most people cannot do it.

why are schools farther away now? That's interesting.

It's in part because every major US city has spent decades underbuilding housing (usually through zoning and permitting that makes middle-density housing implicitly or explicitly illegal), pushing everyone out into the burbs just to find homes they can afford.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#188

Post by me_smith »

aqme28 wrote: post #156
Aurornis wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an entire section and even a chart in the article that explains why this is different now In 1969 only about 30% of kids lived too far away from school for walking to be a realistic option. In 2009 (and today) that numbers is around 80%. Walking to and from school is great if you can do it. Most people cannot do it.

why are schools farther away now? That's interesting.

It might be due to the school consolidations and schools being moved to cheaper areas.

The article does have a chart that shows distance from their school. I'm curious if there are closer schools that parents chose not to let their child attend. I have known a couple people that drive miles away to drop their kid off to private schools when they have a public school a mile away.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#189

Post by anonfordays »

richwater wrote: post #69

Helicopter parents exist because public trust is completely eroded. I don't want to blame it on diversity but the example provided in the article is a homogenous-culture society with high trust.

Gigantic tank-like vehicles with worse line of sight then actual tanks, insane levels of crime that are rampant all over the US compared to Japan, etc.

Make tank-like trucks and SUVs illegal to manufacturer is a good start. It's going to be tough to compete with homogenous first-world countries on culture and crime.

Re: The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment

#190

Post by mmooss »

Aurornis wrote: post #168
mmooss wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone here should watch the Japanese TV series, Old Enough! . 2-4 year olds are sent out on their own to run errands, etc. Yes, really, 2-4 years old. And they succeed and are fine. https://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/2011/02/old-enough.html

This is a reality TV show. They have a full crew following the kids around. Like any reality TV, you're only seeing the story they want you to see. Nobody should be gauging reality based on what you see on reality TV shows.

The crew is often in disguise, and the kids have no idea who they are. At 3, do you know what a cameraperson is?

Edit: Occasional parts of the show are the camera people trying to avoid the kid who has turned and is walking right toward them.

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