The School Bus
When I was growing up, we all walked to our local school or, when older, took the TTC. So it was a bit perplexing when I noticed many years ago, an increasing number of these small school buses motoring into my quiet neighbourhood at some ghastly hour of the morning to pick up a kid or two. Why on earth were kids in Toronto being bussed to school, I wondered? I also noticed more and more parents driving their children to school when the children could easily have walked. That left me scratching my head.
Toronto ain’t that dangerous. We have the lowest crime rate in the country; it’s probably proportionately better now than when I was growing up because it’s the young who commit the crimes and the boomers were all in that age category back then, and now they’re old geezers uninterested in committing crimes. Also, wherever I turn, there’s a Catholic school or a public school or both. So why the need to drive and bus the kids? I understand bussing in suburban areas or the country where distances are great, but in Toronto?! Have people lost their minds and become so paranoid that they’ve lost the art of teaching older kids responsibility and trust by having them walk the younger kids to school; and teaching older kids how to navigate the streets on their own; and teaching children how to avoid danger and learning the feeling of confidence and competence by doing it on their own? It’s not like there were no pedophiles around when I was young. I was just taught to spot them, stay away, or where and how to go for help.
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San Jose has been one of the safest cities in the US for many years. Yet, there is the occasional incident regarding children. They do know what dangers to watch out for but there are times when there is no escape. Once is enough for parents to be concerned.
There is one of those small school buses in my neighborhood picking up and dropping off children with disabilities.
Is that photo from the QEW in Mississauga (West TO)? I used to walk or bicycle -no helmet- across the almost 50 year-old paved footbridge over the highway.
Sadly, before the footbridge was built, there had been a death of a youngster wandering into the then 4-lane highway via a wire fence cutthru used by older students. A bus passenger accident nearby happened decades later when a man’s chest was torpedoed by the hollow iron top bar of the old wire fence posting - he survived.
Buses for children with disabilities I totally get. That makes sense. It is true that danger exists, but how much can we really protect our kids? Far better to empower them and make them feel competent in taking care of themselves in age-appropriate ways than coddling them and leaving them vulnerable when they leave home and go to university.
I’m not exactly sure where on the QEW/Gardiner this was taken, but you’re probably right. I hope you use a helmet now! :) That’s quite the injury to survive!!!