It's Advocacy Time!

There's a kid over in the Commuting forums who might need your help. Bassplayinbiker's father is in the hospital and can't drive his kids to school.

Bassplayinbiker's principal says that bicycle commuting isn't allowed because "if you do [bike to school], everyone else would want to do it." :mad:

Let's help bassplayinbiker educate his/her principal and give a little encouragement along the way!

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=83111
(Please continue discussion there).


Mods: if this cross-linking isn't OK, feel free to delete this thread. I just thought that it might get some more attention here in the Advocacy forum.

When I was a kid (not too long ago, when you get down to it...early 1970's) I rode my bike to school. We had bike parking and everything. I loved locking up, like I was important or something.

The first time I rode a bike to school was in elementary school. I naturally rode on the sidewalk, just like I did when I taught myself to ride for the first time. Everyone started yelling at me to "get off the sidewalk!" So in Jr. High, I rode the street all the time, like a good kid.

Today, the schools are so far away that I wouldn't let my kid hit the four-lane to try it on her bike (she's 9,) but that's a separate problem. In my day, school was nearby.

But parents are the ones who should be responsible for making the decision about letting their kids ride to school, not the school--I guess they're afraid of getting blamed if something happens.

WTF? :mad: I thought the schools cared about a child's health.

I got some lip about picking my child up with a trailercycle attached to my bike, instead of sitting in traffic for an hour. The loop witch, as some of us call the secratary whose duty is to yell at parents in the drop-off/pick up loop, wanted to report me for endangering my child. I told her to go ahead. Some other parents complained that I move to the front of the line by picking my son up with a bike, I say, go buy one for yourself.

The bottom line is, unless kids learn to ride their bikes places, the next generation is lost.

i know this has nothing to do with the thread, and i dont have any kids myself so i dont know how you guys feel but i just think people these days are babying their kids waay too much. i remember i used to walk like 5 or 6 blocks to school, and that included passing 2 freeway on-ramps and a freeway underpass. now parents these days are like "oh the 3 blocks is too far, dont walk. i'll drive you!!" "oh honey, dont ride your bike!! its 6 blocks away" "dont play outside!! they're strangers and bad people, stay inside and watch TV or read a book or something" and just a bunch of stuff like that. i mean.. what ever happened to playing outside and walking to school, riding the bus and such? i remember i would be outside playing till my mom called me in for lunch, and right after lunch i would go outside to play till it was dinner time. then after dinner i would go outside with flashlights and play flashlight tag or play baseball or football under the street lights. and we lived in a pretty bad neighborhood. (El Monte for those who know where that is).. i mean come on... and have you guys heard of the new shows "nanny 911" or something like that... what the heck?!?!?! hell if i was like that my mom/ dad would of slapped me right across the face and told me to STFU. there wasnt any "go to your room and think about it stuff" or none of that begging and nagging.. sheeesh...

btw, im only 19, so it wasnt even that long ago... whats happening?!

When I was a kid (not too long ago, when you get down to it...early 1970's) I rode my bike to school. We had bike parking and everything. I loved locking up, like I was important or something.

The first time I rode a bike to school was in elementary school. I naturally rode on the sidewalk, just like I did when I taught myself to ride for the first time. Everyone started yelling at me to "get off the sidewalk!" So in Jr. High, I rode the street all the time, like a good kid.

Today, the schools are so far away that I wouldn't let my kid hit the four-lane to try it on her bike (she's 9,) but that's a separate problem. In my day, school was nearby.

But parents are the ones who should be responsible for making the decision about letting their kids ride to school, not the school--I guess they're afraid of getting blamed if something happens.

I suspect we're about the same age but I never went bicycle commuting because I didn't own a bike until about 5 years ago!

However, schools are NOT far away and kids can ride their bikes to school today. In fact, there are loads of medium to mid size cities where kids do ride to school all the time and don't need to use the interstate. If you live in a city where your children have to ride on the highway to attend school, that's because you choose to live in that remote neighborhood. Society has not changed much since 1970 and your kids can ride to school but you have to move to another town!

If I had children, they would be able to ride their bikes to school (on the sidewalk) because the interstate is far away from my home. I used to ride my brother's bicycle to college and didn't have to ride on highways but 25 mph roads that were safe. I see kids all the time in my neighborhood riding their bikes to school so it is being done today and frequently.

I've always said that if you have children, you move to a town that has good schools. A good school is not just about good teachers and a lunch room. It's also being able to bicycle there safely.

It's Advocacy Time!

There's a kid over in the Commuting forums who might need your help. Bassplayinbiker's father is in the hospital and can't drive his kids to school.

Bassplayinbiker's principal says that bicycle commuting isn't allowed because "if you do [bike to school], everyone else would want to do it." :mad:

Let's help bassplayinbiker educate his/her principal and give a little encouragement along the way!

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=83111
(Please continue discussion there).


Mods: if this cross-linking isn't OK, feel free to delete this thread. I just thought that it might get some more attention here in the Advocacy forum.

Forget trying to get the school to change and tell the kid to stealth commute. It's better anyway since it might not be a great idea leaving the bike on a school rack unattended. Just give him the Kryptonite New York 3000, put locking scewers (sp) on the wheels and seatpost and he's set.

thanks guys, I dont really know what to say.

The administration of my school sucks to the point where we get blamed for having your gym clothes stolen, or our locker broken into.

We are going to start a petition, or do something to increase awareness, and to protest. I dont think its even aginst the rules. I NEVER saw anything in writing about how we couldent commute.

anyone up for critical mass? ; )
^school

I got some lip about picking my child up with a trailercycle attached to my bike, instead of sitting in traffic for an hour. The loop witch, as some of us call the secratary whose duty is to yell at parents in the drop-off/pick up loop, wanted to report me for endangering my child. I told her to go ahead. Some other parents complained that I move to the front of the line by picking my son up with a bike, I say, go buy one for yourself.

This has to be the funniest story I have ever heard. "Hey that guy on the bike is cutting!" Sounds like an elementry kid not a parent.

When I was a lad :D I never rode my bike to elementry school but it was pretty far away. I was supposed to go to a different school which was only a few blocks but my parents wanted me to go to a differene school due to some of the teachers at the first (which my sister had when she went there). It was only 8 blocks with no major streets to cross so it could have been done but it was all down hill to school so all uphill coming home and in those days I was on a BMX bike so that hill would have been tough... I guess I would have been pretty strong though. Jr. High was a bus ride and was about 13 miles from home with some major roads so I never rode it either but once I got to HS I rode to school just about every day. But the one thing I do have to say is that EVERY one of these schools had bike racks and certainly wouldn't have discouraged riding to school even the Jr High which was pretty far away. Unless the school is in an area that is VERY dangerous to ride to due to traffic I think it is irresponsible for the school to discourage cycling.

One clarification: As I understand from the original post, taking the bus is still an option. This is only a fine point to be aware of if any one writes a letter as it does not mean that he can not get to school at all because he can't ride the bike.

Al

The town I live in doesn't allow grammer school kids to bike to school either. It's a small town & most of the kids live within a mile or so of the school. I'm not a parent and consider it a stupid rule, but most parents I've talked to seem to agree with the policy. I'm with PanPanX that kids are definately getting coddled way too much. No wonder childhood obesity is such a problem. I'm not saying a 1 mile bike ride will solve that, but at least it's a start. It annoys me to no end to watch all of parents in their SUV's lined up in the school driveways making sure they drop their kid off right at the front door. When I grew up my parents thought we lived too far from school for me to ride (4 miles, paleeze) safely so they wouldn't let me. I was always jealous of the kids that could.

This is really weird,en loco parentis has gone too far. The school should not be able to forbid a Child commuting to school. I used to bike to high school appproximately a mile away and it was no problem.Of course I am a fossil; who graduated in 1980. Bassplayinbiker how far do you live from school and how are the roads.Do you use a blinker on the rear of your bicycle?

I can't believe this..... Are we in the America??? Now wonder why so many people are complaining about childhood obesity. Really if the schools are worried about children getting hurt on the way to school, then damn lets close all schools.
I don't have children myself but let me tell you how are we ever going to make them be responsible adults in this world if we won't even let them ride their bikes to school. I too grew up in the 70's and I remember always seeing the bike area full of bikes that other kids bought to get to school. Oh by the way I don't think my parents ever picked me up from school, but maybe once or twice.

When I was younger and wanted to do something stupid, I used to hear the phrase: "Go ahead, it's a free country." I don't hear that phrase quite as often these days, and it may be because we are no longer so free a country. I think we should strive as far as posible to avoid legal restictions on each others' behavior. Then anyone who wants to bike to school would indeed live in a free country.

You know in Missouri, aka quintessential "red state", as illustrated by all the Missouri anti-bicycle threads in this forum, we try to be as anti-progressive as possible. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Jesus, we just had the frickin National Alliance take out $1500 ads on the local light rail. (Shrugs in disgust)

The town I live in doesn't allow grammer school kids to bike to school either. It's a small town & most of the kids live within a mile or so of the school. ... If they live that close, walking or jogging to and from school is certainly a viable option.

Fortunately, many California school districts have "safe routes to school" programs and "walk to school" days to ENCOURAGE kids to walk to school. Furthermore, all schools in my city, at least from grade 3 on up, have ample bike racks and no misdirected nanny-state totalitarian edicts against bicycling to school. Some folks do not understand what this country is all about.

As a kid, I used to bike to school. Today, I often guest lecture at schools and they never have a bike rack. They do, as others have noted, possess lines of parents sitting about with their engines idling. We are, alas, a car based culture that dismisses other options out of hand. I've lost track of parents and administrators who have told me riding a bike is simply too dangerous. If they think that about me-- who has been using bikes for transport for 20 plus years-- imagine how they feel about their children.

Over the summer, I teach at an arts center. There was a student who rode her bike, accompanied by her parents, every single day. Some other parents were vocally horrified at this poor parenting (I told the student to bring her ride inside so she didn't have to lock it to a post).

...schools are NOT far away and kids can ride their bikes to school today. In fact, there are loads of medium to mid size cities where kids do ride to school all the time and don't need to use the interstate. If you live in a city where your children have to ride on the highway to attend school, that's because you choose to live in that remote neighborhood. Society has not changed much since 1970 and your kids can ride to school but you have to move to another town!
Steve,

My daughter was accepted in a "charter school" of exceptional quality for our area. This is the priority, not location. This school is 22 miles away. No, she won't be riding her bike there.

And no, I'm not moving to another city so my daughter can ride her bike to school.

This is really weird,en loco parentis has gone too far. The school should not be able to forbid a Child commuting to school. I used to bike to high school appproximately a mile away and it was no problem.Of course I am a fossil; who graduated in 1980. Bassplayinbiker how far do you live from school and how are the roads.Do you use a blinker on the rear of your bicycle?


I live 12.5 miles from school. I have a headlight and a back blinkie.

Just for clarifacation, im 14 and in the 8th grade, im not exactly a little kid anymore.

this is more of a warm up for me than a hard exerting ride. I am by no means obease, I have acutally been made fun of by the fat kids. hahahaha, such low self esteems if you ask me.....

This will give me a opertunity to let me ride everyday, Im training to be on a team, and with my homework i dont always ride.

sry, that was me up there ^ but My bro forgot to log out.

When I was a kid (as young as 7 years old) I was walking to school every day - a mile or more away and walking back. Once I tried riding my big orange monster of a bike (it weighed almost as much as me) and had to push it up the hill to the school (not a small hill by any means). I couldn't climb it on my bike even now -- don't know of any cyclist that has tried. Agreed, parents do baby their kids to much and I understand their concern about kids being kidnapped etc etc. but we had weirdo's when I was a kid too. I think they just need to keep teaching their kids to be aware of strangers and what to do in a situation that doesn't look right to them, not to be afraid to run away or go to a house and yell and ask for help. Certainly don't keep the kids off the bikes. I would think they would be safer on a bike (from a stranger) then on foot. At least they could ride away faster then they could run. I understand in some schools they are cutting out phy-ed all together -- can that be true??? Schools should install good bike racks for the kids to encourage them to ride to school.

I've been biking to school since middle school. I remember in 7th grade racing the bus to school taking back roads. I always won and was in much better shape and had a better attention span in school for it.

This is really weird,en loco parentis has gone too far. The school should not be able to forbid a Child commuting to school. I used to bike to high school appproximately a mile away and it was no problem.Of course I am a fossil; who graduated in 1980. Bassplayinbiker how far do you live from school and how are the roads.Do you use a blinker on the rear of your bicycle?

I'm an early 80's graduate too. My high school was about 3 miles from home. I biked, walked or hitch-hiked school. I used to get rides from my teachers all the time when I thumbed it.

When a guy at work was moving to a new area, he was telling me how great it was that his daughter would still be able to walk to high school. The reason being that the school was 500 metres from his new house and there was a pedestrian crossing, to cross the one busy road in the area. However, now the kid never walks to school, instead he drives her there! She doesn't want to walk as it's too far to carry her school bag. I used to walk to high school (in the 80’s) nearly 2 miles each way, when I was too slack to catch the bus. It would take just over an hour, but we were never in much of a hurry. Later when I changed schools to a country high school, almost all of the 1000 students caught the buses supplied by the school, some kids walked, some rode and a few got lifts from their parents. But cars were very much in the minority.

CHEERS.

Mark

If they live that close, walking or jogging to and from school is certainly a viable option.

Fortunately, many California school districts have "safe routes to school" programs and "walk to school" days to ENCOURAGE kids to walk to school. Furthermore, all schools in my city, at least from grade 3 on up, have ample bike racks and no misdirected nanny-state totalitarian edicts against bicycling to school. Some folks do not understand what this country is all about.


The schools in my area have their bike racks inside a chain link fenced area. After school starts, the fence is locked.

I live 12.5 miles from school. I have a headlight and a back blinkie.

Just for clarifacation, im 14 and in the 8th grade, im not exactly a little kid anymore.

this is more of a warm up for me than a hard exerting ride. I am by no means obease, I have acutally been made fun of by the fat kids. hahahaha, such low self esteems if you ask me.....

This will give me a opertunity to let me ride everyday, Im training to be on a team, and with my homework i dont always ride.

You'll get your revenge when the overweight kids have to do the mile run in gym class. Just make sure you're not downwind when lunch "returns".

i know this has nothing to do with the thread, and i dont have any kids myself so i dont know how you guys feel but i just think people these days are babying their kids waay too much. i remember i used to walk like 5 or 6 blocks to school, and that included passing 2 freeway on-ramps and a freeway underpass. now parents these days are like "oh the 3 blocks is too far, dont walk. i'll drive you!!" "oh honey, dont ride your bike!! its 6 blocks away" "dont play outside!! they're strangers and bad people, stay inside and watch TV or read a book or something" and just a bunch of stuff like that. i mean.. what ever happened to playing outside and walking to school, riding the bus and such? i remember i would be outside playing till my mom called me in for lunch, and right after lunch i would go outside to play till it was dinner time. then after dinner i would go outside with flashlights and play flashlight tag or play baseball or football under the street lights. and we lived in a pretty bad neighborhood. (El Monte for those who know where that is).. i mean come on... and have you guys heard of the new shows "nanny 911" or something like that... what the heck?!?!?! hell if i was like that my mom/ dad would of slapped me right across the face and told me to STFU. there wasnt any "go to your room and think about it stuff" or none of that begging and nagging.. sheeesh...

btw, im only 19, so it wasnt even that long ago... whats happening?!
Wal' when I was a younster, we'd walk 10 miles in the snow to school, and thats after we'd fed the chickens and slopped the hogs, and chopped the kindeling wood. Kids today, I tell 'ya. Going to hell in a hand-basket.

Panpanx, just kidding.ok?

It's Advocacy Time!

There's a kid over in the Commuting forums who might need your help. Bassplayinbiker's father is in the hospital and can't drive his kids to school.

Bassplayinbiker's principal says that bicycle commuting isn't allowed because "if you do [bike to school], everyone else would want to do it." :mad:

Let's help bassplayinbiker educate his/her principal and give a little encouragement along the way!

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=83111
(Please continue discussion there).


Mods: if this cross-linking isn't OK, feel free to delete this thread. I just thought that it might get some more attention here in the Advocacy forum.
I live in Kansas City, as well, I would like to read more about this. Sounds outrageous.

Wal' when I was a younster, we'd walk 10 miles in the snow to school, and thats after we'd fed the chickens and slopped the hogs, and chopped the kindeling wood. Kids today, I tell 'ya. Going to hell in a hand-basket.

Uphill both ways, I suspect.

Wal' when I was a younster, we'd walk 10 miles in the snow to school, and thats after we'd fed the chickens and slopped the hogs, and chopped the kindeling wood. Kids today, I tell 'ya. Going to hell in a hand-basket.
Panpanx, just kidding.ok?

its just that we baby our kids sooo much these days. its stupid. gets me pissed off..

Wal' when I was a younster, we'd walk 10 miles in the snow to school, and thats after we'd fed the chickens and slopped the hogs, and chopped the kindeling wood. Kids today, I tell 'ya. Going to hell in a hand-basket.

The days we had to drag the dead buffalo through the indians on top of all those chores were even worse. Weren't they?

When I was in 3rd and 4th grade, we all rode our bikes or walked. In 5th grade we had a bus, then in 6th grade everybody rode bikes! Of course this was in Key West, which isn't a big place to start with! In 7th grade we moved to Jacksonville and I went from riding my bike to having to take two seperate busses to get to school! To me it seem rather lame that the school won't allow bikes. Good luck with the petition!

See, what's great is that my commute to work now IS uphill both ways - I have to go uphill and then back down.

I love Pittsburgh. I can't wait to throw that out to my kids.

I've been biking to school since middle school. I remember in 7th grade racing the bus to school taking back roads. I always won and was in much better shape and had a better attention span in school for it.
This could be prophetic.

I agree the kids are coddled to much. Way back when, there were always racks full of bikes at school. Also in the 2 California high schools I attended, teachers could send you down to the P.E. coach with a note requesting Swats. Coach would administer them with a ping pong paddle, sign the note & send us back with an adjusted attitude. Didn't happen very often, but it was very effective. Probably be a big time lawsuit now or maybe a shooting depending on the school. Don

That's crazy talk! I rode my BMX to school in SoCal in the 1970's. About 2 miles each way for elementary, 3 miles each way for middle school. For part of 10th grade, 8, yes EIGHT miles each way. I regret posting a photo of me without a helmet, but here's what we did after school, circa 1980. Those were the good old days. These days I encourage my son to ride wherever and whenever he can, and to always wear a helmet. He lives in Missouri.

A full size image is available here (http://www.ozbikesports.com/images/trouble.jpg)
http://www.ozbikesports.com/images/trouble2.jpg

If I was worthy, my Forums name would be two-wheeled trouble. That's beautiful!

The days we had to drag the dead buffalo through the indians on top of all those chores were even worse. Weren't they?
webist, are you just about as nuts as I am.?? Riding too long without your helmet? (me too)

My mother is a teacher at an elementary school, and she lives about 1.5 miles from the school at which she teaches. She feels that it is kind of useless to drive that "far", especially since she is always worried that kids will mess with the teachers' cars. I suggested that when the weather warms up she should commute by bicycle. She then informed me that her principal forabde bike commuting because the children were not allowed to bike to school. I told her that she should tell her principal, "We don't allow the children to drive to school either, so maybe teachers should be forced to walk or ride the bus to work every day."

Man, the union would love that!

Last night I had a dream that each person was judged, at work, by the job that he did, not by the mode of transportation that he chose to get there. Of course, in real life, I believe this, unless he drives in a car by hmself- then the dirty, rotten, polluting, SOB should be fired on the spot.

Ride to the edge of the school property line. Lock your bike there on the street or walk your bike the rest of the way and lock it to the signpost outside the principal's office window. You WALKED to school (with or without your bike) from someplace outside of the school's perimeter. I'm assuming you are allowed to walk to school!

Ride to the edge of the school property line. Lock your bike there on the street or walk your bike the rest of the way and lock it to the signpost outside the principal's office window. You WALKED to school (with or without your bike) from someplace outside of the school's perimeter. I'm assuming you are allowed to walk to school!

Kid (just kidding), there's your answer. If you could pull either of these "maneuvers" off safely, it would speak volumes about your case and might lead to favorable change. On its own, it is also very imaginative, with screenplay/movie potential.

Somewhat related. I was recently reading an account of the Amish protest against sending their children to consolodated public schools. They did send the children to public schools when they were local one room schoolhouses. They objected to busing their children long distances and primarily to their loss of control over the local schoolhouse. I think people need to realize that schools have become this autocratic behemoth that has no respect for the wishes of the students or their parents. They have adopted the opinion that they should not be questioned in their decisions because they hold the absolute knowledge of education. These are public schools after all. Shouldn't the public be allowed to control them?

As someone mentioned earlier, sometimes it is difficult to walk or bike to school with the number of books required of kids these days. Average backpack weights have increased over the last decade, and there is concern over possible chronic back injuries from the excessive load. In highschool, my backpack could not even hold all the books I needed to cart back and forth to school (an easy 10 minute walk). I managed to get an extra set of books to leave in my locker and free me to walk to and from school.

If schools could afford to purchase one more set of books, students could have their backpack significantly lightened.

Average backpack weights have increased over the last decade, and there is concern over possible chronic back injuries from the excessive load.


Then why do they still make textbooks with such thick hardcovers? A well-made paperback could handle a year's worth of abuse. I suspect a sinister marketing ploy to sell books has been at play here for too long. Yes, the public should work towards taking the schools back as it were.

Somewhat related. I was recently reading an account of the Amish protest against sending their children to consolodated public schools. They did send the children to public schools when they were local one room schoolhouses. They objected to busing their children long distances and primarily to their loss of control over the local schoolhouse. I think people need to realize that schools have become this autocratic behemoth that has no respect for the wishes of the students or their parents. They have adopted the opinion that they should not be questioned in their decisions because they hold the absolute knowledge of education. These are public schools after all. Shouldn't the public be allowed to control them?
Part of the problem is parents often think that "teaching" is the job of "schools" and "teachers."

Parents are even more important in the process of "teaching" their children than the "schools" are.

As someone mentioned earlier, sometimes it is difficult to walk or bike to school with the number of books required of kids these days. Average backpack weights have increased over the last decade, and there is concern over possible chronic back injuries from the excessive load. In highschool, my backpack could not even hold all the books I needed to cart back and forth to school (an easy 10 minute walk). I managed to get an extra set of books to leave in my locker and free me to walk to and from school.

If schools could afford to purchase one more set of books, students could have their backpack significantly lightened.

That city directly to the south of you would love to be able to purchase more than one textbook per classroom, in some schools.

As someone mentioned earlier, sometimes it is difficult to walk or bike to school with the number of books required of kids these days. Average backpack weights have increased over the last decade, and there is concern over possible chronic back injuries from the excessive load.
When I went to college, I transported my books in a panier. A student could carry the paniers to class, or put the books into a backpack. I don't see this being any trouble at all.