I've seen this 2015 documentary of some sort from the perspective of Japanese vs Australian kids being able to commute to and from school on their own without parental supervision. The thing is that parents in Japan encourage kids to be independent from a young age without being "babied" too much while apparently in Australia it's common for parents to drop kids at school.

Now: why is it common for American parents to either drop kids off themselves or kids using the stereotypical yellow school buses on commuting to school rather than letting the kid use public transport themselves or walk to school on foot on their own? I've heard that a father got arrested in the US just for letting his son walk to and from school due to accusations of "child endangerment".

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[–] 12 points 1 week ago

I grew up in a rural area and nearly everyone rode the bus. My bus ride was about 45 minutes each way. I wasn't THAT far from the school, but the bus went down every side street dripping off kids between my house and the school.

Where I live now, only a small percentage of kids ride the bus. Most have to walk.

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