Have you ever
heard about a walking school bus?
Dear reader, do you remember that precious time of
childhood when we got up earlier to go to school? When we were waiting for our
neighbor classmates to go to school together? Or when we were walking back from
the school with the water mixed ice-cream? But most of today’s children can’t
remember about this kind of sweet memories. Because of the several reasons parents
choose to pick up their children to school by themselves. They eat and sit, they sleep and then sit,
and they sit during studying, they are even sitting in school buses. However,
the “walking school bus” is the best decision against sitting lifestyle of our
young generation, obesity and unsociability.
Researches show that there are a large number of
students who are less walking and more living a sitting lifestyle that causes
the obesity. For this reason, in 1998 in St Alban, parents established the
concept of a walking school bus . On this unusual bus, a “driver” (adult) picks
up “passengers” (students) and walk together to the school. At the end of the
school day they simply reverse their earlier route. It is decided that for the
safety reasons a driver should be at the front of the bus and a conductor
should walk at the rear. (Kearns, Collins and Neuwelt, 2007).
There are many advantages of this type of “transportation”.
For instance, it benefits to their healthy lifestyle. Students walk back and forth
to school. Second, they are more engaged in socialization process. While their parents
drive each of them to the school they have less time and authority to
socialize. But on a walking school bus they can see each other’s houses, enjoy
the nature and talk about weather. Thirdly, the parents and schools using
walking school bus benefits to the environment by reducing traffic on the roads
and pollution. For these several but very vital reasons, this concept of the
transportation became more popular worldwide.
You are more than welcome to share your opinion about
using it in Kazakhstan.
Reference
Paquette, K. (2007, December 22). Through Rain, Sleet,
Ice, and Snow, the Walking School Bus Still Must Go! Childhood
Education.
Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2015, from
http://www.walkingschoolbus.org/resources.html
Walk to school! I still remember sweet memories of my childhood when I spent more time for having fun with friends on the way back home. However, I was a witness of having personal drivers of school children (almost all of them) at one of the schools in Astana. Maybe this is current time requirement that safety is #1 priority, especially in big cities. It would be great at least to adopt biking lifestyle in Kazakhstan.
ReplyDeleteI also vividly remember going back home and having fun with my classmates! The idea of a walking school bus sounds great! And the advantages of this idea are clearly seen. It could also decrease the heavy traffic on the roads during rush hours. In terms of safety, a driver and a conductor could serve as security-guards as you mentioned. The only thing is proximity to home. If the school is far from home, it will be difficult for a child to handle it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea! Today with the growing popularity of Internet, computer games and social networks children tent to have less and less physical activities. Even having a walk to school and back has become a problem for children. So, having such a great walking school bus could solve the problem. Moreover, it would be much more safety. Nowadays, parents are too busy to conduct their children on the way to school.
ReplyDeleteWow! What a wonderful idea! I remember myself intentionally not going by car with my dad, but walking about 40-50 minutes to school. Because we arranged to meet with my classmates who lived on the same way and gradually a 1-person walk was growing to 5-6 people walk. We have been discussing latest news, gossips, homeworks, arranging plans for weekends and so on. Of course, the main condition for such walks was a warm weather, so taking into consideration our climate it happened only few months per year, but I still remember those sweet memories.
ReplyDeleteSo I admire this idea for young students. This would be especially effective for countries with a soft climate. Unfortunately, not sure if it can work in Kazakhstan. Astana's weather conditions and Almaty's long distances are very strong obstacles to make it happen.