Does Anyone Walk to School Anymore?
Not in my town, where endless redistricting has kids shipped up from downtown to the northernmost reaches of the city, and kids bused right by one middle school to go to another five miles away. Yes, it's still happening in many cities. Guest columnist Risa-Lavizzo-Mourey laments this at the New Jersey Star-Ledger. "It’s back-to-school time, and for most of us that inspires images of children with brightly colored backpacks making their return to the classroom on sidewalks and crosswalks across America. But how many kids actually walk or bike to school these days? Far fewer than you think." She reports that in 1969, nearly 50 percent of children 5 to 14 walked or biked to school. "And if they lived within a mile of the schoolhouse, 89 percent used their legs to get to class." But today, only 13 percent of students walk or bike to school, regardless of how nearby they live. "It isn’t unusual to see children climb into a car every morning to be ferried...