I am not poor! I am cheap!

[Eisa]

Yeah, college costs a ton. I spent about...oh...$300-400 on books this year and that was the absolute amazing cheapest it's ever been.

And the way our schools worked, you went to whatever high school you were in the boundaries of. BUT you could change to a different high school--you would just then have to find your own transportation there and back, which could get tricky...

Would have really sucked if you wanted to go to the high school I ended up going to...it was about 15 minutes out of town! Loved the bus...although I somehow got a lot of rides, too, my dad was awesome.

[Darkforge]

In England we have very few school buses, I mean, some schools have free buses that do a very short, specific route.

Others, where they have a large catchment area, hire buses to do the school run (but again very specific routes, so if you live away from them, enjoy the walk to the nearest pickup point) but these do cost an amount, for some students the local councils will cover the cost, but not for all.

basically there isn't the american standard of bright yellow school only buses, it varies from school to school, and a lot of people simply make their own way to school

[cinema guy]

Not always... depends on where you live. Some schools aren't part of a "Schools of Choice" program.

CRML is in the UK. Parents can chose secondary (high) schools for their children. Parents need not select a school that is near them. Some schools have an educational slant - such as sport, technology, arts.

For example, in my town there are 7 schools to chose from. It is also possible to attend a highly-regarded technolgy school in a nearby town (about 7 or 8 miles away) - which is probably a similar situation that the cheap dad in the original post has elected for.

[emax4]

You really shouldn't judge here. Who's to say if he feels that education is too expensive in general, or if it's only expensive in HIS case? If he made a lot of money, and still complained about the prices, then he's either cheap or still stuck in an era of bygone days where education was cheaper for his parents. If he simply does not make a lot of money, it's his right to complain about the price of education (but that doesn't make IT right though). What some may not be able to afford may be inexpensive to others.

[Teskeria]

So, elsewhere parents pay for their kids to ride the bus? In America, school buses are free.

Not in Boston. In Boston only elementary school kids MIGHT get free transportation. usually not. And when I lived in Omaha, no free transport after 6th grade (and they have a poor public transport system. very poor)

[Magpie]

Toronto, where I grew up, you got bused to school in certain circumstances: if you lived more than X distance away (something like 2k, these are little kids remember), or if there was something that made walking unsafe. I believe that the major intersection my school was on counted under the second one, so almost everyone was bussed. (And kindergardeners are all bused AFAIK).

High school you're pretty much on your own. Of course, I chose to go to a further away school, I think had I gone to my feeder school I might have been given bus tickets (they won't bus you, you just get bus fare for the city buses). Similarly, older kids in elementary school get given bus tickets if they have valid reason for going to that school (i.e. it's the closest extended French/French immersion school) and there are no buses in the area. I think technically I could have gotten my tickets for going to another school for gifted for free, but it was once a week for only one year. Not worth it.

Here the high schools have special city buses run for them - basically it's similar to the yellow buses, but using city buses. In rural areas, the yellow buses take you to the nearest city. I don't think you have any options for going out-of-district, unless you walk to the pickup (which Jackdaw had considered).

I do know, however, that in my elementary school you were rather expected to go on the field trips. I got given a hard time for skipping the ski trip one year. (I shot that teacher down, I was at my other school for gifted, technically they weren't supposed to schedule field trips for me on those days). My real reason, of course, was that I don't like Alpine skiing. (I've never had a good enough experience doing it to see any point in it. As far as I can tell it's skiing skipping all the fun bits . I don't like heights, and I don't like skiing down hills). Bear in mind, however, that my elementary school was in a well-off neighborhood. Pretty much every family there owned a car (maybe two). Two-income families were the norm, mostly with at least one parent in a professional job. In another scale: my family was probably average to low in the income scale, my dad worked a professional job with good pay for what he did, we owned a car, we ate meat at least three-four times a week.

[KaeZoo]

The term "free" in the context of a government-provided service is something that's a pet peeve of mine.

The bus drivers aren't donating their time. The people who maintain the buses receive a paycheck. The buses need to be paid for, as well as the fuel to make them run.

When people say "it should be free" they seldom understand that they're really saying "someone else should be forced to pay for it on my behalf".

[infinitemonkies]

It's also possible the kid has to go to that school because he's been expelled from the school in his own district.

[Sapphire Silk]

In the area where I grew up, if you lived a mile or less away from school, you HAD to walk . . . you were not eligible for busing.

The bus system where I live now (North Carolina) is messed up. When my niece and nephew first started in the local school system, they would have to get on the bus, be bussed to another location (not the school) get off the bus, get on another bus to get to a school less than five minutes up the road by car. Total time on the bus: about an hour.

Mom and Dad swapped off pickup (with me occasionally helping out) because they hated the idea of a) an hour trip for the kids and b) switching buses (I found that idea downright scary).

[drunkenwildmage]

So, elsewhere parents pay for their kids to ride the bus? In America, school buses are free.

Depends on the school..In Ohio, they are only required to bus for 8th grade and below, if the student lives more then 2 miles from the school. Normally the schools will do more then that.. but a lot of the area schools had to cut back recently, so in the case of the local big city district.. They are providing the yellow bus for the requirements, and telling the other students they can ride the transit buses, but will have to pay their charges.

Not exactly. If you own property in the district, your taxes pay for them

Some districts around here have a "Earned income tax" you have to pay.

[Rapscallion]

Back when I was but a Rapling in the U of K, we got a bus pass for one journey to school and one journey back. It was paid for by the local council, which was funded by the local council taxes. We just used it on public bus services.

Rapscallion

[Victoria J]

You used to get free bus passes for travel on normal public transport if you lived more than X miles from the school in at least parts of London. My friend went to an out of area school and had one - which I only remember because aged about 15 she had a terrible crush on one of the bus conductors and if she was ever on his bus would pay just to spend more time talking to him.

Children are free on the buses in London anyway now. Some services are run on school days specifically to be close to the schools - but anyone can get on them.

In some rural areas they actually send taxis. I spent a couple of months in the middle of nowhere and was signing on as unemployed - the JobCentre sent me on a course and had to send a mini-cab everyday (there was a bus to this place once a week and that was it). If you think that was a waste of money you should have experienced the course - I think that was the worst 2 weeks of my life. The course provider eventually lost the contract and opened a nightclub instead. The minicab driver who picked me up also did school pick up.

Victoria J