Educating The Future

I am sure many of you have read about the Walker, Michigan high school Seniors who were suspended from the last day of school and then told they would not be allowed to walk the stage at the graduation because they rode their bicycles to school (with the Mayor!).  What a stupid situation that was.  My favorite quote from it so far has been School District Superintendent Gerald Hopkins-

"Superintendent Gerald Hopkins told the meeting that the district would have supported the bike ride if students had alerted officials ahead of time."

Who calls a school superintendent to ask if it is OK to ride a bicycle to school? What kind of power do they think they have?  A lot of those kids are 18 and are no longer required to ask anyone's permission to do anything.

Cameron in danger? He is a high school Senior.

Anyway, just when that whole idiocy starts to work its self out we get this next beautiful example of education and reasoned response to the needs of children and families in Gilbert, Arizona.

The Board of the charter Edu-Prize School in Gilbert has banned children from biking or walking to school!!!!! I am sorry, but who the hell gave a charter school board the power to  say anything about anything that happens outside their school, outside of school hours when kids are with their parents?!!!  The school's chief operating officer (just that title should let you know this is coporate, not education) Barbara Duncan is quoted as saying-

"All have put children at considerable risk, and our board has acted to keep children safe before there is a predictable event," Duncan said in an e-mail. "The streets are marked with bike paths but are not wide enough for children or parents to safely use them."

So all of the parents have had to sign an agreement that they will drive their kids to school- mistake number one.  I am a parent in a school that tried to prevent me from letting my daughter walk 3 blocks home by herself after school.  After pointing out that they had no problem with her walking to school alone everyday and then providing them the name of my attorney should they feel the need to push this further, Úna was never again prevented from walking home on her own.  Parents can and must fight this kind of idiocracy.

Mistake number two?  If the Charter Board of Edu-Prize School wishes to throw their power around, do something to make your streets safer!!!  That is what we are doing here at many schools in San Francisco.  We are returning the streets around 181 of our schools to the 15 MPH spaces they are supposed to be, we are expanding our bicycle lane network and working for even more (and with this and other changes our elementary school had 31% of our student body participate in Bike To School Day even though it was raining), we are using our Safe Routes To Schools money to make needed changes, and most importantly, we are not letting the world just keep on trudging along running over our children.

Children in imminent danger?

Obviously these kids will be killed any moment.  Yeah.

Schools are supposed to be places that teach kids how to think.  Schools are not there to police a parent's transportation decisions.  Forget the "my kids get great exercise" argument.  How about the "I am out of work and the car isn't working so we will be using those bicycles we all got for Christmas" argument?  Or the "We live three blocks from school so we are walking"  argument?  Or my personal favorite "My kid is still having trouble reading because you are too worried about her using her scooter" argument.

If this we Gilbert we would be rebel outlaws!

Kids have to take classes in critical thinking to graduate and go to college.  I think some "educators" could do with some brushing up in that area, don't you?

Thug Life

The bicycle gangs of San Francisco don't care about colour and they are recruiting young.

All you need to hang at the corner is a bicycle.

Bike To School Day

Today was Bike To School Day in San Francisco. Like Walk To School Day, kids and families are encouraged to try a new way to get to school. It grows a little bit every year, and at Declan's school 25% of the kids arrived by bicycle or scooter. Most days it is closer to 3% and to be honest, many people drove their kids to the spots where groups were gathering to ride in to school together (the groups are called Bike Buses).

Cameron and Úna do not really get the occasion. Like many of those who ride a bicycle to work everyday do not get involved in Bike To Work Day, the kids ride their bicycles all over the place already. Declan had to be convinced it would be fun to ride an extra four blocks so he could meet up with his friends to ride to school. Once he got there, he was thrilled to ride with everyone else, but he still doesn't get it.

Nevertheless, this is an opportunity to challenge parents to start thinking about other ways to do things. Maybe this is the excuse to start encouraging their kids to be more independent.

Perhaps Bike To School Day is an opportunity for the kids to take pride in their bicycles and that feeling of freedom that comes with them.

For some, it was that first taste of what it is like to be a grown up. For us, a few moments to see it ourselves.

For some it was Scooter To School Day. I am good with that. They have two wheels, too.

So, while every day in the O'Chan home is Bike To Blank Day, we welcome all of the new comers. We hope to see them all in the lane in the years to come.

School's In

If you go to public school in San Francisco, then today is the first day of school! My kids are public school all the way, and this morning, they each decided to start the year with a bicycle commute.

Declan decided quite a while ago that he wanted to emulate his older brother and ride to school (he is in Kindergarten this year). It is only two blocks away, but the lure of a morning ride and his very own bike lock was too much to deny.

It was really nice to see a lot more people walking to school than in years prior. There were still a number of people in cars, but the morning traffic tangle was nothing like I have seen it in the past.

The school has a bicycle rack, but it has still not been bolted into the ground (almost a year after receiving it!) so we used one of the polls outside the school. It works out fine and as I had to pass this spot a few times today, it was nice to see Declan's bicycle parked out there waiting for him.

This year, Úna starts Middle School as she is the 6th grade. New school, new friends, new commute. Her school is only a mile and a half from home, but it is on the other side of the hill. She decided to take the long way around through a rather busy business district instead of climb the hill so I went with her, following behind to see how she handled the streets.

She had to pass between City College of San Francisco (the largest community college and the second largest learning institute of any type in the United States) and Riordan High School which was a tangled mess of traffic and random jay walking pedestrians. It was so busy I couldn't take pictures of her riding through it like it was nothing (just like how people in India don't seem to notice the traffic and crowds there). She was fantastic and did everything right.

Once we got past the college mess, it was a short trip through a business district she is very familiar with. There was construction all over it, but after a short stint on the sidewalk, she got around it with no problem and made it to school on time with no stress (unlike the 5 blocks of tangled car traffic around the school building!!!! What kind of madness is this?).

I was uncomfortable with the amount of traffic on her chosen route. It will calm down in a couple of weeks, like it does every year, but until then I am going to make sure she goes over the hill instead. She had no problem negotiating the craziness this morning, but I would not feel comfortable letting her go on her own and the whole point is for her to do this by herself. Next time, we'll try the hill route which is much less busy and crazy.

Over all, a good day. All three of the kids got to where they were going under their own power. They all took the next steps in the process of growing up. I love it!

Not into Spandex?

I love how often than not, in the States, most people relate cycling to fast speed-tight clothing-and all things fastfastfast and bloody like Lance. I personally have nothing against lycra, nor nothing against Lance - I think he is great. Say, I just don't wear it because it really is possible wearing your normal clothes and trolling around town. Getting from home to work, school Etc.
The times that I have not 'liked' people in lycra is wen they think I'm cutting 2 seconds off their time training or they probably think I don't know what I'm doing. Shoot, I dodge doors, skip monster potholes, master the art of going over train rails and climb our beloved San Francisco hills, everyday – not just on weekends to train for some race, or show off my expensive bike. And I am very happy most of my bikey friends feel that way.
However, I must also say that I have met some really really nice people in their whole complete lycra outfits. So there.

That said, mostyl, if you are reading this blog, then you know what I mean, I just wanted to share this article I came across today in the NBC Area Blog-Local News:

Not into Spandex? Cycling Can Still Be Your Thing
by Kirs Sanchez
"...Hildebrand says an added bonus to taking up cycling rather than other sports, is that it is an activity you're likely to be able to enjoy longer in life than running, tennis or other higher-impact sports."

I live, ride and am part of a community that knows how to be "being normal" and how to dress the way you would, if you went to go buy milk at the corner store. I consider that cycling, and even thought the article makes me want to explore more foresty trails, mountains and dirt paths, I am a happy person in my city. It is a jungle of its own.
Here are some recent cycling photos from our Flickr pool:

San Jose Via Velo by richardmasoner


Our friend Kate with her Mercian. by AngloMex




Per a totes les edats by Bart Omeu


Ella pedalea con distinción by Quiltro Elemento

Bike To School

Bike to School Day is almost upon us (April 15th). Like last year, I will lead a bike bus to school. I see more kids being taken to school by bike than ever these days, and I know that more will come in the days to come, but it gets me wishing nonetheless.

Other places get that cars and kids don't mix, so they do something about it. In Japan women ride their kids to school in droves (it is illegal to drive a child to Kindergarten there).

In Ontario, Canada they have started a public school where it is against the rules to drive your child to school except in very specific circumstances. The kids either walk, bicycle or take a school bus to stop cars from building up around the school (story via Treadly and Me).

Of course, there is the Dutch paradigm that we all wish we had. This video from David Hembrow shows kids traveling from one town to another to get to school. Now, before we get into the discussion of "we can't do that here! There isn't room" I would just like to say that my stance is "yes we can do this, if we choose to" and I am sticking to it.

Mostly, I just wish people would think about what they can do to get their children out of cars and into the world. There has become such a culture of group think about how dangerous and horrid everything is that we are all believing are own hype. Our children suffer because of our unevaluated fears and paralysis in the face of change.

I wish we would all just get out there and ride our kids to school! You know you can do it. Really, you can.