Abolishing School Zones

Today's kids are treading water in life. Time to throw them in the deep end of the pool.

Mar 04, 2024

School zones are a draconian restriction on vehicle speed that is regularly accompanied by sparse and confusing road signage. It is hard enough to hold the steering wheel and pay attention to the road while eating a snack and sending a text message; school zones require eagle eye attention for “school zone begins” and “school zone ends” signs while simultaneously processing the restricted times displayed on the signs against the current, precise time of day. Is it 2:05 p.m. or 2:15 p.m.? The international date line is less finicky than school zones. It is time to abolish school zones and their unreasonable penalties for a victimless crime.

Yes, let’s think of the children. Setting aside whether there is real data proving that these speed limits reduce incidents, school zones coddle children and fail to adequately prepare them for the transition into adulthood.

This isn’t suggesting a Darwinian challenge where school kids are ordered to race across the street while dodging oncoming traffic, like some three-dimensional version of the classic video game Frogger. Still, the problem is school zones teach children that the surrounding world will slow down to accommodate them, a dangerous lesson and especially problematic with how children are treated today.

It would be difficult to point to an exact moment when the parenting tide began to turn, though this 2012 Time magazine cover is unforgettable.

Changing views on parenting wasn’t limited to physical engagement and early childhood. Another key flashpoint happened four years earlier with a story about a mom, a nine-year-old boy, and New York subways.

Free-Range Parenting

Lenore Skenazy wrote a column in 2008 titled, “Why I Let My 9-Year Old Ride the Subway Alone.” First published by the New York Sun, the reaction was heated with claims that it was too dangerous to grant her son’s weeks long request to “leave him somewhere, anywhere, and let him try to figure out how to get home on his own.”1 Skenazy anticipated this line of criticism and addressed it within the column.

These days, when a kid dies, the world — i.e., cable TV — blames the parents. It’s simple as that. And yet, Trevor Butterworth, a spokesman for the research center STATS.org, said, “The statistics show that this is an incredibly rare event, and you can’t protect people from very rare events. It would be like trying to create a shield against being struck by lightning.”

The problem with this everything-is-dangerous outlook is that over-protectiveness is a danger in and of itself. A child who thinks he can’t do anything on his own eventually can’t.

Despite the fact that “Trevor Butterworth” totally sounds like a made-up name, the discussion inspired a movement for “free-range parenting” and “free-range kids.” While it is a battle Skenazy continues to this day, it’s not a message that appears to be winning. The impulse to be overly protective has amplified in intensity since 2008 and the opportunities available for micromanaging have only increased. From organizing play dates to location tracking apps, parents grab hold early and maintain a tight grip on children throughout the teenage years.

Child deaths or abductions that were once only local stories are now distributed everywhere via the megaphone that is the internet and social media. Learning of such horrors used to happen in a methodical, scheduled manner while reading the newspaper in the morning or watching the news at night. These stories no longer wait for an invitation; they invade our Apple AirPods, disrupt our Twitter timelines or vibrate a device in our hand to command attention.

That intimacy and immediacy of information exacerbates the capacity for fear. A University of Michigan Poll revealed that only 33% of parents would allow their 9–11-year-old to walk or bike to a friend’s house. Half of parents would not even let their child find an item in a store on their own if it meant going to a different aisle without them.2

Even abolishing school zones may no longer have much impact because most children are delivered directly from vehicle backseats onto campus grounds. In 1969, 48% of 5 to 14-year-olds walked or biked to school. By 2009 it was down to 13%.3 Most current estimates now place that number below ten percent.

Too Much Therapy

The anxiety among modern day parents is palpable and they are passing it down to their children. Abigail Shrier writes about this phenomenon and how children are being encouraged to dwell upon their fears or bad feelings in her newly released book, “Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up.” In an excerpt published by The Free Press, Shrier additionally discusses how schools contribute to the problem.4

Forget the Pledge of Allegiance. Today’s teachers are more likely to inaugurate the school day with an ‘emotions check-in’ …

… There’s another problem posed by emotions check-ins: they tend to induce a state orientation at school, potentially sabotaging kids’ abilities to complete the tasks in front of them.

It is not just the teachers as parents obsess about every behavioral tick or bad emotion their son or daughter has. Shrier references pediatricians casually prescribing psychotropic medications while therapists are over diagnosing mental disorders and conducting endless therapy sessions. Whether a child has a recurring emotional issue, has experienced a trauma or simply is feeling sad, the default solution from every adult actor in the room is to add more kindling to the fire.

Shrier, quoted again in The Free Press book excerpt:

Good therapists are trained specifically to avoid encouraging rumination, a thought process typified by dwelling on past pain and negative emotions. Rumination is a well-established risk factor for depression.

The consequences continue into adulthood. The Hill reported that the number of 16 to 19-year-olds with a driver’s license dropped from 64 % in 1995 to under 40 % as of 2021.5 A recent survey by Visier found that only 38% of employees were interested in becoming managers at their current company.6

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is middle-aged men (and women) must be having second thoughts about having one of those May-December affairs because there’s only so much immaturity someone can indulge. Which is probably a good thing because younger people are resisting relationships more than ever before. Freya India writes about this in January with “Risk Aversion is Killing Romance.” 7

Much of the attention on this goes to those calling for trigger warnings and safe spaces—which I’d say are an important but very vocal minority—but what’s actually endemic, something I see constantly among my generation, is a subtler form of safetyism, a reluctance to take risks in our everyday lives. Being terrified to talk on the phone. Being scared to order in a restaurant. And somewhere I think it’s really starting to affect us is being risk-averse about relationships.

Opting Out

While promoting her book during an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, released on February 27, 2024, Abigail Shrier said:

I mean, this is the trauma generation, right? We've told them over and over, you can't handle very much. Don't worry, I'm going to write you (out). They have these things in schools called anytime passes, where if a kid's feeling a little anxious, they'll get a pass from the school counselor and they're allowed to leave class anytime they're feeling anxious. Well, how's a kid going to sit through anything if they've been given this pass to leave class, any class they don't like?

The culture of opting out is even spreading to young athletes. In December of 2022, Tyrell Terry retired from the National Basketball Association at the age of 22 due to anxiety. Professional tennis player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open in 2021 after first refusing to participate in media interviews because of stress they caused and wanting to prioritize her mental health.

In the Covid delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, United States gymnast Simone Biles quit during the women’s team final competition, citing mental health concerns. “I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a back seat, work on my mindfulness,” Biles said at the time. When asked if there was an injury she was dealing with she replied, “No injury, thankfully. And that's why I took a step back, because I didn't want to do something silly out there and get injured.”

Biles abandoned her teammates as they tried to achieve something they all spent years working toward. Instead of criticism or at least questioning the choice, media content revolved around how inspirational her choice was and the importance of raising mental health awareness.

She took one of those mental health “anytime passes” that Shrier mentioned have become so common in school. These aren’t the values that parents used to hope to pass on to their kids. Athletic competition, like life, isn’t only about the way you perform when you are feeling great or when everything is going right.

Derek Redmond was a sprinter for the British National team during the 1992 Olympics. After recovering from five different surgeries (including one to repair a torn Achilles suffered an hour before he was to race at the 1988 games), Redmond ran faster than anyone in 1992’s 400 meter prelims before also winning his quarterfinals heat. Heading into the semifinals, he was favored to medal in what would likely be his last opportunity to compete at the Olympics.

At about 15 seconds into the race, Derek was nearing the halfway point when he heard a loud “pop” in his leg. He tore his hamstring. Kneeling on one knee and experiencing intense pain, Derek watched the other runners pass him by. When a couple of Olympic officials arrived to offer aid and encourage him to get on a stretcher, Derek did the only thing he could do.

Derek Redmond got up.

He ignored the officials and started hobbling forward, half jogging, half limping. Derek continued, passing another official trying to reach him. An older man came out of the stands, pushing away yet another official and running forward until he reached Derek.

It was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. Placing one hand around Derek’s side and reaching to hold his hand with the other, Jim said “Derek, it’s me. You don’t need to do this.”

Derek replied, “Dad, I want to finish.”

Now leaning against Jim, Derek screamed out in agony and began limping forward while holding onto his father. More officials arrived to stop them but each time Jim would wave them off.

On that day, Derek crossed the finish line.

The problem with “anytime” passes is you never know when any time is going to be the time that matters most.