Schools didnt close down when it snowed when I was a boy. So why does it happen now?

Question

This is a serious question folks. Whats going on? I dont know of a single instance when school was cancelled because of the weather when I was at school. Classrooms were heated, the buses got us to school on time and back home. Is it an indication of the sorry state of funding maybe? Help me out folks.

Answer 1

I don't think it is an issue with funding at all, I think it is a prime example of the shift of our society. We are so worried about eveything anymore. Especially when it comes to the children being raised. I'm like you, I went to a school where if you did not pay attention you got your rear paddled. Try and even touch a kid in school now. You will fired and sued in a heartbeat. I am sure somewhere some dope let their child wait too long for the bus and their kid got hypothermia or frost bite and instead of taking the responsibility they did what seems like the norm nowadays. Blame everyone else, school for being open, bus driver for taking too long etc. Then I am sure backed that up with lawsuits to try and ease the pain and suffering. Pretty much any new policy or change to the way it used to be is nothing more than a knee jerk reaction to some singular event that caused grief.
I sit back and laugh when I listen to some of these school board meeting when they are trying to decide whats "the best" for the children. We as a society are sure losing concept of reality!
What is to come? and where are we headed?
Goodluck and Godspeed (sorry, Im sure I have offended someone by saying God)

Answer 2

I remember looking out the classroom window and seeing near zero visibilty at noon. All of us students were so excited because we thought they would let us go early, and they did....a whole 15 minutes. Whoop dee doo! We did get a snow day once in a while, but it had to be pretty bad, to the point where the buses might slide off the road, which actually happened a few times. It's really hilly where I grew up. Most of the time if conditions were bad though they would just delay school by an hour to give road crews a chance to get the bus roads clear.

I think part of the reason they close down so easy nowadays is that the roads are more congested. More cars means more chance of accidents. I don't imagine they've upped the budget for the department of transportation to give them the extra trucks or men to get the roads clean faster or more frequently. It's probably been cut a great deal in comparison to what is was when we were young.

Answer 3

You are talking about times when there were few cars on the road,and nearly everyone used public transport.
If it snows today traffic is at a standstill, it could take hours to get home, all due to the amount of vehicles now using the roads. In the days you are talking about one bus would have carried the same amount of passengers as fifty or sixty cars, and not forgetting the buses were packed, standing room only sometimes
The point i am making is, it was a lot quicker getting home in those days.
Nowadays there are hundreds of cars all carrying one person,
also the school run increasing the traffic flow on the roads.
Another factor, in your day nearly all the schoolchildren walked it
home and in general most people did more walking then.
I suppose it's easier today to close the schools when the weather is bad rather than loose most of the day in traffic jams

Answer 4

The excuses I heard on the radio was that the school is afraid of being sued for a whole plethora of possible reasons, and that teachers live further away from schools than they used to, and possibly some of the pupils as well.

As you point out, virtually all pupils went to school on a bus at one time except for those that lived nearby. Winters were much worse as well in past years. I lived in the moorland area of Yorkshire, and many a time I walked the four miles to school in thick snow. Even those that lived out in the remote moorland areas (high up) were expected to come in. The only concession they got was being allowed to catch an earlier bus in the afternoon when there was a danger of the road being blocked by snow, which was common.

I think that it is a sign of the times, any excuse for a day off. I don't think that it is anything to do with funding.

Answer 5

People panic more now over the slightest issue, the wrong type of snow has fallen, leaves on the line etc. - I remember going to school in the Seventies - when we actually had a lot of snow, six foot deep in places - and having to walk in the tracks that the ploughs had created as you couldn't even see where the path was, let alone walk on it - It was a laugh, not cause to stop everything! We no longer seem to have the infra structure to deal with anything other than overcast weather - If it's too sunny, we run out of water, if it rains too much, we all flood, and don't even get me started on motorists when it does anything other than sunshine!!

Answer 6

Most of the teachers (and many of the pupils) are no longer local - they have to travel. And because of the higher amount of vehicles on the road, the traffic comes to a standstill. There is a higher awareness of health and safety, too.
It is against the law for schools to continue if the temperature falls below a certain amount.
I live on a busy London road and there is no way the traffic was moving this morning. Maybe we need to take lessons from countries like Germany and buy chains for the cars.

Answer 7

Well I think back then the schools didnt close because people were smarter and could drive better. They were used to all the snow and ice, and it was no big deal to them. Have you noticed the weather men, they make a big fuss about nothing now days. People used to know how to drive on the snow, now everyone wants to go so fast, they would wreck driving to school.

Answer 8

DSchools didn't close when I was a girl either. I think it's because more and more children travel to school by car, rather than walking, or going on the bus as we did. Health and safety issues are more to the forefront nowadays and headteachers have to make the decision about whether it's safe to have the pupils travelling to school. Also, staff come from father afield and may have problems getting in. As a Deputy Head I know it's no fun having to ring round lots of people to tell them the school's closed. It's a pain and we don't do it lightly.

Answer 9

In our county it seems like there are alot more highschool kids driving to school instead of riding the bus. So I guess they are more worried about whether they know how to drive in the snow. I was suprised on thursday when we had about an inch of snow and they cancelled school then by friday most of the snow was gone but they cancelled again. That didn't make any sense to me. They could be worried that if someone has wreck trying to get to school that they would end up being sued.

Answer 10

This is True, i never had a day off from school when i was young, and we had snow every winter and it was 10 times worse than it is today.
Its a sad state when the country comes to a near stand still cause of a bit of snow.

Maybe things were built better in our days and were able to cope better with the harsh weather ???.