Taxis

The last-period teacher in the 8th grade was absent today. Students with their parents' permission were allowed to leave school early. Since they cannot drive, their parents were working, and they live too far from school, many of them called taxis and went home.

In the U.S., I worked in the New York Metropolitan area. A few of the children in the older grades would, once in a while, take a cab to their homes or back to school for one reason or another. It certainly was not common.

Growing up (outside of New York), I cannot recall a single time taking a taxi by myself before graduating high school.

My experience in Israel has been vastly different. It seems that many, many kids even in the 7th or 8th grades take taxis regularly. I don't have a great theory as to why that difference exists but I do notice it a lot. The difference is striking.

I think that part of the reason is that the children here become independent much earlier. (If that is not a generalization and over-simplification, I don't know what is!)

I need to think more about this.