Not really. There have been cases of this (well, with young children walking with older siblings to a neighborhood playground), but they are rare and sensationalized.
Where I grew up in New Jersey I lived 2 miles (3.2 KM) from school and I was considered close to the school. Those who lived within a 10-20 minute walk would walk. Many of us who lived further away would rely on the bus.
Edit: And this was for elementary and middle school (up to age 13). From ages 14-18 everyone was significantly further away.
I don't know because I know very little about schools outside the US. My best guess would be that they vary everywhere and this isn't US specific.
> Assuming you were in a city rather than a rural area
Before I was born and when I was younger there were quite a few farms, but I didn't grow up with them. So I suppose it used to be rural and now is a suburb (in-between rural and a city). My town has about ~30k people.
There are a lot of sprawling cities (and I _think_ Boston may be one of those) where it would also be greater distances to walk to a school. ..so I'm not sure being a city is correlated to short walking distances to school.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...
Is it true that in some places this paranoia has gotten so far that you’ll get reported to child services if you let your kids walk to school?
> 3) Boston's weather is also miserable - the place is at just latitude so that wet, 30 degree weather prevails in winter, giving freezing rain, frozen rain, slush and all manner of nastiness. Plus horrible hot, humid summers. So you have to avoid walking a lot.
In Slovenia, same latitude as Montreal, I walked to school and back every day for 16 years. Yes even college.
What’s the problem with walking a kilometer or two in ... weather? Sometimes it rains, sometimes it snows, slush in spring, hot in summer ... so what? Just dress appropriately.
I have fond memories of early spring where you walk to school in a winter jacket and back from school in a t-shirt jacket in hand.