Must… resist…. looking back through rose-colored glasses
My son is very excited, because today is his very first snow day from school. I’m happy for him — all children deserve at least one snow day a year. There’s something much more enjoyable about an unplanned day of leisure (for the children — this sort of thing is unbelievably inconvenient for the parents) ...
My son is very excited, because today is his very first snow day from school. I'm happy for him -- all children deserve at least one snow day a year. There's something much more enjoyable about an unplanned day of leisure (for the children -- this sort of thing is unbelievably inconvenient for the parents) than the expected weekend days. That said, I can't shake the feeling, looking outside my window, that Massachusetts has gone unbelievably soft. There is, as I type this, less than an inch and a half of accumulation outside. Why, when I was a lad.... oh, hell, you know how the rest of that sentence will go. This leads to an interesting question -- beyond the natural, likely erroneous belief that we were just physically hardier back in the day, what could explain this perception that schools call snow days with less weather now than they used to? 1) Media hype. Last night the spouse turned on the local news to catch a weather forecast, and the anchors looked positively orgiastic in their glee about the impending storm. The growth and sophistication of media marketing is greater now than a decade ago, and this affects expectations about the future; 2) Liability laws. School districts are more risk-averse because of the possible liability that comes with not calling a snow day and then having a bus get into an accident. 3) Traffic congestion. The problem isn't the weather, it's the weather + an increased number of cars on the road. 4) When it's been a mild winter, everyone jumps at the first appreciable snowfall. Parents, provide your guesses here.
My son is very excited, because today is his very first snow day from school. I’m happy for him — all children deserve at least one snow day a year. There’s something much more enjoyable about an unplanned day of leisure (for the children — this sort of thing is unbelievably inconvenient for the parents) than the expected weekend days. That said, I can’t shake the feeling, looking outside my window, that Massachusetts has gone unbelievably soft. There is, as I type this, less than an inch and a half of accumulation outside. Why, when I was a lad…. oh, hell, you know how the rest of that sentence will go. This leads to an interesting question — beyond the natural, likely erroneous belief that we were just physically hardier back in the day, what could explain this perception that schools call snow days with less weather now than they used to?
1) Media hype. Last night the spouse turned on the local news to catch a weather forecast, and the anchors looked positively orgiastic in their glee about the impending storm. The growth and sophistication of media marketing is greater now than a decade ago, and this affects expectations about the future; 2) Liability laws. School districts are more risk-averse because of the possible liability that comes with not calling a snow day and then having a bus get into an accident. 3) Traffic congestion. The problem isn’t the weather, it’s the weather + an increased number of cars on the road. 4) When it’s been a mild winter, everyone jumps at the first appreciable snowfall.
Parents, provide your guesses here.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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