To school and back: changing commute patterns of children in the United States

The focus of this thesis is to detail the evolution of children’s travel and the commute to school since the early 1840s when the current education system emerged. This approach covers the changes in children’s travel patterns, adult perceptions of children’s capabilities to travel on their own, and management of the commute to school. The purpose is to provide a needed historical geography of the overlooked cultural phenomenon of the commute to school; a trip used to build the public education system, an aspect often left out of, yet considered essential in community planning, and a primary factor in determining how children move through their local environment.