WOW!! One thing you really take for granted in the USA is the ability to take the school bus!! I HATED the school bus when I was younger because I was the first one on! It stopped at my house at 7AM and arrived at school at 8AM. When I was 16 and had my drivers license I was soooooo embarrassed when my parents made me ride the bus!!! They would do it as punishment.. I would tell my parents ” EVERYONE MY AGE DRIVES!!!”
Here in Serbia …. I just moved into a house with a Hungarian and a Serbian kid… They are 18 and in their final year of high school. They are both from a villages that are over 80 KM from Zrenjanin. In Serbia … people that live in small villages go to primary and secondary school in their village but are forced to travel to the closest LARGE city for their four years of high school…. One of my roomies family lives in a village that is 80km from here. They are forced to pay for a bus ticket each month. His family is unemployed and rely their grandparents for money assistance.. They are forced to pay $100 dollars a month for bus pass or pay for an apartment for him in Zrenjanin. It is cheaper to have him live in Zrenjanin at $65 a month than travel back and forth to his village everyday!
That doesn’t sound a like a lot of money but imagine your family lives on $300 a month???!!!! That is over 1/3 of your family income!!!
My opinion is the school system in Serbia is flawed!! They force many struggling families to pay transportation costs or housing for their kids because they provide no high schools in their villages. In the USA they provide a school bus to children in the district! It is “free” and usually on time!
USA WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Serbia through American eyes 
Lazar Aleksic
January 21, 2012 at 4:39 pm
It was about time someone mentions this problem.
The whole school system in Serbia is fucked up and desperately needs changes. A lot of changes.
cather76
January 21, 2012 at 4:45 pm
hahaha.. hvala brate… glad you read it.. thanks a million!
Lazar Aleksic
January 21, 2012 at 5:04 pm
You’re very welcome, glad you’ve made this blog, it is very interesting and informative 🙂
By the way, mentioned* xD
sunnygirl
January 21, 2012 at 4:56 pm
my, my when i was growing up i always wanted such “american bus” to come and pick me up!! i always thought kids had so much fun riding on it. funny to find out that somebody hated it.
and very true, our school system is not good and an expensive bus rides is just one aspect of it.
cather76
January 21, 2012 at 5:21 pm
hahahaha… no… we considered the kids that rode the bus ….”losers” hahahah
manoYELLOWich
January 21, 2012 at 5:31 pm
“It stopped at my house at 7AM and arrived at school at 8AM”… I am just imaging you being mad cuz of that… lol
cather76
January 21, 2012 at 5:36 pm
hahahahaha.. i hated it.. one hour on a bus.. hahaahah… thanks for reading!
manoYELLOWich
January 21, 2012 at 5:42 pm
You know who is behind this crazy nick ? LoL 😀
cather76
January 22, 2012 at 7:08 pm
sta? ne razumem!!!! hahahaha.. thanks for reading…
Nindza
January 21, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Some of my friends from surrounding villages had to get up at 4 or 5 am to catch a bus to Zrenjanin, and then when they arrive thay had to wait for about an hour till the school starts. The price of the ticket was not that much of a problem as the lack of appropriate bus lines from village to town (it was in mid-90’s). I think the prices of transportation in general are way too high in Serbia (at least for our income). And the transportation infrastructure is a big mess as well. The only good thing is that Zrenjanin is not that big, so the pupils that live in Zrenjanin can walk or bike to school, even when the weather is bad.
Milena
January 21, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Hey pal !!! For the first time I don’t agree with you. These are rare cases, 0,5% kids live in villages, perhaps less. That’s a sad reality.
In my town they used to stay in a boarding school within the school. They paid a room and a canteen food incredibly cheap .
Both of the schools were away from my home for about 5 minutes, of course I didn’t use any stupid bus.
The advantage here is safety. At the States parents could lose a custody if they let the children alone on the street, It is one of the reasons why at the States you have a buses for kids.
cather76
January 21, 2012 at 7:47 pm
omg… are you in zrenjanin?? i have been in to many of the schools here and there are so many kids that come from villages… most are not 80K away but there are some!!! I think its terrible! thanks for reading and responding!!
Milena
January 22, 2012 at 12:27 pm
No, I am living now in Belgrade and I was talking about much smaller town then Zrenjanin is. The town is in Eastern Serbia near the border with Romania and Bulgaria, Negotin. http://www.bukovo.edu.rs/
cather76
January 22, 2012 at 7:06 pm
very nice…. i think i have heard of Negotin but not sure from where.. have a great day
Saša
January 22, 2012 at 8:08 pm
I could agree to a certain extent considering transportation from small villages to a high schools in big cities. However, the level of education in USA can not be compared to the one in Serbia. When kids who are barely passing the grades in Serbia emigrate to the States, they end up being the top of their class over there.
Rade ParadoxGentleman
January 24, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Charles: back in Yugoslavia everyone had free education! now its bad!!! architecture falucly cast 24000e per year! and average salary in serbia is 350e…math thus everything 😀
Same Faculty im Italy cast 800e and its better enquipt 🙂
cather76
January 25, 2012 at 4:54 pm
i hear ya.. wow.. that is expensive… which are you going to?? i know you told me but as you know.. ja sam glup..a hahahaha.. respect bro
Dzoni
January 24, 2012 at 4:32 pm
four years i was traveling to high school in Zrenjanin…i had to wake up every f***ing morning in 5:30 am , and i was back home at 4 pm…
cather76
January 25, 2012 at 4:52 pm
ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. that sucks.. i feel your pain, bro.. ahahahahah.. thanks for reading
Ana Honoria Radakovic
January 28, 2012 at 3:30 pm
hello friend,
what you say is sadly true. Serbian govt works openly against making families, education, and being able to live separate from parents.I hope some things will change but until then we must manage and make best from what we have. The reason for no high schools in villages is simple that there are no kids in villages. It is an enchanted circle – no school, bad life conditions in villages = lesser kids, lesser kids = no need for school. Yu had free school and now it is like 1440 per year in euros in my faculty, that is 140 000 dinars and my mom is retired( like, 70 euros is her pay)and I as a bologna declaration generation of students am forbidden to work = working student loses right to free school year even if he was very very successful, plus you have to be present on classes all the time, so it is also physical way to stop students from working. When you finally finish school, employers don’t want you as you have no work experience. it is very messed up and needs change. generally administration and paperwork makes you go insane here so have a friend to help you if you need something, GOD FORBID! cheers!