Middle schoolers torment an elderly bus monitor and post it to the internet

[Dr.Girlfriend]

I was disgusted with the whole video, but pretty much horrified to hear one of the kids say, "You know I bet if I stabbed you with my knife, it would cut through you like butter."

 

[kidshop]

The boy's father thinks he has suffered enough since his face was made public in the video.

But didn't the kid put his own face on YouTube? It's just another version of paying the stupid tax. The Internet lives on forever (they really need to have classes about this).

He'll have suffered enough, well, I don't know when....but it's not yet!

 

[Sabrefan]

But didn't the kid put his own face on YouTube? It's just another version of paying the stupid tax. The Internet lives on forever (they really need to have classes about this).

He'll have suffered enough, well, I don't know when....but it's not yet!

You cannot see the face of the child recording it.

 

[Mouseteacher]

The really sick and sad part of this is that the kids won't be punished. Mommy and Daddy will whine and complain and they will get a slap on the wrist.

Of course, you are so right! It is never their kid's fault. No accountability or responsibility for the behavior. And the kids do this because they know their parents will defend them no matter how guilty they are.

 

[JenM]

I was in MS in the late 80's and honestly, the behavior I saw/experianced then (over 20 years ago) does not leave me shocked at the behavior now. What I saw as a teenager wasn't quite as bad as this, but not too far off the mark really. We've been heading down this road as a society for a while now.

I was in middle school in the late 80s as well. I spent nearly 2 months on crutches for a broken knee, and got harrassed every day over the broken knee, the crutches, and the extra time it was taking me to get on and off the bus. I was also accused of faking the broken knee. The bus driver never said a word.

To this day (I commute by bus to work now), I always give anyone on crutches or any other injury having trouble getting on and off all the time they need and help if I can give it. Because I never forgot that.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

Of course, you are so right! It is never their kid's fault. No accountability or responsibility for the behavior. And the kids do this because they know their parents will defend them no matter how guilty they are.

Have any of the parents said that their child wasn't involved? I haven't read anything about that but their are quite a few posts that are leaving that impression.

 

[bumcat]

I watched the whole thing. What really teared me up is when one of the kids said something about all her family was dead because even they did not want to be around her.
Karen had a son that killed himself 10 years ago.

 

[Robinrs]

I didn't watch it and won't watch it. My son told me about it when I got home and it made me sick.

I am not surprised. I never knew so many people disrespected older people till I started reading the DIS (not necessarily the crowd online now, but periodically thru my 14 years here). In my family the elders are treated like royalty, the idea of even speaking a cross word to one was blasphemy.

Kids who are raised to disrespect the elderly were either not taught or saw it either blatantly or subtlely in their own families. I remember a woman whisper the B word at an old woman at the independent home I used to work at, right in front of her child.

This, like Matt Lauer said this morning, should be a teaching tool for kids. It's sad it had to take this but not every parent has made this a priority. That poor woman didn't deserve to live all those years just to be talked to by a bunch of poorly raised kids. The pack mentality, I'm sure, drove most of them but it started somewhere.

My son asked what would've I done if it happened to me. I had just one line, it wouldn't have happened. Bullies know who to torture, they only torture those who they feel are weak. This poor woman was hard of hearing I heard, which makes this even more sad.

 

[Mouseteacher]

Have any of the parents said that their child wasn't involved? I haven't read anything about that but their are quite a few posts that are leaving that impression.

I wasn't necessarily speaking of these kids but in general with kids of this ilk.

 

[NotUrsula]

Teens have been harassing old people on busses for a LONG time; no one who has ever driven a bus for a living is going to convince me that he or she would never have expected such a thing to happen.

My DH' grandfather stopped riding public busses for this reason back in 1972; when he was about 63. The taunts and insults from teen boys got to the point of feeling too threatening to him; he was afraid the gang mentality would embolden some of them to follow him home and possibly rob him.

Now, this lady probably didn't fear that because she was staying on while they got off, but if neither she nor the driver could shut this bunch up, then what they need is a bouncer on that bus, not just someone to take names.

(Personally, I'd be striping the first couple of rows in some nice shame-inducing color and having the miscreants strapped into the seats by someone big enough to handle them. The little darlings could then ride in silence all the way back to school to have their parents come in and claim them after a couple of hours of toilet-scrubbing detention.)

 

[zoemurr]

Have any of the parents said that their child wasn't involved? I haven't read anything about that but their are quite a few posts that are leaving that impression.

specifically said that no parent or student was denying anything

and as to the PP who said the children will not be punished.. I don't believe that to be true. They said they have received thousands of calls from all over the country. They will now have to set a standard as to how to deal with these things. I think there will be consequences, but they will not be publicized and will leak out slowly.

 

[happygirl]

All I can say is this lady is being far more kind to this kids they they deserve.

 

[ZachnElli]

My first reaction is my DD's school bullies moved to another state! That is how they talked to her day in and day out. But she is supposed to "let it roll off her back" and "toughen up"! These kids are going to continue until they are forced to stop! We will be homeschooling her for 8th grade year at least!

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

THey should be suspended from the bus for a year. Walk both ways, hope it's 5 miles or more each way you little *******s. I also hope you get some really lousy weather to walk thru.

 

[MrsPete]

I do agree with MrsPete about the monitor not being effective in her job. I am all for buses having monitors but it needs to be someone that can effectively handle behavior problems. What if a fight broke out on that bus? How on earth could she do anything?

I saw her speaking in on online clip, and I'm certain now that she wasn't a good choice for bus monitor. She talked about how she dislikes confrontation. Not exactly the right person to hire to manage discipline for rowdy kids.

Having said that, I don't mean to excuse the kids' behavior in any way -- just saying that she wasn't the best choice for the job.

I also was raised to believe that if I did behave badly at school that any punishment I received there was going to be a cakewalk compared to what I would face at home. My kids are in high school and middle school and know that they'd be in huge trouble if they behaved 1/10 as badly as those punks.

You and I were raised in the same house, but few children grow up there anymore! My husband was raised there too: He says that his father told him that if he was punished at school, he automatically got twice the punishment at home -- and then he'd listen to the boy's side of the story. Clearly we as a society used to have the idea that the adults at school were fair and wanted what was best for the kids, whereas today parents tend to jump right into "not my baby" mode.

Not long ago I called a parent about her son's bad behavior in class, and her response was, "Well, I'll have to hear his side of the story." Okay, lady, that told me everything I needed to know. I had nothing to gain by lying about her special snowflake. I never bothered her again, knowing that she wasn't going to be helpful in controlling his behavior, but I know for a fact that the kid was trouble for numerous other teachers and even broke a huge window, which had to end up costing his mom a pretty penny. Wonder if she thinks we were all lying about her baby boy -- he's a piece of work; I've never heard a kind word about him.

I would never want to put a day care child or someone in a nursing home in the care of an abuser. What I am saying is that its almost a guarantee that if you split these kids up, the abusive behavior will disappear. I would strongly bet that not one of them would have acted this way alone.

I agree that kids are much less likely to act badly on their own, whereas once a group mentality takes over, they feel more secure as a member of the majority. They get the idea that they're untouchable.

Personally, I'd like to see them assigned to do community service for their school. LOTS of work needs to be done over the summer: They could move the furniture out of classrooms so that the custodians could come in and buff /wax the floors, then move the furniture back in. They could clean out lockers, give the PE showers a good scrub-down. These kids need to do something to make up for their mistakes, but it doesn't have to involve interacting with other people.

Also, this makes me think about a friend of mine who had a child misbehaving on the bus years ago. She'd been called over to the school to talk about it, he'd been suspended from the bus, and she knew that the next time he'd be kicked off the bus for the rest of the year. As a single mom, she literally could not drive him to school . . . so she decided to scare the pants off him. She took him walking to school one evening -- it was a couple miles. She warned him about traffic, warned him about not missing his turn, pointed out mean dogs, discussed crossing the road, mentioned keeping dry in the rain and toting his heavy bookbag, wished aloud that we had sidewalks, talked about how he'd need to get up early to make the walk . . . and she said she was getting pretty worried because they were halfway to school before his voice started to quiver and he admitted, "Mom, I really, really don't want to walk to school." He was very ready to discuss how he could stay on the bus. His bad behavior ended that day. Today he's a student at our high school; although I've not taught him myself, I know he has a reputation as a great kid. His mom had to make him a believer.

The boy's father thinks he has suffered enough since his face was made public in the video.

Something I've emphasized to my girls: These days most everyone has a video camera in his pocket. Don't do anything in public that you wouldn't want the world to see, and that type of thing can follow you longer than you expect.

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

Suffered enough?

Live and learn Sonnyboy, you are in the age of everyone can see everything. Good lesson for him to learn young.

Act like an ******* and you could well be viewed by millions of people doing it.

Of course he could become a standard politician and this youtube thing will just be kind of a resume type thing.

 

[Shutterbug]

The boy's father thinks he has suffered enough since his face was made public in the video.

Thats the problem. Kids think that since they are minors they are "protected".
Leaving them to feel they can do what they want.

 

[spacemountainmom]

I saw her speaking in on online clip, and I'm certain now that she wasn't a good choice for bus monitor. She talked about how she dislikes confrontation. Not exactly the right person to hire to manage discipline for rowdy kids.

Having said that, I don't mean to excuse the kids' behavior in any way -- just saying that she wasn't the best choice for the job.

You and I were raised in the same house, but few children grow up there anymore! My husband was raised there too: He says that his father told him that if he was punished at school, he automatically got twice the punishment at home -- and then he'd listen to the boy's side of the story. Clearly we as a society used to have the idea that the adults at school were fair and wanted what was best for the kids, whereas today parents tend to jump right into "not my baby" mode.

Not long ago I called a parent about her son's bad behavior in class, and her response was, "Well, I'll have to hear his side of the story." Okay, lady, that told me everything I needed to know. I had nothing to gain by lying about her special snowflake. I never bothered her again, knowing that she wasn't going to be helpful in controlling his behavior, but I know for a fact that the kid was trouble for numerous other teachers and even broke a huge window, which had to end up costing his mom a pretty penny. Wonder if she thinks we were all lying about her baby boy -- he's a piece of work; I've never heard a kind word about him. I agree that kids are much less likely to act badly on their own, whereas once a group mentality takes over, they feel more secure as a member of the majority. They get the idea that they're untouchable.

Personally, I'd like to see them assigned to do community service for their school. LOTS of work needs to be done over the summer: They could move the furniture out of classrooms so that the custodians could come in and buff /wax the floors, then move the furniture back in. They could clean out lockers, give the PE showers a good scrub-down. These kids need to do something to make up for their mistakes, but it doesn't have to involve interacting with other people.

Also, this makes me think about a friend of mine who had a child misbehaving on the bus years ago. She'd been called over to the school to talk about it, he'd been suspended from the bus, and she knew that the next time he'd be kicked off the bus for the rest of the year. As a single mom, she literally could not drive him to school . . . so she decided to scare the pants off him. She took him walking to school one evening -- it was a couple miles. She warned him about traffic, warned him about not missing his turn, pointed out mean dogs, discussed crossing the road, mentioned keeping dry in the rain and toting his heavy bookbag, wished aloud that we had sidewalks, talked about how he'd need to get up early to make the walk . . . and she said she was getting pretty worried because they were halfway to school before his voice started to quiver and he admitted, "Mom, I really, really don't want to walk to school." He was very ready to discuss how he could stay on the bus. His bad behavior ended that day. Today he's a student at our high school; although I've not taught him myself, I know he has a reputation as a great kid. His mom had to make him a believer.

Something I've emphasized to my girls: These days most everyone has a video camera in his pocket. Don't do anything in public that you wouldn't want the world to see, and that type of thing can follow you longer than you expect.

I think we are pretty like minded. I have very high expectations of my kids at school. I had better not ever get a report on rude or disrespectful behavior. My dh and I are very much on the same page regarding that. I am proud of the fact that my kids are complimented frequently by school staff.

We've also had countless discussions with both of our kids about living in the digital age. Be very aware of what is emailed, texted, facebooked, shot with a regular camera or a video camera! You never know what might come back to bite you so just don't do it in the first place. If you wouldn't want your grandparents to see it, don't risk it!!!

I don't really condone the threats made to the kids, but hopefully they are getting a serious sense that what they did was so very wrong. I agree that the kids could be subjected to some hard work at school over the summer as part of their punishment. Cleaning up after their fellow sloppy classmates would do them a world of good.

 

[Jennasis]

Just ONCE I would like to see a parent stand up and say "My child is turd and THIS is the punishment I'm doling out..."

 

[spacemountainmom]

Just ONCE I would like to see a parent stand up and say "My child is turd and THIS is the punishment I'm doling out..."