<p>I was also surprised that there was no discussion about this on CC until today. This was despicable behavior from these four 7th grade boys. While I would normally not endorse this, one online commenter went so far as to “out” all of these juveniles by name, post their facebook pages, those of their parents, too, post their home addresses and phone numbers, where the parents worked, etc. Anything that could be found online was posted for all to see.</p>
<p>We do have bus monitors in our school district, especially on the buses for young children as the monitors ensure their safety, making sure that they are met by an adult at the bus stop. These little darlings should be kept off the school bus for an extended period of time. Let their parents deal with figuring out how to get them up and back to school. They should be required to perform community service in a local nursing home/assisted living center. And I agree with missypie that they should sit down with their own grandparents and show them the youtube video and see if their grandparents find it amusing…</p>
What a nonsensical remark. You have no way at all of knowing whether those kids had stay at home Moms or not. My guess is a combination of the two.</p>
<p>FWIW, I was fortunate enough to be able to stay at home, but I know several working Moms who raised extremely well behaved kids and some that raised badly behaved kids. I also know stay at home Moms who raised badly behaved kids and stay at home Moms who raised great kids.</p>
<p>Apparently this was not a case of boys who just happened to get caught on camera being bad. One of the boys wanted to film a “bullying” video for youtube. It was set up, and they knew he was filming. They were basically “acting” for the video, which is probably why it’s so extreme. </p>
<p>The bus monitor knew they were filming, but might not have known what their intention was. It’s not clear whether these kids are “normally” like this, or whether they were just being over the top for the sake of the video. Stupid, yes, but there is more here than appears.</p>
<p>…then it is even more stupid…I cannot make myself to feel sorry for these kids. I do not even think so much about a lady. I am thinking that this behavior is wrong even if it is stupid, they are teenagers, not are not 3 y olds. For 3 y o, the explanation that it is worng might be enough on a first such offense, on a second, it has to be much more than that…but these are not 3 y olds and they temporarily forgot about that, time to go back to your age and face real consequences so that next time they will remember not to go back in time.</p>
<p>The bus monitor, bus driver, classroom teacher, lunchroom monitor all have to deal with possibility of being recorded whenever they try to “lay down the law.” I don’t want to go back to the old days where some adults in those positions were downright abusive, but the thought of a tirade being posted on You Tube can certainly inhibit adults’ behavior.</p>
<p>I remember a couple of times when my kids were younger where I consciously “went ballistic” to scare them…I am normally very calm and soft spoken, and there were a couple of times where I just let myself pretty much scream at them for the shock value. A bus monitor doing that now would certainly end up on You Tube and possibly fired.</p>
<p>This is something all of us are going to have to learn well; that we could be on camera at any time and it could go viral. I hope this is a lesson to all kids on buses, not just the ones involved in this meanness. </p>
<p>I had a long busride to school when I was in junior high and high school. The latter was not bad; I think most of us slept during the ride. But the junior high busride was a nightmare. There was a lot of bullying back then too. We did not have monitors at all, electronic or human. Unfortunately, that sort of behavior was typical, but towards each other (kids) since the only adult on the bus was the driver.</p>
<p>It should not be ignored, not EVERY kid is a bully, but there is bullying in EVERY school. And that’s what I mean when I say that it is typical.</p>
<p>The bright spot I can see from this is how there are probably millions of parents talking to their kids today about this. and without a video I’m guessing those parents would have not believed or sued if their child was reprimanded. This shows herd mentality and lord of the flies behavior of kids without supervision. I’d love to know how these kids feel now it’s a media sensation and it isn’t cool or funny. The worst line I heard - are you sweating, why is your face wet - and she says something like those are tears.</p>
<p>musicamusica, I still contend that bullying like this is common between middle school kids but I think it is atypical for a middle school kid to behave at this level toward an elderly person. I can’t imagine that to be typical. Disrespect, yeah, but not what they were saying and doing to her.</p>
<p>I cannot believe that at least one person did not step up to cuss out the offenders. </p>
<p>I expect at least a few people in any crowd to step out and say, “Hey! Shut the **** up and show some damn respect!” as well as a few other choice comments. Maybe it would even come to blows. When I was in elementary and middle school, I would get in actual fights over less than this (and of course, I would get in trouble, but who the eff cares). </p>
<p>That city needs more parents who tell their kids they have to stand up for people who cannot, or are not allowed to, stand up for themselves. I’m sick of this “go tell a teacher” trend. Who’s going to go tell a teacher when the teacher is the victim. People should just do what’s right by defending themselves and others.</p>
<p>Since I consider the bullying of another student equally heinous I can easily imagine just that, since bullys love harassing the weak and passive. Passivity, adult or otherwise, is blood on the water to bullys. The fact is, however, that the amount of interaction they have with completely passive adults is extremely limited. So in that limited sense, you are correct it is not typical.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, I also think bullying other students is equally heinous, but was just saying that that is more common, and that bullying a senior citizen to this level (even poking her) just doesn’t seem common to me, particularly one who could report back to their school (not a stranger on the street). </p>
<p>It is a little surprising that some other kid didn’t go tell the driver or something. But hard to say.</p>
<p>“I awoke this morning thinking about this story and feeling like there is something nagging at me about it (aside from the obvious). Can’t put my finger on exactly what it is though. Watched the video again but didn’t key into anything particular.”</p>
<p>I agree. I get a feeling that this was staged and the bus monitor may have been in on it. Now they have over $500,000.</p>
<p>She was a monitor and apparently a bus driver at one time. She did not know how to handle kids? Would she have done nothing had these kids been doing this to another kid?</p>
<p>My gut feeling when watching the video was that it was too “acted”. What is going to happen to the money?</p>
<p>IF this really happened, then of course the kids should be reprimanded in some way. Numerous hours volunteering in a nursing home comes to mind.</p>
<p>I guess they didn’t think they would be found out by recording and posting it. I wonder just how common misdeeds and crimes are recorded and posted for “bragging rights”. What a bizarre and disgusting phenomenon. Apparently Reddit site members jumped on it and figured out where this took place and members contacted authorities there. Bravo for this kind of heroic sleuthing and Internet justice.</p>
<p>Now if the bus ride was being recorded officially or if she wore recording equipment, maybe they wouldn’t have been so shameless. Although this is an entirely different and noncriminal subject, I have thought for some time what an interesting idea it would be to have video cameras on the ceiling during school dances, which are, after all, public events. It is probably a nonviable idea. There wouldn’t have to be dance or music rules (except for language)- just record the whole thing. Would the kids still dance that way, would they still do you-know-what on the dance floor? Normally they all crowd in to shield what’s going on in the middle from chaperones.</p>
<p>Once in the 1970’s my Dad’s boyscouts were getting progressively rowdier. He brought a cassette recorder at the beginning of one meeting and turned on the record button. After the scouts learned that it would just run continuously they were little darlings. He never had to bring it again. Is this principle still valid? My guess is yes as long as there are parents in the picture somewhere.</p>
<p>“If these kids were doing this to an adult, imagine how they treat each other.”</p>
<p>That’s what really came to my mind when I listened to the bus monitor being interviewed. I felt sad for her, and hope she gets the money collected, but she doesn’t seem to believe it will materialize. No way she was in on any staging of getting bullied. But I really thought, you know, at least an adult can handle this, ignore it (plus she is hard of hearing), and decide to quit. But what about the kids who get this kind of treatment all the time? It’s far easier to handle this kind of garbage as an adult, but a young teenager? How awful for them. Kids can be vicious.</p>
<p>ugh. just saw about 45 seconds of the video and shut off. she was so passive, though I am not sure how she could have even reacted, legally, to make them stop. THe problem with alot of these bullies is that people let them get away with it and no one talks back to them the way they talk to others. These types of kids are a lot less willing to engage in these antics with someone they know will (figuratively) also go for the jugular in insults. That method kept me bully free my whole childhood.</p>
<p>I watched the video the other day and it reminded me of the dog thread we were having a few days earlier. My dog/kid are very nice, someone would say. But kids this age are really mean, especially when no one is watching. I suspect most of them would turn out just fine later. Bullying is part of our culture unfortunately. Sorry for Klein, the kids and their parents.</p>