Anonymous wrote:I think its a bit missing the mark to say that the other kids on the bus are not stepping in because they are stuck to following some "no standing rule"...............good god spend 5 minutes with middle schoolers, they really don't give a crap about being told to sit down! What they do give a crap about is appearing "different" or not fitting in, or feeling embarrassed among their crowd, thus a mob mentality by default because the kids who aren't participating don't want to risk being the target by trying to stop the bullies, so they just stay silent- its human nature played out time and time again in history with ADULTS, with kids its even more difficult for someone to step up and say "NO".

When I talk to the middle schoolers and ask how they deal with bullies they say if I hit them back I will get suspended. We tell kids that it is not okay to stand up to bullies then we wonder why they don't.

I understand mob mentality but we are consistently telling the kids to go along with the crowd, follow the standard rules, don't stand out. We start comparing kids at a very young age and they know the one sitting quietly doing nothing is the "good" kid and the "loud" kid must be ADHD.

It's not human nature - we beat human nature out of our kids to comply with society.

I am totally floored there was not one kid on that bus that did not tell those boys to shut it.

Anonymous wrote:I think its a bit missing the mark to say that the other kids on the bus are not stepping in because they are stuck to following some "no standing rule"...............good god spend 5 minutes with middle schoolers, they really don't give a crap about being told to sit down! What they do give a crap about is appearing "different" or not fitting in, or feeling embarrassed among their crowd, thus a mob mentality by default because the kids who aren't participating don't want to risk being the target by trying to stop the bullies, so they just stay silent- its human nature played out time and time again in history with ADULTS, with kids its even more difficult for someone to step up and say "NO".

My kids went to a middle school where this kind of behavior was not unusual; disrespect for adults, cursing at teachers, etc. For the good kids, their method of survival is to blend into the woodwork -- look down, pretend you're not even there, because otherwise, you'd better believe they are next on the list to be tortured.

If my kids had been the bullies, they would have been taken over to that woman's house for a face to face apology, and they would have been put on severe restrictions at home.

I think its a bit missing the mark to say that the other kids on the bus are not stepping in because they are stuck to following some "no standing rule"...............good god spend 5 minutes with middle schoolers, they really don't give a crap about being told to sit down! What they do give a crap about is appearing "different" or not fitting in, or feeling embarrassed among their crowd, thus a mob mentality by default because the kids who aren't participating don't want to risk being the target by trying to stop the bullies, so they just stay silent- its human nature played out time and time again in history with ADULTS, with kids its even more difficult for someone to step up and say "NO".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the future of America. Cruel. Disrespectful. Obnoxious. There is no way these children had been taught kindness or respect at home.

These are the same type of kids whose parents pull them out of school for a week to go to Disney. The rules don't apply to them.

Rule follower.

yes, I guess so. Is that a bad thing

Yes. If the rule is to sit on the bus quietly and not to stand up and you sit quietly while somebody tortures somebody else.
It is if the rule is to go to school every day and you miss a family reunion. I think family is more important than school but that is just me. My rules may be different than your rules. I don't follow other peoples rules.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the future of America. Cruel. Disrespectful. Obnoxious. There is no way these children had been taught kindness or respect at home.

These are the same type of kids whose parents pull them out of school for a week to go to Disney. The rules don't apply to them.

Our school doesn't have a rule stating you can not take vacations during the school year. Does your school have that rule?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the future of America. Cruel. Disrespectful. Obnoxious. There is no way these children had been taught kindness or respect at home.

These are the same type of kids whose parents pull them out of school for a week to go to Disney. The rules don't apply to them.

Rule follower.

yes, I guess so. Is that a bad thing

Anonymous wrote:I got stuck on $500,000 for a vacation. That can't be right even if its a "dream" one.

They collected money for a dream vacation but she got $500K so she will get a vacation and a retirement.

I got stuck on $500,000 for a vacation. That can't be right even if its a "dream" one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the future of America. Cruel. Disrespectful. Obnoxious. There is no way these children had been taught kindness or respect at home.

These are the same type of kids whose parents pull them out of school for a week to go to Disney. The rules don't apply to them.

Rule follower.

My kids are very defiant. I do not teach them to respect authority. By that I mean if an adult or anybody is doing something you know is wrong you stand up and say so - you don't just follow rules for no reason and you don't just do as you are told because it is an adult.

Let me explain why.... Kids are taught to get rid of all good sense and do as they are told then they are unable to think for themselves. They become rule followers.

My kids are not perfect but they mostly are great, wonderful, respecful and they would have kicked that bully's ass - gotten suspended and we would have taken him to get ice cream to celebrate.

What about all the other kids in the bus - every single one should write a note of apology. I suspect they didn't want to get detention for standing on the bus.

To answer the question - my whole family would have spent the whole summer doing whatever chores, gardening, painting this lady needed at her house.

Anonymous wrote:This is the future of America. Cruel. Disrespectful. Obnoxious. There is no way these children had been taught kindness or respect at home.

These are the same type of kids whose parents pull them out of school for a week to go to Disney. The rules don't apply to them.

I would kick their ass into next week, for starters. And post the video of it on YouTube.

There was a post on this ...unless it was deleted

This is the future of America. Cruel. Disrespectful. Obnoxious. There is no way these children had been taught kindness or respect at home.

I checked the forum for something linking to this and surprisingly didn't find anything on it. This video is 10 minutes of middle school kids from Greece, NY really tearing into an elderly bus monitor. It's pretty tough to watch, but I feel it is important. No matter how sweet your kids may seem at home, this is what they can be capable of when they hang out with the wrong crowd. Luckily there is a happy ending to it, as you can see from the suggested videos the internet community came together and donated more than $500,000 to send Karen on a dream vacation.

How would you find out if your kid was acting like this out of your earshot and what would you do about it?