Totally agree!

Originally Posted by ShoreGrl

Do not blame the victim. What exactly was she supposed to do? She's paid $15k a year. She's not a police officer. All she can do is report their behavior to the school which she has done and nothing has ever happened (until now).

Originally Posted by miss alice

Agreed. I do not think bus monitors have the qualifications or were ever trained to discipline children in this capacity. I also do not think bus monitors were ever trained to stop bullying, etc. There are no facts that show that she is an ineffective bus monitor either, so to assume so, would be erroneous.

They are kids, for pipe's sake. You stand up, raise your voice, tell them to sit down and be quiet. You do not cry and tell them you are crying. You take names and bring their butts into the office. It's not hard to instill fear in even the most obnoxious 13 year old boy. I'm not even an "older" adult and I have NO problem doing it, with some pretty terrible kids.

If you cannot be an authority on a bus, you don't belong there.

I'm sure if this video were of the kids picking on a 13 year old girl, calling her a fat ***, and telling her that her family should go kill themselves, and that SAME old lady were sitting on the bus doing nothing, everyone in this thread would have a different opinion of her.

Originally Posted by SunglassLove

They are kids, for pipe's sake. You stand up, raise your voice, tell them to sit down and be quiet. You do not cry and tell them you are crying. You take names and bring their butts into the office. It's not hard to instill fear in even the most obnoxious 13 year old boy. I'm not even an "older" adult and I have NO problem doing it, with some pretty terrible kids. If you cannot be an authority on a bus, you don't belong there. I'm sure if this video were of the kids picking on a 13 year old girl, calling her a fat ***, and telling her that her family should go kill themselves, and that SAME old lady were sitting on the bus doing nothing, everyone in this thread would have a different opinion of her.

agreed on the bolded part.

BUT...to be honest with you, those teenagers are pretty intimidating when in groups. they are rude, loud, extra energy got no where to vent.....
in china during the culture revolution...the teenagers (from 12-17) played a huge role and were the most destructive force...teens can be ruthless.

Originally Posted by SunglassLove

They are kids, for pipe's sake. You stand up, raise your voice, tell them to sit down and be quiet. You do not cry and tell them you are crying. You take names and bring their butts into the office. It's not hard to instill fear in even the most obnoxious 13 year old boy. I'm not even an "older" adult and I have NO problem doing it, with some pretty terrible kids. If you cannot be an authority on a bus, you don't belong there.

There are children you won't be able to instill fear in. There is probably as much character variation among teens as there is among adults. Ask someone who works with juvenille offenders if you can instill fear in any teen.

When I was in school, some boys 13-15 yo boys were 6' 2" or 6' 3" in height. Considering this incident took place in America where the average height is greater and the generations have gotten taller since I was at school, there could be 'boys' 6' 5" or taller in American school. The only people who could handle aggressive teens of this size would be some men (and perhaps the odd woman) in the 18 - 45 age range. How many guys in this age bracket have their sights set on being a school-bus monitor?

You get what you pay for. And unless the school is willing to fork out the enough money to hire a nightclub bouncer, they're going to accept whoever will work the meagre amount they pay. In any event, it doesn't give the students the right to treat her maliciously.

Originally Posted by SkylightTonight

There are children you won't be able to instill fear in. There is probably as much character variation among teens as there is among adults. Ask someone who works with juvenille offenders if you can instill fear in any teen. When I was in school, some boys 13-15 yo boys were 6' 2" or 6' 3" in height. Considering this incident took place in America where the average height is greater and the generations have gotten taller since I was at school, there could be 'boys' 6' 5" or taller in American school. The only people who could handle aggressive teens of this size would be some men (and perhaps the odd woman) in the 18 - 45 age range. How many guys in this age bracket have their sights set on being a school-bus monitor? You get what you pay for. And unless the school is willing to fork out the enough money to hire a nightclub bouncer, they're going to accept whoever will work the meagre amount they pay. In any event, it doesn't give the students the right to treat her maliciously.

I know how to work with teens. You get what you give. I've worked in a juvenile detention center with a program in my college, as I majored in criminal justice. I grew up in a crap neighborhood with some of the worst sort of kids you can imagine. I know what I'm talking about.

The kids on this bus weren't physically aggressive, give me a break.

I never said they had the right to treat her maliciously, but hell, if you don't want to get teased by kids, don't work with them. They will pick on anyone they view as weak. Kids are like wolves... in a pack, even the good ones get egged on.

I'm done with this thread. I feel very strongly about this because I've seen firsthand the bullying that can happen because adults are too scared to control children. You MUST be willing to do that if you are going to work that job. That woman didn't belong on that bus. Sorry.

I said in my first post, most people weren't going to like what I had to say.

I saw this lady on the Today show. She was asked what she would do with the money
($640K raised so far)......would she give all or some to charity. Her daughter was sitting next to her. She chucked and said yes, to charity pointing to daughter.
This was a fluke that she got all this money for 15 minutes of discomfort. Why not give a good chunk of it to a non-proft organization to help bullied children?

I feel badly for the lady.

I am struggling with this.

The victim gets hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the children get death threats.

Neither of these things even remotely approaches a solution to anything.

i felt so bad when i saw this video. i am disgusted by the behavior of these kids. i hope the school takes aggressive action and starts an anti-bullying campaign.

i feel bad for the monitor, but i don't get why people are giving her so much money. for one, the taxes will take the majority of the money, and two i think it's crazy to make her into a millionaire because she had a bad experience with brats on the bus. i don't get the logic there.

i hope that this video opens the eyes of other kids out there to think before being so mean to other people.

Originally Posted by Sternchen

I can almost understand her not doing anything against those children. In this day and age you are not allowed to punish, touch, talk or look at children in anyway that could be construed to be abuse or harrassment.

Exactly. We have no idea what instructions she was given so we can't presume to say what she should have done.

Originally Posted by SunglassLove

I know how to work with teens. You get what you give. I've worked in a juvenile detention center with a program in my college, as I majored in criminal justice. I grew up in a crap neighborhood with some of the worst sort of kids you can imagine. I know what I'm talking about. The kids on this bus weren't physically aggressive, give me a break. I never said they had the right to treat her maliciously, but hell, if you don't want to get teased by kids, don't work with them. They will pick on anyone they view as weak. Kids are like wolves... in a pack, even the good ones get egged on. I'm done with this thread. I feel very strongly about this because I've seen firsthand the bullying that can happen because adults are too scared to control children. You MUST be willing to do that if you are going to work that job. That woman didn't belong on that bus. Sorry. I said in my first post, most people weren't going to like what I had to say.

You have to think about this lady's position though. You worked in a juvenile detention center, you had the right to dicipline these kids. They were THERE for the discipline. The kids on the bus are there to get home and you know many parents would be raising all sorts of HELL if "some bus monitor" tried to discipline their child in any way.

I'm glad you're done with this thread because I believe your views are a bit too extreme. It's like you're telling this woman to "suck it up and get over it".

This really has nothing to do with working with kids - it has to do with working with people in general. This could have happened ANYWHERE! Grocery store, park, movies, Drs. office, whatever. How would YOU have reacted if YOUR MOTHER were treated like this from some punks with an attitude problem?

Originally Posted by CobaltBlu

I feel badly for the lady. I am struggling with this. The victim gets hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the children get death threats. Neither of these things even remotely approaches a solution to anything.

I think the donating has gotten to the extreme, but it's not something she asked for. Someone started the initiative and this is apparently how people want to show their sympathy.

I don't think that the kids should be getting death threats, but there are always some whacko's out there who will go so far to say something like that.

Originally Posted by Sternchen

How would YOU have reacted if YOUR MOTHER were treated like this from some punks with an attitude problem?

It wouldn't have happened. My mom wouldn't have the situation escalate like that. I can type that and 150% believe it and know it's true.

I don't think my views are extreme - I do believe the children deserve to get punished, I don't think they should act like that, BUT I believe if that's how she is going to react to kids, she shouldn't be on the bus in the first place. Again - she is there to STOP such behavior. Kids are cruel - we all know this, it's NOT a new concept. I have no doubts in my mind that these kids have pushed buttons before and gotten away with things, and that's how they knew they could treat her that way. But again, treating her that way IS NOT RIGHT.

I've worked with enough "bad" kids to know the ones in this video were just being mischievious trouble making little heathens.

I still don't believe giving this one lady 500k to retire does anything to help the situation - when across the US hundreds of other bus monitors are going through the SAME EXACT THING day in and day out.

Originally Posted by alliemia

i felt so bad when i saw this video. i am disgusted by the behavior of these kids. i hope the school takes aggressive action and starts an anti-bullying campaign. i feel bad for the monitor, but i don't get why people are giving her so much money. for one, the taxes will take the majority of the money, and two i think it's crazy to make her into a millionaire because she had a bad experience with brats on the bus. i don't get the logic there. i hope that this video opens the eyes of other kids out there to think before being so mean to other people.

This is what I'm trying to say, put into one sentence, LOL

Originally Posted by SunglassLove

It wouldn't have happened. My mom wouldn't have the situation escalate like that. I can type that and 150% believe it and know it's true. I don't think my views are extreme - I do believe the children deserve to get punished, I don't think they should act like that, BUT I believe if that's how she is going to react to kids, she shouldn't be on the bus in the first place. Again - she is there to STOP such behavior. Kids are cruel - we all know this, it's NOT a new concept. I have no doubts in my mind that these kids have pushed buttons before and gotten away with things, and that's how they knew they could treat her that way. But again, treating her that way IS NOT RIGHT. I've worked with enough "bad" kids to know the ones in this video were just being mischievious trouble making little heathens. I still don't believe giving this one lady 500k to retire does anything to help the situation - when across the US hundreds of other bus monitors are going through the SAME EXACT THING day in and day out.

No, it doesn't do anything to help the situation and I also think it's kind of strange that someone developed a fund for her. Sure, it was a cute idea to send her on vacation... but half a million dollars is a lot of money!

Originally Posted by Sternchen

No, it doesn't do anything to help the situation and I also think it's kind of strange that someone developed a fund for her. Sure, it was a cute idea to send her on vacation... but half a million dollars is a lot of money!

You're right it doesn't make much sense. But isn't that the way things are solved these days?

When there is a problem, the easy answer is to throw money at it. It makes people feel good and diverts attention from the fact that the core problem wasn't actually addressed. One could argue that the government has been using this approach for years.