Author Topic: Bus Driver Discipline (Read 1089 times)

sling322 · « **Reply #15 on:** May 24, 2005, 11:38:05 PM »

Wow...I read the thread before I watched the video.

Un-****ing-believable.

Driver's actions were a bit out of line but I cant say that if I were in the same situation I would have reacted differently. He should have just stayed in his seat or at least in the front of the bus facing the kids and waited for the deputy.

The lack of respect those kids show for people in authority amazes me.....well I guess it should amaze me, but to tell the truth, in today's world it doesnt really.

We got kids in our neighborhood who play soccer every day in the little park on the corner of our street. A few weeks ago we were coming home in the afternoon after the kids were out of school and some of them were walking to the park for their daily game. Walking in the middle of the street.....didnt even try to move to the sidewalk when they saw us approaching. Not until I got right on top of them did they bother to move to the sidewalk....then proceeded to give me dirty looks and cuss at me as I drove by. Not too smart on their part since I live 3 houses from their park. I parked in the driveway and then walked back to the park and asked the kids who cussed me out where they lived. They of course refused to answer me and proceeded to call me a few more names...in Spanish this time since they assumed I didnt understand them. Growing up in South Texas I learned a little Spanglish and knew all the cuss words anyway, so I answered them back in their foreign tongue and you should have seen their jaws drop.

Fast forward to the next week. Kid across the street from me, who is a good kid, sophomore in high school...trumpet player...comes over to practice with me in the garage while I was playing my baritone. I asked him about the address of the individuals who I had the run in with the week before and he tells me.

Cut to the chase....after a short talk with the parents, I had 3 very contrite young soccer players standing in their parents living room trying to explain their actions and offering up apologies for them. They were very surprised that I had found out where they lived and it was at least 2 weeks before I saw those individuals playing soccer in the park again. I only hope that they learned a lesson from this. I know when I was a kid and screwed up getting grounded always made me see the light.

rpm · « **Reply #16 on:** May 25, 2005, 01:14:20 AM »

My bus drivers always had a great cure for jerkwads. They would tell challenge them to come up to the front. As soon as they were standing in the isle, they would jam on the brakes and get them airborne. Worked every time. They were always crying for Mommy when it was over.

Fuzzy · « **Reply #17 on:** May 25, 2005, 01:36:47 AM »

Child on the right in a white t-shirt assaulted the driver. Pure and simple. Not only verbalized an aggressive statement but mad an aggressive move to the driver's rear. Disconnect yourself from parenthood and imagine that was a kid dressed as a gangster closing on your six with an aggressive tone. Tell me you would have acted differently.

Hawklore · « **Reply #18 on:** May 25, 2005, 01:47:15 AM »

yet the driver reacted to the voice..

Again.. I belive the kids are at fault..

I don't care what they did they disrespected authority and they should be happy that they learn it now opposed to down the street when they refuse to drop their carving knife on a hunting trip and approach a gamewarden... Seeing as how disrespectful these kids are sickens me..

Only disrespect I've given people is on these boards and my parents and on the boards its fun and games.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 25, 2005, 01:53:20 AM »

Pure BS. When I was that kid's age, teachers and principals and bus drivers didnt just have the right to spank kids. They made such an art form out of it we were more hurt by the lead up to the spanking than the act. I remember one teacher that had an extra large paddle, with checkerboard marks cut into it (he said so it would hurt more and leave a more of a mark). Its not that any of them ever really hurt us physically. They sure spanked alot lighter than my old man did when I got home. He used a leather belt. But they took so much pain to set it up, the psyhcology of it all was ingenious now looking back. They rarely had to actually resort to it. Kids nowadays have no sense there are any consequences for their actions. Then they are all surprised when they get old enough to get their little prettythanges hauled off to jail, and blame the system, right along with their pansy-prettythang parents that didnt discipline them.

Fuzzy · « **Reply #20 on:** May 25, 2005, 02:01:52 AM »

The driver had no means of retreat or withdrawal from the perceived threat. A perceived threat is one that a reasonable person would acknowledge as a threat. the child was aggressively verbal and pursued the driver. With no means of retreat, he turned to deal with the threat, and attempted to subdue the antagonist. A choke hold may appear brutal, especially against a child, but given the threatening nature of many people, abiet children, would constitue an overwhelming force. I hope they do this right...

Fuzzy · « **Reply #21 on:** May 25, 2005, 02:07:29 AM »

I do agree that the inital confrontation with the child at the front of the bus was overly aggressive, but from that point on, everything seemed handled by the book. he contacted the authorities, then attempted to resolve the situation.

BTW my wife sides with the children...

beet1e · « **Reply #22 on:** May 25, 2005, 03:24:06 AM »

If it's any comfort (which it probably isn't) things aren't much better here. The trick is that they know all the rules much as DiabloTX says, and know how far they can go.

Funnily enough, I was on a bus in Concord, California when a similar incident broke out with some school kids, who were effing and blinding. The driver came back and told them to knock it off - and they did. But oh, that was 1981...

I've got another story in which I managed to have two arrogant little bastages aged ~13 chucked off a train. Made me feel good. I'll tell it if we get into talking about other incidents like this bus video.

culero · « **Reply #23 on:** May 25, 2005, 03:32:28 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Hangtime
The sickness of our society.. in a 25 second video clip.

Disgusting. Unruly disrespectful kids. Arrogant out of control bus driver. Who to blame? TV? Parents? Teachers? Bus Company?

The driver was outta line.. he shoulda just had the kids hauled off by the deputies and submitted the tape to the school authorities. The moment he raised his hand to the disgusting little donutwoods they won. He lost.

Sad.. truly sad.

You nailed it on the head here. The kids were out of line, but the driver lost his temper and made it a lot worse than it should have been.

culero

beet1e · « **Reply #24 on:** May 25, 2005, 03:54:35 AM »

But if the deputies had come, who's to say the kids would have shown any more respect to them? Would deputies have any rights to use physical force? If yes, then they're in the same position as the bus driver found himself. If no, stalemate...

culero · « **Reply #25 on:** May 25, 2005, 04:01:49 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by beet1e
But if the deputies had come, who's to say the kids would have shown any more respect to them? Would deputies have any rights to use physical force? If yes, then they're in the same position as the bus driver found himself. If no, stalemate...

As I said, part of the problem was that the driver lost his temper. Once he did that, a result was that the kids' misbehavior escalated. While inappropriate, it was also provoked. IMO, they felt the driver had lost control of himself (arguably a valid conclusion, based on what I saw) and felt they needed to defend themselves.

I'm not defending the kids here, they were the primal causal factor in the incident, apparently. I'm just saying the driver exacerbated the situation. There's not always a clearcut right/wrong in these things.

Deputies could be assumed to be professionals who know how best to control a situation. The driver had obviously lost control of his charges, but IMO its reasonable to assume the deputies either would have been treated with respect, or they would have been able to restrain anyone who needed to be restrained in a calm and orderly fashion. Either option would have been preferable.

culero

beet1e · « **Reply #26 on:** May 25, 2005, 04:26:06 AM »

The driver was himself a child in the era when we had respect. What would you have done if a bratty 12YO had called you a MF? If the answer is to ignore it, then the signal goes out that it's OK to disrespect the driver, OK to swear at him - and they feel they have won. Kudos goes to the kid who did it - in the eyes of the other kids who were there. Next time, they'll take it a bit further, or maybe one of the other brats will want to try his hand. I'd be interested to hear from people in other countries about this.

In that train incident, I had to bite my lip, and summoned the driver once the train stopped at a station even though those brats showed little more respect than the kids in the bus video.

straffo · « **Reply #27 on:** May 25, 2005, 04:28:09 AM »

I'm not sure to have it fully understood (*** kids speak english

)

Didn't the kid say mother****er ?
He is lucky I was not the bus driver he would have ended with a bloody nose ...

rpm · « **Reply #28 on:** May 25, 2005, 04:35:33 AM »

After watching the video, I think the driver restrained himself accordingly. In fact, he restrained himself too much. Once the kid took a swing, the gloves were off IMHO. He should have beat the kid until the kid could not have responded.

Coddling the little thugs will only make them think they have the upper hand and give them reason to try it again. NOTHING like that would have ever happened on a bus I rode on. The kids would have had a 45mph to zero ride to the dashboard, then gotten a whipping with a pine board once they returned to school for disrespecting the driver.

That was fluff'n disgusting to watch.

rpm · « **Reply #29 on:** May 25, 2005, 04:43:59 AM »

As a matter of fact, it reminds me of a field trip we took when I was a freshman. I was always a bit of a smartass, and that day I was in rare form. When we arrived at the park we were to have lunch at the principal called me over to the bus and started a conversation. Once I was distracted I was blindside tackled from behind by another teacher running at full speed and was thoroughly beaten, not with a paddle but with a fist. I still have the ruptured disc to remind me today what happens when you are a smartass to an authority figure. Nothing was ever said or done to the principal or teacher because I deserved what happened because I was out of line. This was circa 1975.