There's a grim viral video going around. Kids on a school bus. A teenage boy is repeatedly punching a much younger girl, about 8. She's reclined, helpless, and he beats her without mercy. Someone obviously got it on video, but that's all that was done.
A common working definition of strength is the ability to hurt others. It's not the only definition, not the correct one, but it's one that many adhere to. The strong prove that they're strong by hurting the weak. There's no guarantee children won't fall into it.
If education has a purpose, it's to get kids to reject this thinking and excel in other ways. And of course adults need to be ready to intervene in cases like this. Failures all around.
2 comments:
Since I hadn't heard about this until I read your post this morning I looked it up on the internet and see the story made the news. It's a pretty nasty little snippet of just how dangerous children can be. Apparently there were two adults on the bus, the driver and an aide, neither of whom did anything to stop the beating. I understand one kid has been arrested but I do wonder how those two grown-ups feel now.
The school bus I rode on when I went to the first high school (a 20 mile ride with more kids than seats) had a driver who put up with no nonsense. Fights were pretty rare as I remember but things could get pretty raucous - then he'd stop the bus and threaten to throw kids off. Once he got off the bus himself leaving all of us in the middle of nowhere for five minutes.. after taking the keys, that is. A couple of the boys could probably have driven the thing.
It appears circumstances are different now. Bullying is one thing, and I know it happens and it's awful, but this was outright assault. I'm glad somebody filmed it. Chances are this was not an isolated event.
It is a sad state of affairs when the two adults on the bus can't think of anything to do but pretend it's not happening. Of course one senses there are a lot of grown-ups failing and ducking out in a case like this. It's just that you can't see all of them.
School bus driver is not an easy gig, I'm sure. But they can build a rapport with the kids as well. I still remember the guy who drove us in high school--probably just freshman and sophomore--and he was a right jolly fellow. Your driver probably took the right approach in terms of brooking no nonsense. He was responsible for you, and had to hold everything together. If some of the boys could have driven the bus I wonder if he took the keys because he'd experienced that very thing.
Assault--and there have been other videoed cases as well--does change the stakes. Parents with resources will pull their kids out of public school. Those without resources, well, I don't know what they'll do.
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