I have really enjoyed writing our “WDYT?” (“What Do You Think?”) articles and getting and sharing other opinions and insights…and I personally think we have great readers because the comments we receive are thoughtful and written in language we can print! I don’t mind when people disagree, and I think it’s a positive thing when we can share WITHOUT being nasty or mean-spirited! On our website, since March 3rd when we launched, there’s only been one time I chose to delete a comment because of the spirit and words used. I think that says a lot about you!
Anyway, I have been thinking about this story for weeks and was unsure of writing about it but then thought, “What the heck. I truly want to know what others think about it”….so why not?
By now you have probably seen the video or read the articles about Karen Klein, the 68-year old school-bus monitor who was bullied on a school bus by a group of middle-school kids who video taped it. The video went viral on You Tube and a fund was set up by Max Didorov, a Toronto nutritionist, for people to donate money for her to be able to take a vacation. The initial goal was to raise $5,000……The campaign ended on July 20th with a total of 32,371 people donating a total sum of $703,873. And the school board in Greece, New York decided to suspend the seventh grade bullies for a year and they will attend an alternative school during their suspension.
Now I have to admit, I had several very different thoughts on this story and questions that I still haven’t found factual answers for, so if you do know of an article that answers some of my questions, please let me know what they are.
When I first saw the video version, I felt really sorry for Ms. Klein and wanted to be on the bus so I could give some old-fashioned discipline to the kids. That was my first “gut” reaction. I was appalled at the language used and wondered “what kind of parents do they have?”….(kind of ironic maybe after writing the article about the Aurora movie shooting, that my first reaction was about the parents?) But then, if I’m being totally honest about what I thought, I wondered why she sat there and allowed the kids to continue to do that? I’m not trying to be judgmental or anything, but I kept thinking as the video was replayed over and over, “Why didn’t she stand up and tell them to sit down and be quiet?” Perhaps it has to do with her age? Was she afraid of them? Or, I thought, “Why didn’t she get up and go tell the bus driver what was going on?” I have read that “bus monitors aren’t allowed to get up?” I haven’t ever been a bus monitor but I have done my share of riding on school buses for field trips and school events and if we (the parents volunteering) saw someone misbehaving it was part of our “duty” to get up and tell them to stop, and to report any misbehavior to the teacher.
And the money….I thought it was nice there was a campaign to try to raise some money for her to take a trip (kind of-I still have mixed emotions about that too I guess…LOTS of people get bullied everyday without having campaigns set up), but $700,000?
I love that people gave money for a “cause”, but why not set up a fund for an anti-bullying campaign? Of course, people are free to do whatever they want with their money so again, I’m not trying to be judgmental or tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do….I guess I just don’t understand why this hit such a nerve with people. Was it because we saw it over and over? Is it because there are so many people who have themselves been bullied and they could relate? Was it because she is elderly?
We have seen so many news stories where children, young children, have committed suicide because they were bullied but I don’t remember there being such an outpouring of money for the families or even for programs to be set up? There are bullies who pick on younger, smaller kids, the elderly, people who are underweight or overweight, people who are gay, or a different religion or color….how do we stop it?
I kind of thought the video showed those who do get bullied, to sit there and take it. When my son was younger, we taught him to never start a fight and that if someone was bothering him, to tell us. There were a couple of occasions when his dad and I actually had to go to a child’s home and talk to the parents about a situation where their child had been inappropriate (we did live in a small town at the time, so we knew everyone). We also told him that if he felt uncomfortable or bullied, to tell a teacher or the principal. Of course, a lot of kids won’t do that because they don’t want to be a “tattle-tale”. And we told him that if he was ever picked on and someone hit him, that he was allowed to hit them back, which he did, got in trouble at school, and we stood behind him. At the age of 22, my son just recently fractured his wrist because he got jumped by several guys and he swung back, hit the guy on the jaw and snap, fractured his wrist. He defended himself and I’m glad. Who knows, perhaps if he hadn’t fought back, he might have been hurt even more? Or worse.
And I don’t know if I even agree with the punishment the boys received. Will going to an alternative school change them? Make them more repentant? I actually thought that if they had to go to Ms. Klein’s home once a week and do chores for her, that might actually make them think about what they had done, more often. And perhaps they could have even developed a relationship with her and felt even more remorse for hurting a person’s feelings? I even thought about how cool it would be if the boys and Ms. Klein actually spoke at schools about the incident to try to prevent things like this happening.
I don’t know how we can fix this problem, but I do think that the earlier we teach our children to not bully or judge others because they are different, the better we would be but that seems a bit idealistic when we have so many adults setting bad examples!
I’m sure there are going to be many people who disagree with some of my opinions and that’s ok….I’m just wondering, what do you think about this story?
Noy everyone has confidence and courage to stand up for themselves. Even if it meabs standing up to teenagers. Now a days, you don’t even know who you may be standing up to. Kids are getting bolder and bolder. Who knows if one of these knuckle heads would of hit her, of the verbal would have gotten worse. Now as far as the money, I think she deserves every dime. People made a decision to donate monry to her from their own pockets, so why shouldn’t it go to her?
And maybe going to an alternative school will be exactly what they need. Maybe if they get.aroubd other kids who truly don’t care where their life is head, will be the wake up call they need
I hope so…I worked in an alternative school and it seemed like there were a lot of kids who got into worse trouble once they got there versus what they did in the first place. Of course that was many years ago so I’m hoping things have changed. But I do hope they learn something and that it is a wake-up call for them.
I agree that you never know about what someone else might do…and people did donate to her so it’s hers…what I’m wondering about is why this touched so many people in this way?