After watching the video of the school bus driver in our district make national news, it’s clear that the bus driver made a poor decision in dealing with the student bus rider. He even admitted in a TV interview he had a bad day and reacted to the situation poorly.
I, for one, have a lot of respect for the bus drivers; they do a job that requires technical skill and interactive personal skills. If all we needed was truck drivers that could manage the bus itself without dealing with the live cargo then being a good driver would be the important consideration. If in addition to operating the bus, we ask that the driver also wrangle the kids, then that requires different skills.
I entered the school system as a first grader 55 years ago. There were bus drivers then too, but there was a difference. In my “old days” bus drivers got more respect and student riders were expected to behave on the bus; if they didn’t behave, they didn’t ride the bus any more.
I know that things have changed a lot in the past 55 years. Today, kids don’t respect their bus drivers, their teachers and if that is the case, they probably don’t respect their parents either. I say that because respect starts at home. Parents who never teach their kids respect seldom get respect.
I listened to parents describe their “near nausea” at the sight of the child being yanked to the floor of the bus. Did it ever occur to any of them that the child in the video has a responsibility for the outcome as well? I am not suggesting that a six year old can be responsible in the same way that we expect the bus driver to be responsible, but we have clear rules for riding the bus and we hold the driver responsible for the safety of the kids. If he fails in that regard, he is subject to punishment.
That looks like the bus driver is in a lose/lose situation. If he requires that the kids stay in their seats, and they refuse, the bus driver is punished. If the bus is involved in an accident and the child is injured it’s worse. If the bus driver takes any aggressive measures to get the kids to comply, he is punished. So how does that work for the bus driver?
I am not trying to make a case for bus drivers. I am trying to make a case for the responsibility parents have to teach their kids respect so that when they go out of the home they treat others with whom they interact with the respect they deserve.
It takes hard work to be consistent with kids in teaching them hard lessons. But if we don’t start teaching those lessons when the kids are young, they rarely learn them at all and we can see where that leads.
What Mr. Taylor should have done was keep his cool that day and subsequently refused to transport that child ever again. School bus drivers should not be forced to work in conditions where they have huge responsibility and no authority. Kicking unruly children off the bus is the only tool available to drivers today that considers the safety of the other kids.
And NO, riding a school bus is not a right, it is a privilege. Abuse the privilege and you lose your ride. Let the parents figure out how to transport their unruly kids. And maybe after we get them to school, we apply the same techniques to the class rooms. Drop by any public school to observe and you may well be truly nauseated.
Some of the righteous parents who are “sickened” by the behavior of the school bus driver should see their little darlings in the class room then tell me who has a right to be sickened.
Judging from what I have seen, Mr. Taylor is showing proper remorse for his actions and has quit his job as a bus driver. I am sorry if that doesn’t satisfy “outraged” parents. They can always show how angry they are by suing the school district. To what end, I don’t know. Or maybe they can look at the outcome and be thankful things didn’t turn out worse and chock it up as a learning experience for everyone.
Litigation seems to be the answer for parents who never learned to respect other people’s rights either. They are eager to teach everyone they won’t be disrespected, but fail to learn the lesson for themselves.
No Loss for Words
Bus Drivers Deserve Respect Too
by Steve DanaAfter watching the video of the school bus driver in our district make national news, it’s clear that the bus driver made a poor decision in dealing with the student bus rider. He even admitted in a TV interview he had a bad day and reacted to the situation poorly.
I, for one, have a lot of respect for the bus drivers; they do a job that requires technical skill and interactive personal skills. If all we needed was truck drivers that could manage the bus itself without dealing with the live cargo then being a good driver would be the important consideration. If in addition to operating the bus, we ask that the driver also wrangle the kids, then that requires different skills.
I entered the school system as a first grader 55 years ago. There were bus drivers then too, but there was a difference. In my “old days” bus drivers got more respect and student riders were expected to behave on the bus; if they didn’t behave, they didn’t ride the bus any more.
I know that things have changed a lot in the past 55 years. Today, kids don’t respect their bus drivers, their teachers and if that is the case, they probably don’t respect their parents either. I say that because respect starts at home. Parents who never teach their kids respect seldom get respect.
I listened to parents describe their “near nausea” at the sight of the child being yanked to the floor of the bus. Did it ever occur to any of them that the child in the video has a responsibility for the outcome as well? I am not suggesting that a six year old can be responsible in the same way that we expect the bus driver to be responsible, but we have clear rules for riding the bus and we hold the driver responsible for the safety of the kids. If he fails in that regard, he is subject to punishment.
That looks like the bus driver is in a lose/lose situation. If he requires that the kids stay in their seats, and they refuse, the bus driver is punished. If the bus is involved in an accident and the child is injured it’s worse. If the bus driver takes any aggressive measures to get the kids to comply, he is punished. So how does that work for the bus driver?
I am not trying to make a case for bus drivers. I am trying to make a case for the responsibility parents have to teach their kids respect so that when they go out of the home they treat others with whom they interact with the respect they deserve.
It takes hard work to be consistent with kids in teaching them hard lessons. But if we don’t start teaching those lessons when the kids are young, they rarely learn them at all and we can see where that leads.
What Mr. Taylor should have done was keep his cool that day and subsequently refused to transport that child ever again. School bus drivers should not be forced to work in conditions where they have huge responsibility and no authority. Kicking unruly children off the bus is the only tool available to drivers today that considers the safety of the other kids.
And NO, riding a school bus is not a right, it is a privilege. Abuse the privilege and you lose your ride. Let the parents figure out how to transport their unruly kids. And maybe after we get them to school, we apply the same techniques to the class rooms. Drop by any public school to observe and you may well be truly nauseated.
Some of the righteous parents who are “sickened” by the behavior of the school bus driver should see their little darlings in the class room then tell me who has a right to be sickened.
Judging from what I have seen, Mr. Taylor is showing proper remorse for his actions and has quit his job as a bus driver. I am sorry if that doesn’t satisfy “outraged” parents. They can always show how angry they are by suing the school district. To what end, I don’t know. Or maybe they can look at the outcome and be thankful things didn’t turn out worse and chock it up as a learning experience for everyone.
Litigation seems to be the answer for parents who never learned to respect other people’s rights either. They are eager to teach everyone they won’t be disrespected, but fail to learn the lesson for themselves.
Posted in Snohomish County Political Commentary | 1 Comment »