Violence in schools

Two full weeks have passed since we began school and Labor Day weekend couldn’t have come at a better time. It seems that this school year has already started out with a bang. Parents are more irritable and demanding, the children seem to be more off the wall than ever, and bus drivers are at a loss as to how to strike a middle ground.

Now, there will always be parents who are condescending, argumentative, and generally a pain in the ass. Their offspring are the same way. Rainy days are, by far, the worst out of all the days combined, but even on sunny days we run into some idiot people. Or rather idiot people run into us… HOW they don’t see a yellow school bus that is 4 times their size is BEYOND me! I wish there was a license to breed, it would simplify things greatly!

Kids are being taught that fighting and arguing is the only way to solve a problem. Granted, a lot of what is being taught can be contributed to the culture and ethnicity that these kids are being raised with, but when kids are raised to be inherently violent and are taught that violence is the only way to solve a conflict then there is definitely a problem.

Case in point - My friend’s daughter is in second grade. My friend got a call this week that her daughter had been in a physical altercation with another child at school on the playground. A child came up and was mocking my friend’s daughter. My friend’s daughter told her to knock it off, and a second child got involved and told my friend’s daughter that she had “picked a fight with the wrong girl” because the girl she told to knock it off was the second girl’s cousin. My friend’s daughter has been taught not to fight, but my friend’s daughter lost her temper and threw a pair of lightweight gloves at the second child. The second child then jumped on my friend’s daughter, proceeded to pull her hair, yank her arm backwards, shove sand in her face, and pull her hair again. This is when my friend’s daughter decided she had had enough and pulled at the girl’s hair and RIIIPPP out came the second girl’s weave. (For those that don’t know, a Weave is a hair extension that is either sewn into the natural hair, or bobby pinned or elastic’ed into the natural hair. These weaves are more popular in the African American Culture) It couldn’t be reattached, and admittedly the second girl claimed she jumped on my friend’s daughter for “No Reason.” My friend’s daughter had a lot of questions, mainly about the weave, as to why this other girl was taught that fighting solved conflicts. My friend didn’t have any good explanation other than that’s what she was taught. It only left my friend’s daughter more confused than ever as to the proper way to handle a situation.

Even on the bus, we experience arguments that we cannot control. Children will bring neighborhood situations and feuds onto the bus. Things get out of hand, police get called and our CHILDREN are getting arrested. What is WRONG with this picture?

In other news, I now have a downstairs neighbor who, so far, has been far more annoying than the last, but I shall blog about this another day. Lets just say, I had to call the police for a domestic disturbance. Never a dull moment!

Getting Punchy,
The Bus Driver