

Internet raises $150K for bullied bus monitor in one day - rhartsock
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57457935-93/internet-raises-$150k-for-bullied-bus-monitor-in-one-day/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

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mayneack
This video was clearly taken by some of the kids involved. I'll bet they
really regret posting it on the internet now. I guess they're young, but I'm
often shocked with how little people think about the negative consequences to
allowing a video you post to become publicly available on youtube.

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apitaru
I find it interesting that this is what you took out of the story. I'm not
suggesting it's wrong. My immediate reaction was:

1) These kids are evil. 2) Are they spoiled rich kids? 3) How do I reduce the
odds of my kid behaving like that in 10 years.

btw - I'd like to hope the kid who video-taped it knew exactly what he /she
was doing. Maybe a silver lining in an otherwise depressing bus ride (that and
the 100k).

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Estragon
The kids are probably in even greater need of compassion than the lady they
were harassing is, because they probably learned this attitude at the core of
this behavior from their parents.

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DugFin
Mmmmm..... as someone who works for a huge school district with hundreds of
schools with students running the gamut from poorest of the poor to richest of
the rich, I can tell you they didn't LEARN this behavior from their parents.
Rather, they have never been taught to NOT behave like that. Even those with
decent parents will sometimes act like horrid little turds. The natural state
of the 12-13 year old Middle School Child is that of a vicious, immoral
monster. Most will eventually mature into normal, empathetic humans, but at
that age, they're ALL terrible.

I neither feel compassion nor hate for them. I detest them for their behavior,
and think what they need is some sort of long, unpleasant punishment (e.g.
grounded for 4 weeks, during which they clean out the Augean stable) but this
is not worthy of any permanent judgement.

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maxko87
This is amazing. I remember being horrified after seeing this on reddit a few
days ago. Glad there's somethiing we can all do -- this campaign really shows
internet support and kindness in a great light.

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guynamedloren
link to funding campaign: <http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein>

at $273k now, just 1 hour after this post.

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rsiqueira
$420k now, just 8 hours after your post!!! Goal was $5k. Still 29 days left...

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laserDinosaur
Excuse my ignorance, but what's a bus monitor?

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cdr
You ought to be able to google it, but it's a person assigned to assist the
bus driver - mainly with keeping order among students - so that the driver can
concentrate on driving. Reasonably common on American schoolbuses, depending
on the district.

~~~
laserDinosaur
"You ought to be able to google it", I know, but I figured there might be
something specific to this case, so I thought I'd ask.

"but it's a person assigned to assist the bus driver" Should she maybe not
have been doing a better job of keeping the kids in line? Does she not have
the power to stand up, tell them to shut up and pull the bus over? I'm not
excusing their behaviour in the slightest, it just seems that she wasn't
really performing the task she was hired to do.

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gwright
It wouldn't surprise me if she had the responsibility for keeping order but
not the authority or support (from administration and parents) to do so.

