Students who bullied N.Y. bus monitor are suspended for a year

[Kasierith]

They were the best place to make an example for all the other little douchebags, because of how big it apparently was/is.

Kids deserve it, imo. No reason to act like that.

Making an example of children? Sounds like a wonderful mentality

[Xeones]

Seeing as the majority of the kids probably fell to group pressure.... and ultimately a year out of school in a detention center is going to set them in a bad place for the rest of their lives... its a completely unreasonable sentence.

Seems 100% reasonable to me given that schools pretty much never give out real punishments anymore.

[PBitt]

Good. I'll admit as a young kid, especially in a group, it's easy to do stupid things you normally wouldn't do, but this is far above and beyond that, especially since, usually, a member or two of the group should have or could have tried to make the others stop instead of egging them on. I think it's great they got the punishment she came up with, which really isn't all that unfair to the brats. Man, none of this shit would have happened in the old days, when youth had respect for adults (or were forced to if they didn't).

[Deleted]

They won't be set back because of ONE missed year of school. Especially not since we're talking white middle/upper class kids here.

It would give me a good feeling in the stomach if these kids were forced to do hard labour as their community service and berated and treated like shit while doing it. Just so that they can realize how it feels to be treated badly by someone, while you're just trying to do your job. It's just about getting some perspective on things.

[Deleted]

This is my opinion on it.

They only got this super harsh punishment because all of the outrage over it.

So you wouldn't punish them if they did this in your school? If they got thrown out for life, than I'd agree with you. Look past the fad and consider how you would feel if you were the buslady...without going "I would never let them treat me like that".

[Deleted]

Oh.

I don't know what that is

See it as a centre where you get teached how to be social. It won't be a vacation. Here in my country beeing suspended actually means you're sitting at school from 9.00 AM - 17.00 doing punishment. Punishment back in the days was writing texts from books, even the whole book.

Don't see it as a vacation, they will get serious help and they will probably learn how to behave and help them understand what they did wrong. People who think that suspended means sitting at home, haven't been suspended themself

Here from Wikipedia:

The Re-Engagement center is designed to provide opportunities for students who have not been attending school in order to re-engage into a school setting, or to provide opportunities for students who are severely credit deficient. The purpose is to stabilize them and provide for any other emotional or physical needs that may be preventing them from being successful in an academic setting and to provide opportunities for credit recovery. Ultimately the goal is to re-engage the student into a school setting in order for them to graduate or to help them obtain a GED.

[Kasierith]

Seems 100% reasonable to me given that schools pretty much never give out real punishments anymore.

There's a reason why sentences for minors are less. Its because they are incredibly impressionable and sensitive to their surroundings. A year suspension and other things like the reengagement center are going to have consequences in their social and educational development extending beyond one year of punishment.

[Letmesleep]

I literally said "woooow" out loud. Some may disagree it was the right punishment, but I think it was. I've been around bullys, I've stood up to bullys, and that video was personally the most heinous, vile bullying I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, in my high school PE class, someone had a small open bag of urine over one kids locker and it obviously got on him, but 10 straight minuets of the most hateful things they could think of? I personally think it's worse. They essentially picked her weak spots (family, suicide) and just drove the knives in. The public was right to be outraged by that video, and I think the punishment is just. Those kids' lives may never be the same after this incident, and hopefully they'll go on to do something meaningful with the lesson they were taught. I don't wish them dead, but I do wish them changed.

[vizzle]

I still think it's bullshit that people ended up $700k www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?c=activity to the old lady. Yeah sure I could understand $5000, maybe $10,000, but seriously why the hell does someone deserve $700k just because they were insulted on a bus? There are so many better projects/charities out there. People go over the top, as usual.

[Deleted]

I still think it's bullshit that people ended up $700k www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?c=activity to the old lady. Yeah sure I could understand $5000, maybe $10,000, but seriously why the hell does someone deserve $700k just because they were insulted on a bus? There are so many better projects/charities out there. People go over the top, as usual.

While I think a lot of that would go towards her pension, how can you be so sure that she herself won't just donate some, or all, of it a charity or a project?

[Letmesleep]

I still think it's bullshit that people ended up $700k www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?c=activity to the old lady. Yeah sure I could understand $5000, maybe $10,000, but seriously why the hell does someone deserve $700k just because they were insulted on a bus? There are so many better projects/charities out there. People go over the top, as usual.

It probably wasn't any one donor. It was likely hundreds of thousands of people feeling empathy for her, and just wanting to contribute to her happiness a bit by each tossing her a small amount of their cash. If she had asked for the money or started the fund herself, I'd agree. The only reason it got so big is because so many people donated. People couldn't change the situation she had been in, so they decided money was another way to show their support. I don't have any problems with it.

[Loaf]

OF course, and if I had a child who did such, they would be in a world of trouble... but this is state-derived punishment that will be setting them back for quite possibly their entire lives.

Sure they're kids and we can argue till we're blue in the face about that, but they should've at least thought of the consequences. I know I would have thought "maybe this would have some major repercussions if I did this..." then again, I was a rational kid growing up. If this screws them over later in life, then they'll know why and hopefully they'll have learned from it.

[Letmesleep]

While I think a lot of that would go towards her pension, how can you be so sure that she herself won't just donate some, or all, of it a charity or a project?

And even if she donates nothing, I think it's fine. People were giving her a gift. I don't think she should have to turn around and give her gift away. It's ok to enjoy prosperity sometimes.

[vizzle]

While I think a lot of that would go towards her pension, how can you be so sure that she herself won't just donate some, or all, of it a charity or a project?

How does that even matter? These people are donating their money (even though they see she already has hundreds of thousands of $$), and by donating that money you are still making the conscious decision that she needs it more than everyone else on kickstarter/indiegogo/charities. If she ends up donating the cash to a charity, great, but that's not the point.

[Deleted]

Good for them, hope they learn something (Never bully someone with a camera on)

[iFace]

They're middle schoolers, which means they'll take this as a vacation, and they'll have plenty of time to finish their community service. Not much going on with this punishment, I'm afraid. Kids will be kids.

Kids that age might be immature, but they took it to an entirely new level. The kind of behavior that those kids had in the video is completely unacceptable. What I want to know is what kind of parents raise kids to be that cruel - to any one! It doesn't matter if it's another kid, a parent, or the bus monitor. Also, peer pressure is one thing, but what those kids said is just awful and should make any parent sick that they did such an awful job raising their kids that way - shame on the kids, and especially shame on the parents.

[Deleted]

And even if she donates nothing, I think it's fine. People were giving her a gift. I don't think she should have to turn around and give her gift away. It's ok to enjoy prosperity sometimes.

Exactly. Besides, it's not like we're wasting our economy when thousands of people are donating very small numbers individually - that's how charities and fundraisers work after all.

As for the kids, I would rather see that they're unhappy for a year and learn something from it, then they getting a slap on the wrist. I mean, we are talking middle/upper class white kids here, it's very unlikely that they're leading tough lives as it is. A little living between a rock and a hard place will hopefully make people out of them.

[Letmesleep]

I hope she takes a nice trip with her grandkids with the money.

Same! I just don't want to see any trip videos where she's topless on a beach somewhere.

Edit. Oops forgot to quote him.

Edit again. Meh...maybe that's poor form to say something like that considering the topic. I was just being silly. I'd hurl myself off a cliff before I'd say something like that to her.

[Snes]

Making an example of children? Sounds like a wonderful mentality

What is this, the early 1800's where kids are assumed to be totally innocent and have "pure souls" until they hit a specific age and it immediately switches over?

Anyone that isn't from politically correct, sheltered cultural suburbia knows that the punishment is justified. I don't suppose you are against the very existence of juvenile hall either?

[vizzle]

What's even crazier, someone else started a fundraiser for the person who started the fundraiser. I mean, what? Seriously? Call me jelly, because I am (who wouldn't want 6 grand?), but why are people donating cash so willingly? To a person who started a fundraiser for another person?

http://www.indiegogo.com/love-for-max-too