The video of the young teens harassing the bus monitor should give all adults pause. I don’t mean just the rude behavior of the kids but our collective rush to judgment. The fact that this video went viral, was picked up by MSNBC and got on GMA is no surprise. It has essential ingredients the media love: blatant, unarguably bad behavior and a lovable, picturesque, innocent victim.
I watched Matt Lauer this morning apologize to this woman on national TV on “behalf of all American children.” Really? Who authorized you to apologize on behalf of millions of innocent children, Matt?
an abject lesson in knee-jerk emotionalism and a horrible rush to judgment
Some folks have written about how this is a lesson in the impact and vitality of social media. They suggest that this poor woman was deeply wronged and that the internet community has acted righteously and properly in its quick collective outrage, guilt and gushing generosity. I think it is an abject lesson in knee-jerk emotionalism and a horrible rush to judgment.
Let me play the Devil’s Advocate. What do we actually know? Do we know if there were any previous interactions between this monitor and these kids? If she’s on the bus to monitor inappropriate behavior, why didn’t she report this? Why wasn’t she monitoring? Maybe there is a long history here. What does the public actually know about her?
Like most people I had a few really miserable teachers and authority figures in my day. Early in life I went to a nasty Catholic grammar school where choking, hitting, arm twisting, ear pulling, spanking and shaking were all approved methods of “discipline.” I received my share. I have never had any delusions about the sanctity or righteousness of people based solely on their having been hired by a school district. Nobody should.
This is not an example of how good social media is. It is an example of mob behavior. It is a mass rush to judgment exacerbated by the media. Those who are “outraged” have embraced a story that does not belong to them to give expression to their perceptions of right & wrong. People all across the country have stuck their noses where they don’t belong and passed judgment without all the facts. This is not admirable. It’s short-sided.
There may be a long backstory to the scene we witnessed or maybe there isn’t. No human being should treat another human being like what is shown on that video. But let’s step back and reserve our judgment. Matt Lauer has chosen to speak for all of us anyway.
Written by: Pete Tonery
Tags: bus monitor, teens harassing, msnbc, gma, matt lauer,
13 Comments
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Yeah – It does feel a little like ‘blaming the victim’ to say she should have been stronger (although I can’t help but feel that too)…
But the bigger issue for me is the importance of teaching people how to communicate. Hurting someone is simply not the right answer. Pete may be right that there is more to this story. Perhaps she was mean to them. So secretly video tape her being inappropriate if you want to get her back. This seems like kids mirroring what they see on television. Not good.
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We have subtle distinctions here. The kids actions are one issue- and no argument that they were wrong and rude. There is also the issue of why a “bus monitor” charged with keeping order, was so unable to do her job. Lastly, we have two powerful knee-jerk reactions from a distant, unaffected and uninvolved public; sanctifying the alleged victim and vilifying the kids.
I do think that the internet is a player, not with regard to the children’s behavior, but to blowing the significance of that behavior far out of proportion. Equally, Social Media has charged ahead- the court of public opinion- to anoint the bus monitor a virtual saint.
None of that makes sense. None of that is right. In America hearsay evidence and non-expert opinion is inadmissible in court. It’s inadmissible because opinion is not fact. In this matter, most people were not interested in learning the facts.
We do know this; no crime was committed. The stupid, childish things the teens said are covered by the First Amendment even if we don’t like the content. The Chief of Police in Greece has affirmed this.
Then there is the issue of the adult’s job performance. As I wrote in an email earlier today…
“What troubles me too is not that 13 year olds gave an authority figure crap, but that the authority figure was so inept, impotent. It was her job to make order on the bus. Why did she sit there? Monitors have the power to stop the bus and call school security to come and remove the students back to the school for their parents to pick up..or the cops. She did not do her job. Her incompetence permitted the entire event. Her behavior deserves as much scrutiny as the kids behavior deserves admonishing. People rushed to side with the monitor out of emotionalism and judging by appearance. The funny, ironic thing is- I think that scrutiny is coming! The Boomerang effect.
I’m not mitigating the kid’s behavior- I just get where they are coming from. The involvement of the internet guarantees that they will be punished far out of proportion to the crime. That is a serious effect of Social Media- a very,very bad effect. These are kids, not celebrities. They will be treated like they were a motorcycle gang who beat up the Church mascot. This matter is local. It’s really not the media or the public’s business but because of Social Media these kids will be vilified for weeks, months, years.
These are the kind of events that SM turns horribly wrong. Taunting a bus monitor is not the end of the world. It’s a small local matter. In this instance the adult is as guilty in her actions as the are kids are in theirs. But that’s not how it’s getting played. The consequences for the teens- especially from parents embarrassed on a national scale (people are publishing the kids names, addresses & phone numbers) will be far out of focus and proportion. Mothers embarrassed in stores, at church, etc. Fathers having to listen to all kinds of derogatory stuff form their peers, etc. Social Media has great power- it just has no discretion, conscience, ability to limit or be nuanced.
These kids are not the Kardashians yet they are being treated as if they were. The bus monitor is not Mother Teresa yet she is being HIGHLY rewarded for her incompetence and failure to do her job.
This is not good Social Media. This is, in fact, SM bullying. Who punishes the internet?”
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Interesting Pete… So yes, I agree that the money pouring out of the Internet (now over $400,000) is not right. She did little to earn or deserve that money.
“The kids actions are one issue- and no argument that they were wrong and rude.”
Correct. And it’s hard to get past their behavior in the story. They are merely modeling the bad behavior they see in media today. The Golden Rule is nowhere in sight. And while this may indeed be protected by Freedom of Speech, there is no church, school, or upstanding community that would be proud to claim these children.
If social media helps highlight the fact that our kids are mirroring the outrageous behaviors they see on TV / Media (some outlets especially), that’s a good thing. We need that mirror held up to us every now and again. As for Matt Lauer and the $400,000 – I suspect it is the knee-jerk Pete is talking about, but I suspect it’s motivated out of a collective guilt that we don’t know what else to do in our modern times.
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I think it would be a good idea to do a little research into what exactly a Monroe County bus monitor is authorized to do when a group of little bully boys exert their playground-age power on the bus. I did see Karen K. wore a hearing aid, which might be explain why she didn’t jump up and thump one of the boyos on the head I also wondered what the bus driver was doing. Someone told me they heard drivers may never ever pull over and help restore order. But, I don’t know. Let’s find out. So let’s all do some research before we point fingers at the monitor, wipe the saliva off our chins because poor Karen hit the bully lotto and we didn’t (I contributed $10 to the fund) and start looking at the little lords of the fly in Greece whose parents or grandparents fled the horrors of Rochester to the safety of the burbs.
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My gut reaction to all this is still the same days later. How those kids treated her was not okay. It was mean. It was a classic case of group think and of thoughtless behavior that degrades another. And these things happened long before we had cell phones to film them and social media to quickly share them. Maybe this whole thing will cause a reformation in bus monitor policy or get to the bottom of why she sat there or why the kids were so angry at her. Did the media take it and blow it out of proportion? Yes. Did she get more attention than she probably deserved? Possibly. But I am still overwhelmed with sadness for how easy it is to bully and abuse. Maybe I’m missing something and am part of the masses here, but that’s still what I’m left with. My hope is that adults and kids all around the country learn its not okay to treat another person like that, regardless of the reason.
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The number is up to $615,000 for Karen this morning. A few thoughts:
1) While the video is disturbing on many levels, the outpouring of humanity from all over the world is cause for hope.
2) The power of the Internet is really being shown here. The small guy gets a voice if he wants by recording his own YouTube video. 20 years ago, you would only be heard if one of the news outlets decided what you had to say was interesting enough.
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Fine. I’ll call the Greece School District tomorrow. In the meantime ask yourself: What would Karen K. have done if those boys were badgering another student? What if it were your child? Would you give her a pass because she had a hearing aid?
A bus monitor is PAID to keep order. She failed to do so. Any competent adult who has raised children knows how to silence them. 12 & 13 year old boys? Give me a break. They weren’t Hell’s Angels, just some little brats.
If you want to give money to someone who failed to do her job in a competent manner, go ahead and encourage that.
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I’m not the only person, by far, who thinks the monitor is culpable in this matter. Here is Marie Burns from, The NYTimes Examiner (http://www.nytexaminer.com/2012/06/nobody-is-monitoring-the-monitors/) and she is a little more blunt…
Klein’s job title is “school bus monitor.” I don’t know exactly what her job description is or precisely what her duties are, but I think we can guess: her job is to keep rowdy kids in line so the bus driver is not distracted from her primary responsibility: transporting students safely to and from school. Most people found the bullying video disturbing because of the way the boys behaved. I did, too, but I found Klein’s inaction even more disturbing.
Maintaining discipline is – unfortunately – part of a teacher’s job. Klein of course is not a teacher. Instead, her only responsibility is maintaining discipline. Klein didn’t just fail at her job. I would not fault her for that. A single adult cannot always get the best of a gang of kids. But Karen Klein didn’t even try. She sat there like a bump on a log for ten minutes while four boys harassed her. Indeed, Klein appears to think her inaction was laudatory. In this video where Klein discusses the incident, she tells the interviewer, “I was just sitting there minding my own business.” Klein evidently does realize that remark was an admission of dereliction of duty, because after a brief pause she adds, “… and, ah, trying to keep an eye out, making sure nobody was jumping around, yelling….” But, as the bullying video shows, students were “yelling,” if not “jumping around.” They were yelling obscenities. Probably the Greece Central School District’s code of student conduct does not condone “vile remarks” and “profanity-laced insults.” Yet throughout it all, Klein – as she said – just sat there.
Apparently part of Klein’s duties include formally reporting incidents of bad student behavior. Yet Klein did not report this extended bullying session. When the interviewer (see linked video) asked why she didn’t write up the students, Klein says, “Because it was almost the last day of school. ‘Cause why bother? What good’s it gonna do? Lot of times you’d write a referral, nothing would be done about it anyway.”
Yes, that’s right, Ms. Klein. “Why bother” to do your job? Hey, the school year is almost over. Besides, other people up the line might not do their jobs, either. Filling out paperwork is so time-consuming. Clearly, Klein treats her job as a sinecure, a reward for 20 years as a bus driver. Klein may be “double-dipping,” too: as a 20-year school district veteran, she may get a pension and her wages as a supposed monitor.”
The video referred to is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMKzoV21oss
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Yeah. I hear you… There no doubt that she is missing skills for this job… And it doesn’t make sense to me that she would be richly rewarded with so much money. But I can’t help thinking that “two wrongs don’t make a right.” There is no part of this story I like…
One productive thing for our family. It was an opportunity to talk with our kids, as we do frequently, about the importance of not using hurtful words and seeing things from someone else’s point of view.
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Hey guys… You should read the excellent response from the Greece Schools on the issue here:
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As you can see from the Greece Schools response”…” need to stress that we have a specific process that we must follow before imposing discipline on students. Discipline for public school students in New York State is handled under specific procedures set forth in the New York Education law. In the event that a district is seeking a suspension of more than five days, the district must prove the student’s violation of its Code of Conduct in a due process hearing before a hearing officer. If the student is found guilty, the hearing officer makes a recommendation for an appropriate period of suspension to the superintendent of schools. Each case is determined based upon the actions engaged in by the student as well as consideration of a student’s prior disciplinary record.”..it gives no specific details of how a monitor can respond. You cannot touch the kiddies as far as I can see. They were staying in their seats as far as I watched…and I watched only a few seconds…There’s nothing here about applying muzzles to the little adult abusers in training.
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Pete et al; This is a classic example of you get what you pay for… bus monitors are low paid and part time employees… anyone possessing the exact skill set of the ‘job description’ might be working at a better paying full time position. Schools can’t afford to pay more for monitors.
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Pete, I respectfully disagree that social media is the guilty party here. The guilt should rest with all those who participate in something that hurts another individual, even though they know better. The fact that incidents like this are shared quickly and people speak out against them when they do gives more people more opportunity to pause for thought and have their own teachable moments. Group think is group think, no matter the scale. Regardless of the back story, violence and bullying is not the way to solve problems.