The Magic Bus

When we lived in GA, the kids were driven to the school by Tammy and did not have to take the bus for many years. When we moved to China, the boys had to take the bus to school. Now we all think of school buses as the yellow & black buses with the green, hard-as-a-rock bench seating. This is the type of bus that most of us were accustomed to riding from our youth. It’s amazing that since we were kids, there have been all kinds of improvements in auto technology but the buses did not seem to change as much through the years.

In China, the SSIS (Suzhou-Singapore International School) buses were the Greyhound style tour bus. They had comfortable individual seating for two people per row, per side and seatbelts were available at every seat. It was like the kids were superstars and got chauffeured to school rather than taken to school. I do not know that I ever saw a school bus that resembled the ones in the US, even for the Chinese schools. So the kids became accustomed to their grand mode of transportation to and from school. The drivers were obviously Chinese (what would you expect, Brits named Cadbury?) and seemed to enjoy driving the buses like they were small sports cars that could change lanes in an instant. They drove extremely fast and like any other Chinese driver seemed to think they were the only ones on the road. We didn’t just hear this from the kids, we learned this whenever we went to school and took the bus (when big things happened at the school, like International Family Day, they would setup a bus schedule to pick up families at various points around the city to transport them to the school). I also saw the buses zoom down the highway at high rates of speed when school ended for the day like some kind of restart of a NASCAR race (perhaps they also had nicknames like Smoke). There was one other thing that was different on the bus and that is the presence of an adult female (referred to as the Aiyee) who would monitor the kids getting on and off the bus and converse with the driver. The Aiyee was in charge of keeping the kids under control (if that’s possible) and also would from time to time seemingly berate the bus driver for driving too fast (or whatever, they spoke the local dialect so the kids said that she was dogging the driver but the Chinese tended to speak very loudly so who really knows?).

After two years of becoming accustomed to these coach buses for transportation, the kids return to the US and have to pull back their expectations to ride on the standard US school bus. There was no way that they would be driven to and from school since when we returned back home, we had one car. We’ve noticed that the buses are rarely on schedule and the drivers seem to change fairly frequently. However, this week we had the reality check which reminded us that we we’re not in China anymore. On Jacob’s bus, they had a substitute driver. On the way home, the kids were pretty noisy (shocking, isn’t it?) and the bus driver was giving the kids the “evil eye” in the mirror as she tried to settle down the bus so she could concentrate on driving. Keep in mind; this is a Middle School bus. One of the kids (a disrespectful punk kid) decided to be the smart guy and said loudly to the bus driver “Suck my _____!” (I think you can guess which appendage filled in the blank here). This is when it all went downhill for everyone on the bus. The bus driver stopped the bus and got up from her seat, went back and yelled at the students with some colorful language. Jacob told the story at dinner that the bus driver used the “D” and “F” word as she yelled at the students. Then she turned the bus around and took the kids back to the old Woodmont High School where two police cars were waiting on the bus. The driver got off and spoke to one officer while the other officer got on the bus to talk to the students. Jacob texted Tammy to indicate that they would be home late because the bus turned around (and more information would follow). It was an interesting story to me, as I asked Jacob if he knew the boy that made the statement. He said he did not but I told him that if he ever made such a statement to an adult that he would be punished beyond anything he could imagine.

Now, I do not condone the driver’s actions but in some respect I understand it. The driver was shown total disrespect by a student and allowed her emotions to overrule the situation. However, the student is the problem and should be punished! The driver must also face some kind of discipline for the use of the foul language as well since she is the adult.

It turned out that there was a story on the local news about the situation and the following night, we received a note from the school and found out that the bus driver was fired. One child captured the tirade on his camera phone and once the school saw it, it was all over for the bus driver. Here’s the link to the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx46ciWRFsk
Now I don’t fault the school for their action but I also would like to know what they are doing to find the student that sparked this problem. This child needs to learn that being disrespectful has consequences. Unfortunately, this child will probably escape punishment which will re-enforce the notion that he can continue this behavior. It’s very sad to know that a child has been brought up to be like this but it seems to be part of the world now. Many parents do not hold their kids accountable and defend their child regardless of the behavior. “My Johnny would never do that!” This goes to kids of all ages. The other week we were at the school for a concert and a young woman was sitting several rows behind us with her younger friends and decided that being quiet and respectful for the band was not something she could do. Tammy turned around and gave her the “Shhhh. Seriously, you are an adult.” Now, a well-mannered person would perhaps sulk and fume over this but they would shut up. Instead, she continued to make “smart” comments about being told to be quiet. Rather than realize that people were there to hear the band she had to show her high school friends that she was better than us and she just refused to accept that she was wrong. She left at the next intermission but she had to make the grand exit by acting like a spoiled three year old. I kept thinking that her parents probably think she hung the moon. It’s a shame when parents are not parents and this is the result. She’ll eventually get a clue when she finds out that things are not handed to her and then she’ll become disgruntled and blame everyone else for her failings rather than herself. Anyhow, I have strayed from the subject which was the difference in the school bus situation.

The one other thing that is different is the way that the kids talk to adults. It’s one thing to “smart off” to your parents but to an adult you don’t know? That’s completely different. The kids at SSIS were kids but seemed to have respect for adults. Back in the US, kids seem to have the sense of entitlement which allows them to say what they want (or so they think). This is a generalization since not all kids are like that but it seems that this number continues to grow (calling Occupy Wall Street!). We saw many spoiled children in China so this problem that we have encountered is going to be a problem there and bite them in the butt even worse due to the One Child Policy. My only advice to parents….be a parent!