About that school bus fight

[Prophet 451]

I just saw the security video of that fight on the school bus, the one Rush was losing his mind over.

Let me ask you something: How many kids get into punch-ups on school buses every day? Hundreds, right? Kids of the same ethnicity beating on each other? Sometimes (occasionally, I hope) white kids beating on a black kid? And yet, once it's a black kid hitting a white kid, it's suddenly a national news story? Yeah, no racial motive in the coverage there.

Oh, and of course the other kids cheered it on. Has no newscaster ever been in a schoolyard fight? I was in more of these things than I care to remember and every single time, there'd be a big crowd of kids around us, egging it on. Kids are vicious little sods, that's not news either.

[Deja Q]

1. Maybe schools need more playground monitors and repremand the little fuckers.

"Boys will be boys" is a bullshit excuse. Discipline is taught, not innate.

[virgogal]

2. I come from the "Give them a good boot in the ass" school of

childrearing.

Not popular today,but it worked for generations.

[Prophet 451]

3. I dunno about that

I've known kids whose parents were incredibly disciplinarian and they were still little monsters at school. A lot of them beat on me for a while until I eventually learned how to fight properly.

I think kids are just vicious little bastards until they grow out of it. My SO says that girls are just as vicious, they just use words instead of fists. Whether that's an improvement is up to you.

[BlooInBloo]

4. You must be new to America. It's different when a black person does something to a white person....

Welcome to the country!

[Prophet 451]

6. Not American

I'm a Brit, I just keep very up to date with your culture because what happens in the US affects the rest of the world (especially us, because our governments seem determined to ape yours).

[BlooInBloo]

7. "our governments seem determined to ape yours" - Ouch. My commiserations.

[Prophet 451]

9. Well, trying to anyway

The rest of our MPs, who tend to have very close ties to their constituents (I correspond with mine every so often and that's not unusual) are fighting them every step of the way.

[NOLALady]

5. School bus fight.

Flashback to Jena, LA.

[TxRider]

8. It's a good argument for home schooling

[Prophet 451]

10. You think?

I'm going to assume you're talking about school violence generally, rather than black kids dishing it out for once.

I dunno. On the one hand, your kid is safe from the violence, drugs, etc and the education can be just as good if the parent's willing to commit the time to do it properly. Not to mention that it can be personalised (you know how your kid would learn best) although I'm personally very thankful my parents weren't teh ones giving me sex ed.

On the other hand, there's a danger that removing the forced socialisation of school could adversely affect the kid's social development. And when they get to the point where they want to start dating, where do they meet other kids? And do most parents actually know the subjects well enough to teach them properly?

So, I dunno. There's pluses and minuses to homeschooling.

[TxRider]

13. Well..

From my experience school social life is a far cry from what you experience socially once you leave school. A different world almost entirely.

Kids have little problem meeting other kids after school and on weekends/summer etc.

If I were to home school a kid, I would learn a subject if I didn't know it, it would be good for me and my kid.

[Swamp Rat]

11. "... the one Rush was losing his mind over." - false premise

He already lost his mind a long time ago... wibble wibble. ;)

[Prophet 451]

12. Well, he should visit Hartlepool...

...and buy some exploding trousers. Wibble.

[TxRider]

14. In my day at school other kids only went so far

Before some stepped in and broke it up.

That doesn't seem to happen now, with kids videoing the popular "beatdown" vids to post on youtube, trying to outdo each others violence.

[Prophet 451]

16. Never happened when I was at school

The crowd egging the fighters on were more like the crowd at gladatorial games, baying for blood.

Might be a generational thing, I'm 33 if that helps.

[Old Hob]

15. If two white kids beat up a black kid in front of a cheering crowd on video camera

the screams of outrage over the obvious racist hate crime would be deafening and endless and Jesse Jackson would be demanding apologies from all involved.

[Prophet 451]

17. "Deafening and endless"? Jesse Jackson?

Exactly how long did the Jena story last?