Jocelyn+R’s+OpEd+Article

= "Bus Drivers" by Jocelyn R. = media type="file" key="joceynr-muckraker-0910.mp3" With their futile smiles and random comments, they strive to get those assholes called teenagers home with as little drama as possible. However, the optimistic attitude of the bus drivers only causes those assholes anger because their explicit comments have been ignored. They think they can rule the bus and treat the bus driver as their little puppet, without any respect towards the innocent bus drivers or the students riding the bus. Thinking, that their rude comments will be able to frustrate the bus driver, until they finally quit, and then they can continue with an unexpected victim. And why wouldn’t they strongly believe this? After all they get away with it mostly every time until violence occurs. I am glad those guys were arrested for rushing the administrators, because they definitely need to their place. I have never felt so much anger as that day when those stupid guys did not even know what was occurring and felt they needed to defend their friend because his rights were being ignored. Umm, just a question, do you even know your rights? No you don’t and you most definitely don’t know that you should go around rushing adults just because they told you not to threat the bus driver by telling them that you were going to kill them.

The most enraging part of this daily scenario is that the applauding crowd that the riotous teenagers are greeted with once they return from receiving their punishment. They have no other life than to make the bus drivers miserable just because they hate their own. We have gone through at least five different bus drivers this year, but the new bus driver always says it was because “they got a new route,” whether this is true or not the doubt that those assholes won is always there. Our last bus driver somehow strongly believed that those kids who acted up could be changed if she gave them love, so for every holiday she would get everyone a card and some candy, which most often the result would be a torn card throwed at her face and the candy swallowed so fast as to show that they did not appreciate it in the least. She did not give up even when they called her “fatass,” “purple grape,” ect. She persisted in trying to change their behavior but when they she was gone. Later, she returned another day as our substitute bus driver and the behavior towards her from the same group of teenagers was extremely different. They said “hi,” talked to her kindly and even thanked her when they got off the bus. I guess it will never we understood how the teenage mind acts, but they should surely know that the bus drivers are only trying to make a living, and if they treated them with the respect and dignity they deserved the ride home will surely run smoother.