DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Story too incredible to believe...kids punished for speaking English

**gkruCRi1** · 11-02-2007, 12:34 AM

Yes - but not the point.

1) The kids rode the bus all year.
2) The bus driver told them the reason was because they were speaking English, and the other kids couldn't understand what they were saying
3) The school cooperated with the driver by calling the mother and telling her she had to come pick up her kids.
4) The school admitted they made a mistake.
5) Only AFTER the media attention did the school find out the kids were out of the schools bus route - AFTER they had already kicked them off.

Fox has a news video - it shows the schools letter, and it clearly states AFTER the incident the school found...ect.

More information would certainly be helpful, but from what I am scanning, it does sound like it was likely an inarticulacy by the school bus driver from what I am reading, though.

The bus in question serves a language academy for children learning to speak English. Other kids go to other schools and particular busses serve each one.

It could have been handled better, but this kind of event just appears to be something I could easily envision, and the event getting misconstrued and mangled into something more than it really was.

The driver obviously detected that these kids were not supposed to be on the bus because the driver spotted these kids speaking fluent English and in a manner indicating they were run-of-the-mill American kids speaking English, and thus naturally assumed that they could not be in the school that the bus serves. And maybe the bus driver got the feeling the kids were poaching a ride on this bus knowing they weren't supposed to be there too, something I remember as a child many students doing so they could ride with their friends, get dropped off somewhere different, get a better dropoff because their own assigned bus and its stop stinks by comparison, etc.

I can envision a bus driver finally hearing them and telling them to get off the bus, and with the kids asking why, the driver saying "because you kids speak English"--i.e., you know what bus this serves, and you know you are not supposed to be on the bus.

No offence meant to school bus drivers and many were great people and had the patience of saints from my own recollection of the school bus experience, but the ones I knew weren't exactly Oxford postgraduates with excelling eloquence and precision in communication and conflict resolution. They were working stiffs hustling around piles of wild school kids to and from school, the scene of which makes the atmosphere a lousy one for precise and diplomatic exchanges between the driver and kids.

This story really brings me back down memory lane to remember all the red tape school bus procedures, antics, the chaotic school kid atmosphere and the personalities of school bus drivers and the kinds of exchanges we all had with them.

11-02-2007, 12:34 AM	#5
gkruCRi1 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 505 Senior Member	Yes - but not the point. 1) The kids rode the bus all year. 2) The bus driver told them the reason was because they were speaking English, and the other kids couldn't understand what they were saying 3) The school cooperated with the driver by calling the mother and telling her she had to come pick up her kids. 4) The school admitted they made a mistake. 5) Only AFTER the media attention did the school find out the kids were out of the schools bus route - AFTER they had already kicked them off. Fox has a news video - it shows the schools letter, and it clearly states AFTER the incident the school found...ect. More information would certainly be helpful, but from what I am scanning, it does sound like it was likely an inarticulacy by the school bus driver from what I am reading, though. The bus in question serves a language academy for children learning to speak English. Other kids go to other schools and particular busses serve each one. It could have been handled better, but this kind of event just appears to be something I could easily envision, and the event getting misconstrued and mangled into something more than it really was. The driver obviously detected that these kids were not supposed to be on the bus because the driver spotted these kids speaking fluent English and in a manner indicating they were run-of-the-mill American kids speaking English, and thus naturally assumed that they could not be in the school that the bus serves. And maybe the bus driver got the feeling the kids were poaching a ride on this bus knowing they weren't supposed to be there too, something I remember as a child many students doing so they could ride with their friends, get dropped off somewhere different, get a better dropoff because their own assigned bus and its stop stinks by comparison, etc. I can envision a bus driver finally hearing them and telling them to get off the bus, and with the kids asking why, the driver saying "because you kids speak English"--i.e., you know what bus this serves, and you know you are not supposed to be on the bus. No offence meant to school bus drivers and many were great people and had the patience of saints from my own recollection of the school bus experience, but the ones I knew weren't exactly Oxford postgraduates with excelling eloquence and precision in communication and conflict resolution. They were working stiffs hustling around piles of wild school kids to and from school, the scene of which makes the atmosphere a lousy one for precise and diplomatic exchanges between the driver and kids. This story really brings me back down memory lane to remember all the red tape school bus procedures, antics, the chaotic school kid atmosphere and the personalities of school bus drivers and the kinds of exchanges we all had with them.
	Quote