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The Wi-Fi On the Bus
theodp writes "For students who endure hundreds of hours on a school bus each year in a desert exurb of Tucson, the Wi-Fi on the bus improves the ride. Last fall, school officials mounted a $200 mobile Internet router from Autonet Mobile to bus No. 92's sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. What began as a hi-tech experiment has had an unexpected result — Wi-Fi has transformed the formerly boisterous bus rides into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared. 'Boys aren't hitting each other, girls are busy, and there's not so much jumping around,' said J. J. Johnson, the Internet Bus driver."
I doubt it.
1-to-10 says they're all on facebook.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
Just like good parenting...
Stick a TV/DS/Xbox infront of your kid and they act all perfect.
Can't wait for the virtual elementary school. Just strap your kid to the gurney and put the goggles on 'em.
I know, I know. This is robably a good thing. Kids fighting on a school bus is probably not the safest thing. But on reading the article, I can't help but compare it to medicating a kid so he doesn't run around as much and so he's docile and well behaved and compliant and conforming. That's scary to me.
Maybe it's just me, but I prefer if bullies minded their own business and left the more intellectual of us alone.
The school playground is notorious for encouraging the torment of "nerds" and other social outcasts. If the bus can be turned into another safe zone, that is a good thing, in my e-book.
Right, because before putting wifi on the bus, there were so many opportunities for learning and self-achievement
If anything, making people shut the fuck up in the bus will help the introspective types that just want to be left alone so they can get some reading done. From personal experience, the most distracting thing about reading in the bus was not trying to read through the bumpiness and the constant starting and stopping. No, the most distracting thing was the guy next to me trying to get into a fight with the dude directly in front of me, reducing my personal space to whatever my eye's shortest focal length could be.
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Or make them propel the bus using pedals with their own feet. That also keeps them busy and saves energy too.
Or, you know, make sure that kids have to live closer to where they go to school and then make them walk to school. Even cheaper than duct tape.
The school playground is notorious for encouraging the torment of "nerds" and other social outcasts.
And they are outcasts because...?
I was bullied and tormented myself. Looking back now, my only regret is that I didn't have the parental and peer support on how to deal with it - instead I was taught to keep my head down and avoid it. As a result, I grew up with few social skills and lonely as a result.
As I examine people, especially successful ones, the thing I noticed is that the most successful people are not the smartest or the best looking: it's the ones that are charming, have the gift for gab, and can relate to people - social skills. Sure, being tall and good looking really helps - I won't deny that - but that's out of your control. Whereas, learning to relate to others is something that can be learned and the earlier the better.
I know some very intelligent people who were left in the dust career wise by less intelligent people because they just wouldn't learn to relate to people - and I mean wouldn't and not couldn't. They degrade people skills as being for the cheer leaders and "jocks" and sales droids.
Even if you have Asberger's or in my case Schizoid personality disorder, you can still learn - and I've been doing my best because I'm tired of being an outcast - it's done nothing for me.
In a time when school budgets are being slashed, this is pretty expensive. You put this on 50 buses and you've just lost a teacher.
That's really about the only thing which would make me dislike the service. Buses are notoriously rowdy places, and hotbeds for bullying. If you have a long bus ride, it probably could function as a partial study hall - especially with the filtering that most public schools put in place. Even if the kids are just pulling up online magazines to read, or chatting with friends, it's not that bad - their gainfully occupied and relatively quiet.
A bunch of posters seem to think that a bus should be rowdy. Why? Is the bus driver not normally distracted enough? And what, exactly, is "normal" or "free" about sticking 30 kids in an enclosed space for 45 minutes twice a day with nothing to do? It sucks. Might as well give them something to do that doesn't involve carrying (yet more) books to read on the way, or give them an option other that talking/arguing with the 6 other kids that happen to sit near them.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Fuck you for blaming the victims.
The internet is more than just studying. You can take a Wikipedia link hopping trip and see what you learn, you can read the news, you can read and post on Slashdot, and you can go on Facebook/Myspace/Twitter/email. Notice how the first three are educational but without relating to your school subjects and the last two are in fact forms of socializing.
I do have Asperger's Syndrome (diagnosed by a professional, not self-) and was a frequent punching bag at school. It made me very twitchy, suspicious, and cynical. I also developed a high tolerance for physical and emotional abuse. It drove me to learn multiple forms of martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, and serve in combat arms in the army.
It's rather interesting that the "average" grunt has a higher than average IQ. He just has deep psychological issues that need to be worked out. In someone else's flesh. I very nearly took a "job opportunity" with "a family organization", but chose a different path.
If you want to create a killer, subject them to random abuse when they are young. Dog, human. Doesn't matter.
Anything harmless, that will redirect and reduce the violence rendered upon the children, should definitely be evaluated and seriously considered.
As with many things, this is easier said than done.
When you're treated as an outcast, and no matter what you do, you're not allowed to be part of the crowd, you have no choice but retreat to the sides and spend time with the few friends you do have.
I had no interest in sports when I was a kid. I still don't, other than sometimes watching the Superbowl or World Series because they can be fun. That, combined with my intense interest in everything geeky, made me an outcast. What should I have done, pretend to like something I don't just so I could hang out with people who don't like me anyway?
I'm sorry, I'd rather have a small handful of friends I like than a large number of "friends" who I don't care for. I'd rather not have to pretend to be someone I'm not in order to get ahead. Abandoning who you are to conform to an ideal you don't care for is a heck of a lot worse than just accepting you are not part of the "in crowd" and working to live a happy life among those you *can* relate to.
So seriously, wake up, stop blaming yourself. Blame our culture for excluding those who are intellectual. Many other countries aren't like this; their scientists are celebrities. I wish we could be more like them.
I followed your link, then another link, and found the Illinois law actually says:
So based on that little snippet, it says "an unreasonable period of time" and "without regard for their safety."
And that pretty much leaves it to the judge unless those terms are defined.
I don't think it's unreasonable to leave a 12 year old alone for 3 or 4 hours after school if it's a responsible kid.
I do think it's unreasonable to leave him alone for 3 or 4 days.
The preferred solution is to not have a problem.
A bullying victim can't have a cop or a teacher or a parent standing over them, protecting them all the time. The only people who are always present when bullying occurs are the perp and the victim. The only person who is always available and able to convince the perp that bullying is a bad idea is the victim.
Refuse to be a victim.
Specific instructions as to how to do that would only open this post to criticism based on unimportant details, so I'm not going there. Let the principle stand: You, the victim, can break the cycle of abuse. It's absolutely heartbreaking that so many kids don't figure this out before they're 40 years old.
Me too
Part of school is the social dynamic; yeah I was a outcast nerd, but I got most of my meager mixed social experience from school. It is one of the few controlled environments where you are forced together and taught to interact and communicate. This is very important.
Also I have issues of children being distracted from the outside when in vehicles, I fear that might lead them to difficulty in paying attention to whats going on outside when they learn to drive.
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
Many other countries aren't like this; their scientists are celebrities. I wish we could be more like them.
I would have to disagree with your conclusion. Scientists can be celebrities in any country. The celebrities you speak of have social skills. In the US many scientists have taken on celbrity status, look at Stephen Hawings (while not from the US he is celebrated in this country), Michio Kaku, as well as many others. They all have social skills which MUST be developed in order to attain their status. Other than fellow scientists, who really cares about your chosen subject unless you can explain to them why it is important.
Don't get me wrong, it is not acceptible to abuse other people, I am not at all in favor of beating people up or picking on them. I am not saying that victoms aren't victoms, just that building social skills is critical if you want to be part of society. You can have an IQ of 180 but if you can't communicate with anyone why should anyone else care?
All they have to do is make-out with each other or stick a hand in some orifice. The guys on the other hand will likely never be able to live up to their porn role-models.
So seriously, wake up, stop blaming yourself. Blame our culture for excluding those who are intellectual.
What does "intellectual" have anything to do with it? Unless you're just assuming that because someone is bullied, therefore they must be an "intellectual" person?
It has nothing to do with intellect, it has to do with social skills. If you didn't have the social skills, you're still going to be bullied-- and avoiding other people doesn't help improve your social skills, so in that measure I agree with the grandparent.
Or look at it this way, by your logic, Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons is only outcast because he's smarter than everybody else in the class, right? And don't tell me your school didn't have a Ralph Wiggum.
If I'm bad at bowling, I'll get low scores. If I don't practice bowling, I'll get worse at it. Now in this example, maybe I don't care about bowling-- that's fine. But if you don't care about social interaction, I can guarantee you're going to have a miserable, lonely life... you can't just avoid it and trust everything to turn out fine.
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It's not an intense interest in everything geeky that makes one an outcast. I openly admit to being a nerd with interests in geeky stuff, jocks and girls alike. The key is, I don't feel secretly shameful about it in the back of my head. To me, my frame of mind is, it's awesome, and you should think it's awesome too.
And don't feel like you're "pretending" to be someone you're not. Rather, it's better to keep an open mind about the things other people like. Football may not be your forte, but it clearly excites people, some to the point of insane zealousness. That's what interests me, and I can get into that.
So seriously, wake up, and stop blaming yourself. ALL other countries (the whole of humanity) are like this. I'd never want to be a dumb jock, but I'd also never want to be a nerd who is ashamed of who he is just because social media said I should be.
You can still be accepted even if you make it apparent that you have no interest in a particular thing that those around you like. A joke, a kindly word, tolerance - all good. Detachment, arrogance, superiority, forming cliques - yeah, well those are traits which are gonna get you in trouble in all walks of life.
There are cries of 'yeah, blame the victim' and 'blame society' here, and well, sorry, but yeah, in some cases the victim is at fault. Or the victim's parents. And sometimes, they aren't and it's just down to the bully. Or their parents.
But society? It is a sum of its parts, and the parts include the victims, the bullies and those who are neither. As a result, blanket statements like 'Blame our culture for excluding those who are intellectual' simply doesn't wash - intellectuals can do that all on their own by alienating others....
You complain about 6 miles on a bike to school? (Just under 10KM). That is about 30-45 minutes of biking and you call that a lot? (If you go for speed, it could be as little as 15-20 minutes if you are well trained)
And you complain about it taking away time for chores, homework and sports? Say that the bus drive took 15 minutes (including you to be ready and waiting for it) you would have saved 1 hour per day that you could be at least in part spend with friends. And with the exercise, it takes away the need for sport.
I went to school by bike often, even though my parents did not allow it. One hour in the morning and one hour in the evening back. half of it riding with a group of friends. So not only was I working on my physical skills, I was also working on my social skills.
And the nice thing was that if I did not go directly from school to home, I already had my transport with me. We could stop along the way home and do whatever we wanted to do. I must have been around 11-12 I think.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.