Karen Klein

I can't watch the following video without crying. I managed to get through the entire 10-minute version of middle school students verbally abusing bus monitor Karen Klein as it circulated around Facebook the other night. I'm just so saddened and disgusted at how children behave in schools, on school buses, playgrounds, and at other school-related functions. It sickens me how abuse like this can go on. I blame parents for not teaching better values. I blame schools for not cracking down harder on child perpetrators of abuse. I blame society's view of "bullying" as a rite of passage instead of calling it what it is - child-perpetrated harassment and abuse.

This case of child-perpetrated elder abuse went viral, partly because it was so heinous and partly because many of us are still from a generation when children were taught to respect their elders. While I am not of the mind that people automatically deserve respect simply because of their age or position (because I know that argument will be raised), I absolutely believe that no one deserves to be humiliated, berated, abused, harassed, mocked, and hurt like this woman was. Ever.

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This is why my children will never be in public school again. And I am relieved to hear an adult admit that ignoring the bullies does NOT make them stop. It doesn't - ask any kid who has been bullied. Once you're selected as a target, you either beat them at their own game or you're going to suffer as long as they decide you're going to suffer. Of course, if you retaliate, then you get in trouble. THIS sort of thing is the result of kids being taught that bullying is a rite of passage. THIS sort of thing happens to children (and apparently bus monitors and drivers as well) on buses and in schools every day.

How long are we going to accept this?