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Thugs in School Uniform - Anyone read this article?

Did anyone read this article written by Leah Hardy in the Daily Mail yesterday?Title: The Frightening day I stood up to thugs in school uniform....while their teacher sat, watched and did nothing!This relates to an incident on the No.70 bus going from Ealing to Kensington, it does not mention the name of the school these pupils attended, the article said 'Fresh from their local comprehensive' jostling, fighting, deliberately pushing passengers aside, pressing the emergency alarms and screaming obsecenities. Girls lolled against doors chewing gum and swearing loudly. Two of the 'children' - the ringleaders, who looked about 25 but were probably 16 - were as tall as adult men, with dreadlocks, incipient beards and trousers worn to show their underpants topped with an approcimation of school uniform.They swore loudly, especially at the driver when he had the timerity to ask them to stop pressing the alarm, and stared challengingly around the bus daring any of us to stare back.The article goes on to say that one of the ringleaders started slapping one of two small boys (from the same school)about the head.No-one on the bus was brave enough to sat or do anything - everyone was afraid of these so called 'children'. The lady who wrote the article finally approached the bully and asked him to leave the boy alone. Anyway to cut a long story short the small boy managed to get off the bus whilst the lady was talking to the bully.What was the annoyng thing about reading this article is that one of their teachers was also on the bus but did absolutely nothing. She said she was NOT scared but would 'deal with it professionally tomorrow' The writer goes on to say that she is not a 'teacher basher' and adores her own children's kind and committed teachersat their London state primary school. She said 'How do you go on to command this kids' respect in the classroom if they see you sitting silent outside it?The writer later looked up the school's Ofsted report and was unsurprised to see it had a 'good' rating and was praised for its excellent 'pastoral care' of pupils. She said that 3 years time when choosing a secondary school for her children she will ignore the Ofsted reports and simply travel on a bus that passes the school at 3.30pm.Sorry I have just typed part of the rather lengthy article but It just makes one wonder what is happening some schools today when a group of 'children' can terrorise passengers on a bus knowing full well that they are untouchable.No wonder my husband and I try to avoid travelling on public transport at that time of day. We have also experienced similar behaviour. We notice that in some areas the police have to show a visible presence when school finished at the end of the day.How times have changed.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5943d4 Comments

Not a thug, but very irritating.  A 16-17 year old boy, dark hair coming from Richmond on the District Line into ~Gunnersbury Station, who attends Westminster School.  Sits and ignores those who are less able than himself who would benefit from sitting down.

Dee Cook ● 5942d

I like the bit about the kids being "as tall as adult men, with dreadlocks, incipient beards..."Trust the Daily Hate Mail to make a coded reference to the race of the alleged miscreants. Exactly WHAT is wrong with wearing dreadlocks?I very much doubt the accuracy of the report - after all, it's from a rag that is not even fit to be used as toilet paper.Didn't the Daily Mail come closest to supporting Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, when it used to spew out anti-semitism?And didn't it run a campaign to get white parents to remove their kids from a school in Dewsbury on the grounds that some of the other children were of Asian origin?Further more, did it not support the South African apartheid system - and sponsor Zola Budd - and did it not refer to Nelson Mandela as a "terrorist" because he wanted the right to vote?What the editors of the Daily Mail fear is that one day - with enough investment in our state schools and colleges - we will have a workforce that is sufficiently well educated to tear it up in disgust.

Robin Taylor ● 5942d

Bus drivers have a responsibility towards all passengers.  I used to travel extensively on buses in Ealing and Hounslow until recently and have been on buses where police had been called to remove disruptive school pupils or where bus drivers have refused known disruptive pupils to board.  Sadly, not enough is done to get these misbehaving young people off the buses and this leads their behaviour to become worse and thus making the journeys for adults and younger children quite uncomfortable.

Anthea Thomson ● 5942d

Perhaps they should have School Busses like they do in some other countries like Malaysia, or failing that - schools where they teach their pupils how to behave in public.My husband and I have seen too much unruly and sometimes frightening and intimidating behaviour when school children are travelling by bus after school. I actually believe the writer of this article because of previous incidents witnessed by myself and my husband. We now try and avoid travelling by bus around 3.30pm but why should we have to do this?These children accuse others of 'disrespecting them' if one so much as glances their way, but where is the respect they show to others? They carry on in this way simply because they know that no-one can touch them. Other passengers are afraid to speak up and the law is such an ass that if someone retaliated they would end up facing charges and the pupil would just walk away laughing.I was not bringing race into the argument and I don't see what that has to do with it. It is not the way these pupils are dressed that matters, although I am astonished that they are permitted to attend class if dressed in such a manner. One would have thought that the school uniform should be just that - a uniform to make one feel proud of attending that school. In my day they were strict regarding dress code, and in my opinion rightly so. Sloppy dress - sloppy nature. There is time to dress as one pleases out of school hours but it would appear that these pupils are able to attend class dressed in the manner described.Thankfully not all school children behave in this way but those who do really do a disservice to the school they attend and to the teachers. Respect works both ways.By the way I read The Mail because I like it - everyone is entitled to their opinion and I an not getting into any arguments regarding race etc so don't even go there.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5942d