“Yuh shoulda read the sign”, the bus driver said surlily (yes, it obzocky but it is a real word).
That was his response to my “I didn’t know the bus was going this way”. Never mind that although the sign said “Wanstead”, the big blue and yellow was heading to Arch Hall.
So, travelling by bus is a tricky proposition these days. PSVs especially.
But even on Transport Board vehicles you sometimes encounter disrespectful drivers (like my fellow, who obviously feels that it is just plain common sense that a bus marked “Wanstead” would be going to Arch Hall).
Or you could end up being subjected to such a tortuous journey that you wonder what the convolution (that’s my C-word – Rihanna does not speak for me or most other Bajans) is going on.
Or you could find yuhself among boisterous schoolchildren, who might choose to fight or hurl missiles. Or write graffiti on various parts of the bus.
As some Coleridge and Parry students did recently. And when the authorities identified the culprits, they made them – publicly – clean up their vandalizing act.
And everybody said:“Bravo!”
I applaud the principal, too.
I happen to know that our schoolchildren do quite a few bad things in and out of school. And often the greatest effort that is expended in those matters is on trying to ensure that the general public does not find out. In many cases, it makes the principal look self-serving, emotionally deficient and socially indifferent.
Mr Fergusson did not go that route. And he deserves a lot of commendation for his stand.
His actions suggest that he en nuh nay-nay principal.
Still, I’m a bit troubled. Now, I might be missing something, but my problem is this: although he kept talking about punishment, I wasn’t sure I was seeing any.
That some misbehaving students had to undo what they should never have done is punishment? So I steal your money. The court simply orders me to return it – and that is punishment? Even if I had spent the money and then had to endure great hardship to pay it back, am I being punished by having to return it?
Seems to me we would be treating stealing as borrowing.
Homey (justice, in this case) don’ usually play dat. We not only make the offender give back what was taken (if that is possible), but we also make them pay for crossing society’s boundaries – and we often do it in ways designed to inhibit others.
The Coleridge and Parry students simply returned what they owed the Transport Board. Strong trepidation about even contemplating a repeat is what they owe the society.
Vandalism is no minor thing – whether by defacing or other means, it is now a fairly widespread sign of disrespect for the property of others.
The society – not just the Transport Board – requires officially sanctioned robust “satisfaction” for something like that. Otherwise we will be tempted to exact our own. A dangerous place for a society to go.
Punishment must be made of sterner stuff than was imposed on those students. Cleaning up your own dirty work does not seem to fit the bill.
So was shaming the punishment? There was more than a hint of that. Media personnel were invited, and the students weren’t wearing masks.
My resident expert, who has spent at least 25 years studying shaming, does not recommend it: no lasting value, he says, and it often engenders revenge, and, most importantly, it conveys the message that the offender is a bad person when, in fact, as in this case, we are dealing with one bad deed.
For which the students needed to be punished – and in a way that would not only satisfy present victims but would reduce the likelihood of the ill behaviour being visited upon others.
So, principal Fergusson, you did good – to a point. I have a lot of respect for how you manned up.
But I was hoping that you had something else that would really make those students and others think eight times before marking up another bus.
Or the school’s bathrooms.
Or Miss Hurdle’s boychild’s uniform. Or Mr Griffith’s wall.
Or my car (taking the bus can be too much trouble – case in point again: the sign says “Punishment”, but with the shaming and mere restitution, I en sure where this bus going).
