No drinking, no eating, no vulgar words, keep feet out of the aisle and keep hands and head inside the window. Do these rules sounds familiar? Probably not. Most people learned  these rules in first grade when they were first riding the bus. As kids, most of them took these rules seriously and had an enjoyable ride home. Once the kids got to junior high, these rules aren’t as enforced as they should be. These rules were made for a reason.

First, some students argue that they should be able to eat and drink on the bus. Over the years students have abused the privilege of eating on the bus, and that’s why there are rules now. Unlike eating or drinking normally, kids get crumbs all over the seats, leave wrappers on the floor and spill their drinks. The messes have to be cleaned by the bus driver.

 Second, using proper language on the bus is very important. A lot of teenagers use vulgar language and inappropriate gestures towards others. Some may find this humorous, but enough is enough. Some jokes are tolerable, but sometimes things get out of hand and the kids tease other kids for a number of reasons. This problem feeds into the bigger problem of depression and lack of self confidence in teens. It also goes to show that the older kids aren’t setting a good example for the younger ones.

Last is the main safety issues. Many students don’t take these rules seriously and neither do some bus drivers. These rules include: keeping feet and any other obstacles out of the aisle and keeping hands and head inside the window and not distracting the driver. When arriving on the bus, there are many problems. There are backpacks, kids, feet and other obstacles in the aisle that keep someone from walking to a seat. This is unsafe because if there was an emergency it couldn’t be handled properly. The kids on a bus sometimes talk to the driver and distract them from safely making it home. This is also unsafe for the obvious reasons.

Hopefully sometime in the near future the school district will utilize the cameras on the buses and start correcting the problems on some of the buses now and students will take responsibility for their actions.