Yet another sign of these tumultuous economic times is the decline of high school students owning their own cars. Gas prices, pricey school parking fees and overall budget-crunching cause financial strain on families today, advocating school provided transportation as a reasonable solution. I myself ride the bus every morning and after school, which leads me to my point. From my experience taking the after-school “K” route, I have noticed a dramatic increase in not only the numbers of students taking the bus, but most importantly the rash, careless and thoughtless aggressive behavior in trying to attain a seat.

For starters, the “K” route is really two morning routes combined, which nearly doubles the amount of students as compared to the morning route, making the ride considerably more cramped and longer time wise. The bus normally doesn’t arrive until 3:45 and sometimes nearly 4:00, which by that time leaves an immense group of kids waiting on the curb, buzzing with agitation and ready to charge towards the opening door in animalistic fashion.

Before the bus even stops moving, students rush to the door, with students on the outside starting a domino effect of rough pushing and shoving, only succeeding in creating a large uncomfortable, immovable mass of bodies smashed up against one another all vying towards squeezing through the small bus door.

This idea that shoving people will help one get on the bus faster is not only senseless but incredibly ineffective. Pushing and shoving does NOT help! It only backfires by causing havoc, possible injury and even more time wasted trying to maintain some sort of line so that people can actually physically get on the bus, without being trampled.

So in the future, when waiting for the bus let’s try and remember the social etiquette we learned in kindergarten; be PATIENT and WAIT IN LINE.