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Don't Be Silent DC has been inactive since March 2008 and has not been accepting entries since. If you are in the DC area and have a harassment story to share, please go to HollaBack DC. If you are outside the DC area and want to submit your story, go to Stop Street Harassment. Thank you.


As of 3/1/08, I will no longer be working on this blog. Please read this post for more details.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Metro Has A Failing Lesson for Unruly Students

I was browsing around online, just trying to gather info on more effective ways of handling these rowdy kids, and I came across this year-old Washington Post article about Metro's plan to curb the behavior of those kids. Apparently it hasn't worked because these kids still act like they have no sense, and I haven't really heard about this program going on in the present lately. We were all teenagers once, and we know good and well that no corny assemblies, slogans, posters, etc. are going to make these kids magically become model citizens. What to do, what to do, what to do.

Metro really needs to get more police involved, especially during the times kids are heading off to school (morning rush and evening rush). And if they are on duty they need to do their jobs! I read a lot of comments for the article about the inactivity of police officers when something does happen. There should be a form of punishment for those who act up on public transit. Fine these kids, arrest them, inform their schools so action can be taken there, and last and definitely not least GET THE PARENTS INVOLVED! If a parent knows that his/her child is acting up in public, either get the parent to be involved in punishing their kid, or if the parent is part of the problem fine him/her. I'm tired of new generations of thugs and gangstas being born to unfit parents.

As much as my hometown of Buffalo is flawed, at least NFTA handled rowdy kids better. They'd give warnings, kick them off the bus/train (they would make those kids walk!), or even prohibited them from boarding. I remember the days when a mob of loud, crazy teens were congregating at one stop, and the bus---having plenty of room---passed them right by!

I am like a broken record with this one---if more adults reclaimed their rights to being adults and taking charge, then we wouldn't have this problem with bad kids.