Education is one of the most important, if not the most important, aspect of any child’s life. What they learn at school during those 12 or 13 years, from foreign languages to mathematics to essential social skills, will likely be the cornerstone of their entire lives and anything they decide to do with them later on. For all these reasons and many more, we spend a lot of time talking about how important teachers are, and how grateful we are to them for passing on all of this precious knowledge and experience. And rightfully so, of course.
But have you ever taken a moment to think about the people who work tirelessly every single day to make sure your child can get to school safely to learn those important lessons, and then drop them back off at home? The people who endure the shrieks, laughter and general noise of tens of children confined to one small space for hours on end, day in and day out? No? Then you should. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you: School Bus Drivers Day!
History of School Bus Drivers Day
The earliest school buses date back to the beginning of the 20th century, though horse-drawn carriages whose purpose it was to pick up children, especially from rural areas, were already popular several decades earlier. In 1927, Ford dealership owner A.L. Luce produced a bus body for a 1927 Ford Model T, and today’s school buses, though obviously much more modern and considerably larger, still resemble that his original design.
The shade of yellow known today as “school bus yellow” was adopted as a standard color for North American school buses in 1939. Currently, school buses provide an estimated 10 billion student trips every year. Each school day in 2013, nearly 468,000 school buses transported 28.8 million children to and from school. School buses have played an enormous role in the education of children from poorer families from rural areas all over the world.
The shade of yellow known today as “school bus yellow” was adopted as a standard color for North American school buses in 1939. Currently, school buses provide an estimated 10 billion student trips every year. Each school day in 2013, nearly 468,000 school buses transported 28.8 million children to and from school. School buses have played an enormous role in the education of children from poorer families from rural areas all over the world.
Currently, school buses provide an estimated 10 billion student trips every year. Each school day in 2013, nearly 468,000 school buses transported 28.8 million children to and from school. School buses have played an enormous role in the education of children from poorer families from rural areas all over the world. School Bus Drivers Day, created in 2009 by the California State Assembly, is a well-deserved salute in the direction of all of those men and women who dedicate their lives to helping children get to school every day, while staying patient, helpful and positive all throughout.
How to celebrate School Bus Drivers Day
Like many civil servants, school bus drivers’ praises are not sung very often, with a true tragedy often needing to happen for people to give them and their work any thought at all. This School Bus Drivers Day, make a difference!
Remember: it’s the thought that counts. Grand gestures are not the point of this holiday, so although we’re fairly certain most school bus drivers wouldn’t mind getting the keys to a Ferrari for helping your child get an education, a batch of homemade cookies will do just as nicely. A short few words of appreciation you can say to the school bus driver in the morning or afternoon may well seem like nothing to you but they may be the nicest thing that driver has heard all day. And let’s not forget to teach our children a little bit about appreciating those that do even the seemingly smallest of things for them—a child who knows when to say thank you is sure to grow up to be an infinitely better adult!
