Private school girls + public transport manners should be on the currriculum

I caught a crowded tram in Camberwell yesterday and since I was carrying two heavy bags I asked one of the school girls if she wouldn't mind giving me her seat. She grudgingly complied. At the next stop an older woman got on and was struggling to balance with the movement of the tram, so I asked if she would like to sit down. She said 'No, I won't accept a seat from an adult, I want one of the rich, private school girls to offer one to me'! I turned around and looked at the girls occupying the seats. Most wouldn't have heard her, three were speaking loudly on mobile phones, their feet up on the seats opposite, their summer school dresses hitched up almost to their thighs, their bags thrown onto the floor beneath their feet, often in the aisle, which made it difficult for standing adults straddling available space.

She continued: 'One day they'll know what it's like, they'll be old with hip problems, they'll'..., and she broke off looking at their disinterested faces, 'No, they'll be in their four wheel drives, they won't have to take public transport, they'll be living in their million dollar houses'! 

One of the adults offered heir seat and she finally sat down, but I thought about what she said and I considered the fact that parents of these girls have paid up to, perhaps more than $200,000 in fees for their children to attend private schools and apart from scholastic achievement what the schools had produced was inconsiderate, selfish, loud, uncaring beings.
But I should be fair about this, I'm sure that not all private school individuals behave in this manner and admittedly, public transport is crowded, particularly so after 3.30pm when children are traveling home. The new trams don't have over-head luggage racks as they did in the past and so the large school bags that children/teenagers have to carry do take up a lot of space on the floor  inhibiting movement and creating dangerous obstacles. The older woman showed me a small red wound, she had just come off another tram filled with private school children and had tripped over one of their bags, scraping her wrist in the process! No wonder she was angry. At the age of 75 she shouldn't have to endure this.

The absence of tram conductors over the past decade has meant that behavior on public transport has worsened, indeed, teenagers (but not only them) have come to regard public transport as a site of social engagement, using the space to eat, drink, listen to music and talk loudly with their  friends, without considering that workers and others traveling on the tram may need a bit of quite time to read their book or just relax on their trip.

I'm not sure who to hold to account here, schools, parents, the government or the individual.? But when I think about it, we all have a responsibility for each other and perhaps if the message isn't being relayed at home where values are instigated,  then perhaps it should be considered part of the responsibility of teachers to instill in their students good manners and consideration for others.