The Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam protests were protests against a government policy, or a series of government policies. Their intention was to get the government to make the changes necessary.
This is different. The madness that’s taking place in schools is largely a function of kids who are marginalized and of an inability to get these kids help. If we’re going to stop this scenario from repeating itself, it’s got to start at the ground level. And that’s in the hallways and the locker rooms, in the school buses. And probably most importantly, on the phones and social media. That’s where far, far too many kids are tormented into feeling like they’re willing to die to get the torture to stop, and they want vegeance.
Again, walk out if you think it will somehow help, even if it’s just to make you feel as though you’re doing something. I absolutely believe in honoring the dead, though I don’t think it should take a month for it to happen.
You’re right-- missing 17 minutes (though in reality, it’s going to be at least an hour) won’t make the slightest bit of difference in terms of your education. And this thread has shown that there won’t be any harm to the protesters in terms of long range college plans. So there’s no gamble involved. Unless there’s a massive rain or snow storm that day, tens of thousands of kids will walk out of class and make the papers.
And not a thing will happen to effect change. Change won’t be easy. It will mean standing up to the bullies and the cool crowd, risking your own popularity to stand up for those kids who sometimes aren’t very likeable. It won’t put you on the paper, it may make you a target. It’s a huge risk.
And it’s the only way we’ll get this madness to stop.
Bjkmom, you are asking the kids to ensure their own safety. So the adults have given up trying to do so? While I am all for school kindness initiatives, it is not necessarily just the socially isolated who are dangerous to school safety. Violence and mental illness can’t always be addressed by well meaning classmates and occur everywhere.
That’s why I asked the young adults on this forum to get an absentee ballot and vote for candidates who will address the mental health issues.
The kids ARE the ones on the front lines. They’re the ones on Snapshot and Instagram; they’re the ones on the phones at 3 am when some of these kids are being tormented. They’re the ones in the locker rooms and on the buses. The bullies aren’t stupid enough to do their nasty work in front of a teacher; that doesn’t make it any less effective.
If I’m to believe even a tiny fraction of what I read here, the kids on College Confidential represent the leaders of tomorrow-- they’re among the best and the brightest in their generation. So my point is that now, as they’re turning 18 and starting on the road to adulthood, it’s time that they took this amazing power and use it to help make their world a better place. Talk is great, but action gets the job done.
You’re right-- not every school shooting is done at the hands of a loner who was picked on. But that seems to be the closest we have right now to a common denominator.
And, NO, rest assured that those of us in schools haven’t “given up trying to do so.” That’s why we so frequently read of teachers dying, trying to assure the safety of some of their kids. That’s why there’s such a thing now as a lockdown drill, where there was no such thing when I was a kid. That’s why so many of us lose so much sleep every time one of these shooting occur-- because we’re up all night envisioning that same scenario in our own schools and wondering where we could possibly hide 34 or 38 kids in a room where one wall is windows and every door has a window.
Those of us who have attended multiple funerals the same day would never be cavalier about the lives of our students-- you can bank on it.
I do support more mental health funding. But mental health experts themselves say there is no way they can be expected to solve this problem-patients can’t be forced to accept or cooperate in treatment, and there aren’t always effective treatments for the violence prone. Every country has angry young men with violent tendencies and mental illness. All the others have managed to prevent that from turning into regular school massacres.
I’m glad colleges are supporting the students rights to protest. I also hope their attitudes would be the same for students walking out to support the 2nd Amendment or allowing more staff to be armed for purposes of being able to protect students. I’m just getting a feeling here that there might be an agenda that could be enforced from some admissions offices that was biased against certain points of view. That would be terrible if true.
Plenty of marchers support the second amendment. And some own guns. It is possible to do those things and still believe in school safety and gun safety.
@bjkmom Yes, mental health issues are important, no one said that they aren’t. But this is a gun problem too. You can’t ignore that. And I’m going to march and walkout like so many people did before me and yes I’m going to go out and vote and try to get change to FINALLY happen in this country because it’s about damn time. And the kids from Parkland? The one’s who have been so vocal in their activism? They are already making things change for the better.
@bertiemom: @sciencenerd explained that some students will walk out and go to the shooting range. They won’t be penalized by colleges either.
(Although the meaning of their protest isn’t very clear to me. At first I feed iced because I though they went to the range to celebrate the killer - you have teen boys everywhere who celebrate the Columbine killers… But after thinking about it they probably aren’t and are trying to support the walk out that way even if I’m not sure exactly what it is they’re saying. The idea was to have masses of kids standing together across the country and having a minute of silence or prayer for each victim, a sort of visual demonstration of solidarity and empathy.)
Small, daily actions matter. But collective, national, symbolic gestures are also tremendously important.
I’m not sure the killers were insane. They were full of rage and hatred, angry and armed. Anger isn’t a mental illness. Wasn’t the Parkland killer enrolled in anger management eaelier in his life (but not for long, because it’s not easy to get angry boys who think they’re not treated the way they should, to go to something they see as demeaning since they believe the problem is us not them…); Social workers went and visited; some friends tried to ring the alarm when he pulled a gun on them but he called the police on them saying he was just orphaned and those kids had tried to take advantage of him; security at the school was tipped so they had ordered not to admit him if he had a backpack and teachers knew they had to signal anything off about him. He wasn’t under the radar. He wasn’t denied help - he was provided help but didn’t want it, like many angry young men.
So I’m all for mental health services being strengthened in schools, more guidance counselors with psychology degrees, separate from the college advising department with a different university background, and more responsibility from teenagers themselves. But we have to face the fact that if the killer had attacked with a kitchen knife* there wouldn’t have been so many killed and the wounded would have had a chance to survive if taken to a hospital.
The sale of which is regulated to minors in the UK. Basically if you're a teen the government has made it as impossible to acquire a weapon that can be turned into something lethal, as it can.
The lost important thing is that these kids are already changing things.
The kids at my school who are going to the shooting range are doing so because they are against the walkout and against any type of gun control/reform. They aren’t educated about the issue and they believe that everyone else is trying to take away their guns. They are so close-minded that they don’t even want to know what the point of the walkout is, which is to honor the victims. They aren’t willing to listen, which is the problem. I think going to the shooting range while we are mourning the loss of 17 lives is pretty disrespectful but they won’t be punished more severely than the rest of us. Actually, I have a meeting with my principal tomorrow who seems to be in favor of the walkout so maybe those kids would get punished (but not because they don’t want to participate–obviously that’s optional they can stay inside–but they would be punished for skipping school if they do go to the shooting range).
Why should the penalty for those students be any different? School administrations should not take political stances in favor of or against the protestors. All students who skip a class should be treated equally as far as discipline goes imo.
@soontobecolleger The penalty would only be different if the school approves of the event. If it is an event that the school approves of, then the people participating in it would not be skipping class. Obviously if someone does not want to participate, then that is there choice and they can stay inside, but if they leave school then they would presumably be punished for skipping. If the school does not approve of the event, then everyone would be punished in the same way regardless of the reason.
wow. Did not even realize that was a possibility. But I can see now that such an event could be a negative to the admissions office.
This is sure to create a chilling effect to any students wanting to protest and exercise their right to free speech.
Unfortunately as students, certain rights are curtailed. Many will have to wait until they graduate HS to join in. This debate is not going away anytime soon and I am sure it will be around for them once graduation is over.
@MassDaD68 I haven’t seen ANY school claim they would penalize a student so how would that create a chilling effect and why would many have to wait until the graduate to join in?
Hi @doschicos . I have not heard too much either. Only that one HS in Texas I think that said they would suspend students. But it could have been Fake news. So hard to tell what is up nowadays.
But this thread does get you thinking about how colleges will look at a suspension on your academic record. Would that be enough for them to withhold a larger Merit package? Students will have to weight the risk/reward for participating in a protest.
Actually, I think the point of this thread and especially the earlier thread link in post #5 is the opposite - to ensure students that colleges WON’T penalize you. In fact, many of the statements by colleges seem very encouraging of those choosing to walk out. Additionally, I think it is a fairly moot point because the vast majority of schools aren’t going to impose suspensions. Maybe a detention at most - or nothing.
Some of the high schools have actually set up how the students should walk out. Since the school is responsible for the students, they arrange where they are to meet and have staff there to supervise. After their planned activity, (discussion, minutes out etc) they will return to class. Some of the teachers also plan on walking out with the students.