Announcement

Collapse

Civics 101 Guidelines

Want to argue about politics? Healthcare reform? Taxes? Governments? You've come to the right place!

Try to keep it civil though. The rules still apply here.
See more
See less

National School Walkout

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • National School Walkout

    This is a lao tzu thread.

    National School Walkout: Mass Student Protests Against Gun Violence Across the U.S.

    Two of mine are in this pic.

    Walkout1.jpg

    The "other Jesse," a popular, liberal, gay, humanities professor is speaking here.

    Walkout1.jpg

    I teach math, but always carve out a couple of "special topics" days, which I generally fill with, surprise, surprise, more math. But, in the grand tradition of standing behind one's students, I chose to facilitate the walk-out this morning, and then invited my students in both of my morning classes to join me in participating in student discussions, afterwards.

    And then realized I know nothing about leading discussions, so I approached the other Jesse for help. I don't do discussions in my classes, because I'm a math guy, and we just don't.

    It turns out the other Jesse was already planning to host student discussions, and his classes just so happened to coincide with mine. So our combined sections filled his lecture hall. My contribution was to interrupt to provide speaking space for students with outstretched hands, who were too polite to simply speak up while others were filling the space.

    The discussions were optional for my students, but required for his, as he had incorporated them into this semester's curricula in response to the school shootings in Parkland, thirty miles up the road from us. We have students who knew those students.

    I'm ready to talk now.

  • #2
    I have next to no experience with humanities courses.

    My undergrad was in engineering, and I filled my requirement with a course on Tudor-Stuart England and an Early Medieval art history class, petitioning to allow them to be used as a sequence. Engineering means you don't do a lot of humanities.

    Not a lot of contemporary politics in either of those.

    This was different.

    My first observation of a modern humanities course: He sure does drop a lot of f-bombs. Not harshly, but still. I occasionally let one slip in class, but when I do, it's by mistake.

    And he promoted his personal views to an extent that made me uncomfortable. A few examples from this morning:
    Pro-life means pro-birth only. They don't care about babies after they're born.
    "Whiteness" in opposition to "Blackness."
    Gun owners are children attached to their "toys."
    The NRA is populated almost exclusively by conservative Christians.
    Privilege.

    While the other Jesse was more a part of the discussion than I'd have wished, the discussion I was there to hear was there, too. He has one outspoken conservative Christian in his second class, Giovanni. I suspect most of TWeb's conservative Christians would have been proud of him.

    Comment


    • #3
      This whole demonstration was largely a farce, using coercion and peer pressure to turn our children into political props.

      Source: Five Lies About the Student ‘Walkout’ for Gun Control

      Thousands of students “walked out” of classrooms at schools across the country on Wednesday to protest for new gun control legislation in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at Marjory Stonemason Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

      The mainstream media are celebrating the “walkout” as an authentic expression of outrage that demands a response from political leaders. But it is not, and there are at least five lies they are telling you about it.

      Lie #1: The “walkout” is being staged by students.

      In most schools, especially elementary schools, the walkout is being organized by teachers, administrators, and liberal parents. Nationwide, the walkout is being coordinated by the Women’s March, an anti-Trump organization that has a soft spot for radical antisemites like Louis Farrakhan. Big media companies, especially CNN, have been publicizing the protest.

      Students are involved, but not in charge.

      Lie #2: The “walkout” is voluntary.

      Younger children cannot stay in classrooms by themselves, and they cannot opt out. Older children in some schools are reportedly allowed to stay behind, but many will be less likely to do so given pressure from adults and peers.

      Somehow, the liberals who argue against prayer in public schools — even a generic “moment of silence” — because of fears of religious coercion are creating a coercive political environment.

      Lie #3: The “walkout” is not about gun control.

      Organizers are pulling a sly bait-and-switch. At my daughter’s school, for example, staff and the PTA organized a “peace and kindness assembly.” The principal told parents, via e-mail: “There will be NO mention of school shootings, guns, or violence of any kind.” But the PTA said: “Schools across the country and state are supporting their students as they show their support for greater gun control.”

      They minimize objections by selling “peace” to parents, then maximize impact by pushing “gun control” in the media.

      Lie #4: The “walkout” is non-partisan.

      The groups involved in organizing the walkout are all left-wing and Democrat-aligned.

      Few, if any, schools are bothering to provide an alternative point of view about the importance of the Second Amendment, or about arming qualified teachers and staff to intercept and deter possible attackers.

      Lie #5: If you oppose the “walkout,” you support violence against children.

      This is the most pernicious lie of all, and real message of the protests. The goal of the “walkout” — aside from mobilizing Democrats against gun-clinging Republicans in a midterm election year — is to shame Second Amendment supporters into silence and conformity.

      It amounts to exploiting our children, as well as those 17 deaths in Florida, for political purposes.

      http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...t-gun-control/

      © Copyright Original Source

      Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
      But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
      Than a fool in the eyes of God


      From "Fools Gold" by Petra

      Comment


      • #4
        I also have to wonder how many kids really cared about the "cause" and how many did it only because "Hey, day off from school! I'm game!"
        Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
        But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
        Than a fool in the eyes of God


        From "Fools Gold" by Petra

        Comment


        • #5
          My interest was in the actions students wished to see in response to the killings. The other Jesse was all about exploring their feelings, and his own, but overall, it made for a good complement.

          When I mentioned my horror of the thought of sharing some of the things I've learned in active shooter training — my God, why is that even a thing — he jumped right in with passion. Being responsible for a classroom of students, and knowing you can't possibly save them all, is a terrible thing to bear.

          When it comes to arming teachers, polling my students on Monday, I did find one of my students would feel safer if I were armed. It became necessary to immediately remind them all that in my classes, all speech should be respectful and courteous.

          No student agreed with him.

          I reminded him that if I were to be armed, it would be with a long gun, propped in the corner, and that he'd better have his homework in on time.

          All of these kids think it's about the guns, or almost all, anyway. Eddie spoke of law-abiding gun owners who by and large don't abuse their gun ownership. Another student, whose name I didn't get a chance to ask, has a dad who did four years for shipping guns to arm Chavez' opponents in Venezuela. They were talking about what they wanted to talk about.

          Mostly, urged on by the other Jesse, they spoke of how they dealt with violence and loss in their own lives.

          Arabia (air-uh-bee-uh) spoke about losing her brother five years ago, and how even after time has healed what it can, reminders can pop up seemingly out of nowhere, like FB suddenly wanting to remind her of her friendship with her brother. It was her way of empathizing with the students in Parkland.

          Lewis, on the far right in the first picture, and just out of frame to the left in the second, like all of the students leading the walk-out, had spent the past two weeks learning about just one of the victims, doing their best to come to know them and their families, friends, pets, and hobbies.

          I was humbled.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
            This whole demonstration was largely a farce, using coercion and peer pressure to turn our children into political props.
            The most popular video on YouTube following the shooting was a conspiracy theory that the students from Stoneman Douglas who were speaking out were in fact crisis actors.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
              I also have to wonder how many kids really cared about the "cause" and how many did it only because "Hey, day off from school! I'm game!"
              Both of these groups exist. One is more important than the other.

              Comment


              • #8
                Hopefully these truants will get detention and have to make up the day...
                Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by lao tzu View Post
                  The most popular video on YouTube following the shooting was a conspiracy theory that the students from Stoneman Douglas who were speaking out were in fact crisis actors.
                  I'm not sure what relevance that has to the article I cited.
                  Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
                  But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
                  Than a fool in the eyes of God


                  From "Fools Gold" by Petra

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by lao tzu View Post
                    Both of these groups exist. One is more important than the other.
                    Yes, but one artificially inflated the numbers of the other. The only question is to what extent.
                    Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
                    But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
                    Than a fool in the eyes of God


                    From "Fools Gold" by Petra

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Gun control is more complex than most of the kids realize. Evidence is ambiguous, though there's reason to think that some combinations of policies would help at least a bit. I think it's healthy, however, not to let the NRA dominate the politics. Without a change there we can't have any serious discussion. (Of course that assumes that we can still have intelligent discussions on anything. Evidence isn't favorable on that.)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        In our district, students staged a walk out. We received an email to adhere to district policy: If a student is absent for ten minutes, they have cut class and will receive consequences--usually a number of detentions depending on how many cuts and tardies they have for the year. Because the students are still considered in our custody while they are on school grounds, we were instructed that if more than half of our class attended the walk out, we were supposed to go with them and make sure that they were safe. Security guards we with the students to help maintain order, and several police officers were present. I teach a course of remedial sophomores at the time of the walk out and none of them wanted to walk out. We were working on test-corrections from our last exam because I have to submit third quarter grades tomorrow.

                        We discussed it on a different day when they asked me if I thought the walkout was a good idea. I told them that I thought it was somewhat pointless, that a lot of people would think that they were doing some good when in reality they hadn't done anything, that it was too easy. I said that if you care about an issue then it deserves more of life than ten minutes in the middle of a class on the last day of the quarter. Today, they asked if I would bring in snacks for them since they didn't walk out. I said no.

                        After the test corrections, we were working on research questions about the history of nuclear weapons. We're going to be reading "There Will Come Soft Rain" by Ray Bradbury, because I'm a pinko-prog who teaches anti-war literature.

                        During the discussion, we enjoyed this exchange:

                        Student 1: I don't understand why the Japanese nuked their own cities.
                        Student 2: That was us, you idiot.
                        Student 1: I don't believe that.

                        I said that we don't call anyone idiot.

                        So, yeah. They weren't interested in going and the libtards who run my district weren't interested in organizing a protest.

                        fwiw,
                        guacamole
                        "Down in the lowlands, where the water is deep,
                        Hear my cry, hear my shout,
                        Save me, save me"

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by guacamole View Post
                          In our district, students staged a walk out. We received an email to adhere to district policy: If a student is absent for ten minutes, they have cut class and will receive consequences--usually a number of detentions depending on how many cuts and tardies they have for the year. Because the students are still considered in our custody while they are on school grounds, we were instructed that if more than half of our class attended the walk out, we were supposed to go with them and make sure that they were safe. Security guards we with the students to help maintain order, and several police officers were present.
                          Ironically it sounds like the students who walked out had better protection than if they remained in school.

                          If the teacher was supposed to accompany the students who walked out, if they totaled more than 50% of the class, who stayed with the students that remained?

                          I'm always still in trouble again

                          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                          "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                          "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                            Ironically it sounds like the students who walked out had better protection than if they remained in school.

                            If the teacher was supposed to accompany the students who walked out, if they totaled more than 50% of the class, who stayed with the students that remained?
                            Our instructions were to coordinate with another teacher who had less than 50% walk out. How we were supposed to do that, at the literal last second, and what other teachers were supposed to do with the extra kids is unclear.
                            "Down in the lowlands, where the water is deep,
                            Hear my cry, hear my shout,
                            Save me, save me"

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Parading kids around as political pawns is pretty loathsome.

                              If we want to keep kids safe in schools we need more guns in schools, not less. Less guns is why schools are defenseless. They should be protesting to ask for armed guards and metal detectors.

                              Comment

                              Related Threads

                              Collapse

                              Topics Statistics Last Post
                              Started by little_monkey, 03-27-2024, 04:19 PM
                              16 responses
                              166 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post One Bad Pig  
                              Started by whag, 03-26-2024, 04:38 PM
                              53 responses
                              401 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post Mountain Man  
                              Started by rogue06, 03-26-2024, 11:45 AM
                              25 responses
                              114 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post rogue06
                              by rogue06
                               
                              Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-26-2024, 09:21 AM
                              33 responses
                              198 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post Roy
                              by Roy
                               
                              Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-26-2024, 08:34 AM
                              84 responses
                              383 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post JimL
                              by JimL
                               
                              Working...
                              X