The Train Leaves the Station

 

Methinks these schools may rue the day they encouraged this event. What kind of letters will these administrators be sending to their teachers next January, for example, if millions of students across the nation stage a National School Walkout for the murdered unborn, or a National School Walkout for gun rights?

“It’s a teachable moment,” say the wise and judicious administrators. “We want to support what they want to do. It’s not ours to plan, it’s not ours to encourage, it’s not ours to discourage.”

A teachable moment? Well, then. Let the teaching begin … with them. Because now that the floodgates have been opened (and they have), the real lesson will come when these administrators are confronted with a flurry of causes that students insist on demonstrating for during school hours, causes that may (or may not) represent these administrators’ views.

I taught today (community college) but not until late afternoon. Part of me was glad I didn’t have to even deal with this (we got our letters). The other part of me, the part that has me pacing the floors in anger at how this country is so easily manipulated by the far left, wishes I had taught at 10 AM. Because I would have lectured to an empty room for 13 minutes and tested for four. Fine, miss my class for your cause (good cause, bad cause, whatever), but I won’t be held hostage by your cause. The train leaves the station at 10, class carries on, be here or don’t be here.

But I’m tired of being manipulated.

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  1. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    We were instructed not to assess during the 17 minute walkout.

    The event was cloaked as student led, but I believe the event, and the uniform administrative response was part of the template that was pushed by the organizers.

    • #1
  2. EEM Inactive
    EEM
    @EEM

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    We were instructed not to assess during the 17 minute walkout.

    The event was cloaked as student led, but I believe the event, and the uniform administrative response was part of the template that was pushed by the organizers.

    Yep.

    • #2
  3. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Why do I imagine that if a group of kids supporting Second Amendment gun rights wanted to walk out for seventeen minutes that they would be punished and ostracized?

     

    • #3
  4. EEM Inactive
    EEM
    @EEM

    MarciN (View Comment):
    Why do I imagine that if a group of kids supporting Second Amendment gun rights wanted to walk out for seventeen minutes that they would be punished and ostracized?

    Because you have a good imagination?

    • #4
  5. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    My daughter’s school let the kids out, but only as a memorial event. No placards, no chants. So they can say they didn’t endorse a particular cause. Smart, I think.

    • #5
  6. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    My daughter’s school let the kids out, but only as a memorial event. No placards, no chants. So they can say they didn’t endorse a particular cause. Smart, I think.

    Smart.  That way they can kill any pushback this time.  Next time they will be able to kill any pushback by saying the standard has already been set.  I look for child championed Lefty causes to become the norm now.  Parents nowadays seem to let their children walk all over them.

    • #6
  7. EEM Inactive
    EEM
    @EEM

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    My daughter’s school let the kids out, but only as a memorial event. No placards, no chants. So they can say they didn’t endorse a particular cause. Smart, I think.

    I agree. Kids at my husband’s school (private, Christian) had a time of prayer, and also other stuff (write your Congressmen, etc.). There’s all this pressure to “do something,” though, to get on the bandwagon lest you appear to be uncaring. That’s what bugs me, I guess. Especially when this situation is so complex.

    • #7
  8. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    EEM (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    My daughter’s school let the kids out, but only as a memorial event. No placards, no chants. So they can say they didn’t endorse a particular cause. Smart, I think.

    I agree. Kids at my husband’s school (private, Christian) had a time of prayer, and also other stuff (write your Congressmen, etc.). There’s all this pressure to “do something,” though, to get on the bandwagon lest you appear to be uncaring. That’s what bugs me, I guess. Especially when this situation is so complex.

    It’s not Do Something.  It is do what the Left wants that aggravates me.

    • #8
  9. OkieSailor Member
    OkieSailor
    @OkieSailor

    MarciN (View Comment):
    Why do I imagine that if a group of kids supporting Second Amendment gun rights wanted to walk out for seventeen minutes that they would be punished and ostracized?

    doesn’t really take much imagination \>)

    • #9
  10. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    This is nothing new. These kids found something deeply disturbing in this issue and they actually have a united voice on something rather than yelling at each other.  As one kid said, 17 people dead in six minutes, in a school, where you are supposed to be safe. I agree with them.  They are done with it.

    No one is advocating a destruction of the 2nd Amendment, but a different culture than 100 years ago with deadly new problems, is trying to address and find new solutions – we did the same thing, in fact, walk outs, protests for everything, women’s rights, minority rights, against the Vietnam war (although I was too young and ignorant to understand that one, but it meant a day without school) and on and on. The right to protest and be heard sets an example for rogue regimes across the world – we may not all agree but its important to be heard.  We’re losing some of that too.

    • #10
  11. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    This is nothing new. These kids found something deeply disturbing in this issue and they actually have a united voice on something rather than yelling at each other. As one kid said, 17 people dead in six minutes, in a school, where you are supposed to be safe. I agree with them. They are done with it.

    No one is advocating a destruction of the 2nd Amendment, but a different culture than 100 years ago, is trying to address and find new solutions – we did the same thing, in fact, walk outs, protests for everything, women’s rights, minority rights, against the Vietnam war (although I was too young and ignorant to understand that one, but it meant a day without school) and on and on. The right to protest and be heard sets an example for rogue regimes across the world – we may not all agree but its important to be heard. We’re losing some of that too.

    Funny, all I heard was we want to take your guns and make it so you can not protect you and your family.  To prove our good intentions we will march on you.  I got it in one and purchased more ammo.  The only thing the school shooting proved is when you need protection expect the government to stand by and watch then try to take away your ability to defend yourself.  Now planing to buy more ARs to prove I got the message loud and clear.  I read the placards, these folk want my guns and to leave me and mine defenseless and maybe lock me and mine up.  I really liked the Death to the NRA sign.  I am a NRA member.  I have been threatened, I will respond accordingly.

     

    • #11
  12. Guruforhire Inactive
    Guruforhire
    @Guruforhire

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):
    I am a NRA member. I have been threatened, I will respond accordingly.

    As will I.

    • #12
  13. Songwriter Inactive
    Songwriter
    @user_19450

    EEM (View Comment):
    Especially when this situation is so complex.

    Bingo. But as a society we seem intent on finding quick, simple answers to everything. No long-term solutions will do.

    • #13
  14. DavidBSable Inactive
    DavidBSable
    @DavidBSable

    A while back I listened to Malcolm Gladwell podcasts.  He is not on the Conservative side of the aisle and he often sees the world with race colored glasses.  However be did a podcast on a protest at a University over race where a protester went on a tirade claiming the University owed her.  Yet, here she was a student enjoying all the benefits.  His conclusion was sound:  True protest should cost something.

    Throughout the ages, people protested.  The early church stood against Rome to their death.  Likewise the church reformers and Anabaptist.  Martin Luther King’s protest put it on the line.  Jews remained Jews to great ostracization.  Labor unions gave up their livelihood to protest for fair wages.  Multitude of examples others can bring.

    But what kind of protest is this if it doesn’t cost anything?  Is just another Facebook selfie opportunity?  Were there parents there taking pictures to put in the family scrapbook?  “Oh, Look, my little Tonya is protesting the establishment just like we did! I’m so proud!”  Will it go into the school yearbook under student activities?

    If this was a protest of sound, thoughtful conviction and the system is so unjust that protest is the only option, it cost the protester something.  This cost proves the genuineness of the concern because I wouldn’t pay the cost if I didn’t really believe in the cause.  All this exercise taught is that “protest” is a field trip like visiting the zoo.  Real protests cost something.

    This is the lesson lost.

     

    • #14
  15. EEM Inactive
    EEM
    @EEM

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    This is nothing new. These kids found something deeply disturbing in this issue and they actually have a united voice on something rather than yelling at each other. As one kid said, 17 people dead in six minutes, in a school, where you are supposed to be safe. I agree with them. They are done with it.

    Notwithstanding the fact that not all kids’ voices were represented yesterday, you really think this was a spontaneous, organic, grass-roots, youth-inspired event?

    • #15
  16. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    DavidBSable (View Comment):
    Real protests cost something.

    Yes. And those kids should be able to succinctly express their thoughts if it is a school worthy task.

    I don’t think they did. More like plagiarism or regurgitation of someone else’s words.

    • #16
  17. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    EEM (View Comment):
    you really think this was a spontaneous, organic, grass-roots, youth-inspired event?

    Nope.

    School administrations had quite uniform responses, which seemed part of the event template.

    • #17
  18. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I would like to see a pro-life group help organize kids who are willing to conduct a protest against abortion. The kids could still lead it; they could conduct it before school hours. Only one sign, and the kids could stand together silently in prayer and meditation. I think it would be terrific.

    • #18
  19. EEM Inactive
    EEM
    @EEM

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    I would like to see a pro-life group help organize kids who are willing to conduct a protest against abortion. The kids could still lead it; they could conduct it before school hours. Only one sign, and the kids could stand together silently in prayer and meditation. I think it would be terrific.

    I would, too. But to have the same sort of impact, it would have to be nationwide. And to my original point–putting these school administrators to the test–maybe during school hours. It’s not easy to buck the system, but the “other side” seems to have no problem doing so. Maybe because they know the dominant media will have their backs, but still.

    • #19
  20. DavidBSable Inactive
    DavidBSable
    @DavidBSable

    Notwithstanding the fact that not all kids’ voices were represented yesterday, you really think this was a spontaneous, organic, grass-roots, youth-inspired event?

    Yesterday on Three Martini Lunch they made a point about how Nickolodean Kids was taking the same 17 minute break from pre-school programming because toddlers care so much about this issue.

    • #20
  21. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    Nickelodian kids, oh, brother.

    The fact that even exists is part of our cultural problem.

    • #21
  22. Ralphie Inactive
    Ralphie
    @Ralphie

    When my kids went to school, they were demanding doctor’s notes if they missed a day.  Orthodontist appointments, we were told, should be made after school got out. The ortho  said he wasn’t changing his hours. It was mandatory that they not miss a minute of school.

    There are many things wrong with the education system, and millions of children are not being served by it. Kids should walk out about that. And for longer than 17 minutes. I know they are in the form of charter, private and homeschooling.  And they should keep it up.

    I took my kids out once to see GH Bush campaign in Saginaw, and they still remember that. It was educational.

    • #22
  23. SirZog Member
    SirZog
    @

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    No one is advocating a destruction of the 2nd Amendment,

    That’s exactly what is being advocated.  “No one” my rear end.

     

    • #23
  24. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    We were instructed not to assess during the 17 minute walkout.

    The event was cloaked as student led, but I believe the event, and the uniform administrative response was part of the template that was pushed by the organizers.

    https://www.womensmarch.com/empower/

    This is the promoting organization.

    • #24
  25. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    No one is advocating a destruction of the 2nd Amendment

    Dream on.

    Bret Stephens. Yes, that Bret Stephens.

    We need to repeal the Second Amendment because most gun-control legislation is ineffective when most Americans have a guaranteed constitutional right to purchase deadly weaponry in nearly unlimited quantities.

    • #25
  26. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    EEM (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    I would like to see a pro-life group help organize kids who are willing to conduct a protest against abortion. The kids could still lead it; they could conduct it before school hours. Only one sign, and the kids could stand together silently in prayer and meditation. I think it would be terrific.

    I would, too. But to have the same sort of impact, it would have to be nationwide. And to my original point–putting these school administrators to the test–maybe during school hours. It’s not easy to buck the system, but the “other side” seems to have no problem doing so. Maybe because they know the dominant media will have their backs, but still.

    I see a response a bit differently. Thousands of schools wouldn’t need to do it, but if there were 50 or 100 or even more nationwide, it would make a statement. Also, I think that if some of the schools who have students and parents who are pro-life saw that other schools were signing up, there might be a groundswell. Finally, I still think that doing it before or after school would be important. I don’t want us violating our values around the importance of school attendance compromised to practice the same bad behavior that they showed. The point would be that we can make peaceful, powerful statements in great numbers and stay true to our values.

    • #26
  27. EEM Inactive
    EEM
    @EEM

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

     

    I see a response a bit differently. Thousands of schools wouldn’t need to do it, but if there were 50 or 100 or even more nationwide, it would make a statement. Also, I think that if some of the schools who have students and parents who are pro-life saw that other schools were signing up, there might be a groundswell. Finally, I still think that doing it before or after school would be important. I don’t want us violating our values around the importance of school attendance compromised to practice the same bad behavior that they showed. The point would be that we can make peaceful, powerful statements in great numbers and stay true to our values.

    Take the higher ground, you mean? I like it!

     

    • #27
  28. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Hitlers’ youth shouting and saluting were doing so from their deep historical  and moral insights?  Kids that age know nothing, they might as well be Hollywood starlets spouting something from their deep educational backgrounds which where frozen at about the age of these kids but they at least had drive and purpose that made them starlets.  These kids are animal farm sheep and the people who manipulate them  the pigs.

    • #28
  29. OkieSailor Member
    OkieSailor
    @OkieSailor

    So many similarities to the unilateral disarmament protest marches of the 60’s and 70’s. A basic misunderstanding of how the world works coupled with an overriding emotional commitment to an unworkable ‘solution’ to a problem that is either unaffected by the proposed action or made worse by it. They deserve a chance to speak but do not deserve to be elevated to a position of wisdom they haven’t begun to have earned. These are the modern ‘useful idiots’ of the current statists enemies of liberty. Communists? It doesn’t matter, historically any version of extreme statism is the enemy of Liberty. They have to destroy liberty to have full control of the masses. That is the fight we have always faced, just the terms and faces change not the tactics.

    • #29
  30. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    OkieSailor (View Comment):
    So many similarities to the unilateral disarmament protest marches of the 60’s and 70’s. A basic misunderstanding of how the world works coupled with an overriding emotional commitment to an unworkable ‘solution’ to a problem that is either unaffected by the proposed action or made worse by it.

    Not to mention clandestine Russian help. Today, it’s different, perhaps even worse in that non-state actors such as Soros are in the mix and social media is a tremendous force multiplier.

    • #30
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