Students walk a fine line with school
Students across the country staged a school walkout steeped in political protest – an event driven by frustration and anger because things were not going the “right” way. And if the situation didn’t soon change, the students stated, there would surely be more victims.
Sounds like an apt description of the nationwide school walkout occurring today week to protest gun violence. But it’s not.
It actually described the walkouts staged in November 2016 after Donald Trump was elected president.
“Their anger and frustration were (that) their ideals didn’t line up with who they perceived got into the government … they needed time to process that,” stated the principal of a Seattle high school, where hundreds of students staged a walkout.
Sorry, but that’s unacceptable. It is ridiculous for high school students to protest a free and fair election (and stop right there: the Russians did not affect the outcome) by walking out of class, solely because they didn’t like the outcome. It smacks of entitlement (“how dare anyone but my candidate win”), intolerance (“if my candidate isn’t victorious, I won’t accept the results”), massive insecurity borne of coddling (“how are we possibly going to survive? The end is near!”), and a little selfserving calculation thrown in for fun (“Gnarly … let’s get out of class and milk this for all it’s worth!”).
What does this have to do with the current student protest? A lot. Consider: 1) The question must be asked: What is the true message of this walkout? First, we heard it was to honor the 17 students and staff killed in Parkland, Fla., by walking out for 17 minutes and/or keeping silent during that time. That would be an eminently honorable thing to do. But things changed.
Like everything in today’s America, the walkout became politicized, and morphed into a protest against gun violence – though who is actually rallying for gun violence remains a mystery. The final version, not surprisingly, is thousands of high schoolers ostensibly railing against the evils of guns themselves, as they try (mostly unsuccessfully) to articulate their perceived panacea of banning guns.
This column isn’t the place to debate such positions (though they are misguided, unconstitutional and potentially dangerous). But without question, they are not valid reasons to disrupt school. Students should resist being political pawns of agenda-driven adults, and their elementary and secondary schools should not be used as political forums. It’s bad enough that our students can barely compete with their international counterparts, but throwing politics into the mix will just make things worse.
2) In no way does that imply that young people should not have a public voice. They certainly should, and social media gives them an unprecedented platform to organize, communicate and possibly affect change. However, they should do so on their own time – not at the expense of the day’s teaching lessons and students there to learn.
3) A word to the wise to the young generation: If you want to be taken seriously, it isn’t enough to spew naïve platitudes and spout old talking points on social media. That’s not saying you are expected to become public policy experts overnight, but you have to put down the video games, invest the time, and do your homework. That thing called the Internet is loaded with facts (and fantasy); you must discern truth by using the critical-analysis skills that you hopefully learned in class, and formulate intelligent arguments. You want to disagree with the president, congressmen or the NRA? Or take issue with gun control organizations, liberal politicians and left-leaning Hollywood celebs? Great. But given that social media and press coverage have made your voice exponentially magnified, you better know what you’re talking about. It’s admirable to draw a line in the sand and stand opposed, but only if you can logically back up your arguments.
Middle America is growing tired of arrogant high schoolers espousing that their position is not just the right one – but the only one. Not only is that the height of intolerance, but often their positions become “demands.” And for the record, showing utter disrespect, such as calling legislators “child murderers,” doesn’t help the cause. Courtesy still counts.
Demonstrating tolerance and using well-constructed arguments are the best ways to shatter perception that you are simply spoiled high schoolers whose only gun knowledge prior to Parkland was being an “expert” in the shoot‘em-up video game Fortnite. Superficial social media “likes” notwithstanding, credibility matters.
4) Knowledge is power. And that is why schools should be educating, not condoning, protests. Yes, the Supreme Court ruled that First Amendment rights do not stop at school. And therefore, yes, students can express themselves – so long as learning is not disrupted. But that is a slippery slope, leading to questions in need of concrete answers.
Should students be allowed to walk out of class whenever they choose? And for whatever issue strikes their fancy? Must acceptable protests pass a political litmus test? (One wonders if protests would have been met with such “understanding” if students walked out following a Hillary Clinton victory). Can students take protests off campus? Where does the school’s liability start and stop? Can teachers join studentled walkouts? What are the walkout’s duration parameters – minutes, hours, days? Do walkouts count as absences? And if so, will multiple protests amount to truancy? Should schools be able to discipline students, by detentions and suspensions, to gain order?
Perhaps most ironic, with so many students coming and going, isn’t it exceedingly difficult to maintain the integrity of school safety?
Students have constitutional rights, but they are not unlimited. Large-scale walkouts and protests, by their very nature, are “disruptive.” If they proceed unchecked, it will amount to inmates running the asylum. And that hurts those who need help the most: The students themselves.
5) Let’s be very honest. Students are not the primary driver behind many of these protests. In fact, it has been reported that many leftleaning entities, from teachers’ unions to Move On, have facilitated organizing, fundraising and training for such walkouts. Sadly, that has led to the marginalization of Parkland’s victims, as they have been relegated to the back seat in favor of political agendas. Regardless of where students fall on the gun spectrum, all should feel resentment at being manipulated as pawns in someone’s ulterior motive game.
Student action has long been a part of American culture, as college protests helped end the Vietnam war and advance civil rights. But in our age of increasing intolerance, we must ensure that those who don’t participate are not labeled “uncaring” by the politically correct thought police.
It is encouraging to see so many young people engaged, but protesting for the sake of protesting – without a working knowledge of the problems, and concrete, realworld solutions to fix them – becomes a meaningless exercise. Likewise, walkouts done to generate “likes” so that a social media post goes “viral” (and the poster becomes a “sensation”) serve only to accelerate the trend toward total self-absorption.
Too many innocents have died at the hands of lunatics. We can’t change the culture of killing anytime soon – no matter what measures are taken – but the least we can do is honor the victims and their families in the most empathetic, genuine way possible.
For once, let’s leave politics at the door, put down our phones, and say a prayer.
Amen.