In New Jersey, a Civics Lesson in the Internet Age (Students protest budget cuts)

[MattSh]

It was a silent call to arms: an easy-to-overlook message urging New Jersey students to take a stand against the budget cuts that threaten class sizes and choices as well as after-school activities. But some 18,000 students accepted the invitation posted last month on Facebook, the social media site better known for publicizing parties and sporting events. And on Tuesday many of them — and many others — walked out of class in one of the largest grass-roots demonstrations to hit New Jersey in years.

The protest disrupted classroom routines and standardized testing in some of the state’s biggest and best-known school districts, offering a real-life civics lesson that unfolded on lawns, sidewalks, parking lots and football fields.

The mass walkouts were inspired by Michelle Ryan Lauto, an 18-year-old aspiring actress and a college freshman, and came a week after voters rejected 58 percent of school district budgets put to a vote across the state (not all districts have a direct budget vote).

“All I did was make a Facebook page,” said Ms. Lauto, who graduated last year from Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan, N.J. “Anyone who has an opinion could do that and have their opinion heard. I would love to see kids in high school step up and start their own protests and change things in their own way.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/nyregion/28jersey.html

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[ejpoeta]

1. that's saying something if they ALL participated. strength in numbers.

will it help them in the end? who knows. but kudos to them. i believe education should be one of those areas where we invest without worrying how much we are spending so much. it's like driving your car around without bothering to put oil in it. without checking to see if you need oil because you don't want to have to spend that $2 on a quart of oil. eventually your engine may start knocking and blow up.. (i know!) and how much is it going to cost you to fix that blown engine because you didn't want to spend $2 on a quart of oil!

[stray cat]

2. If they are successful someone else will get the budget cuts

protesting may protect some things from happening which may be good but it doesn't create money needed to pay the states bills

[MadHound]

3. Yeah, like maybe the prison system, which is stuffed to the gills with non-violent drug offenders

Horrors, can't have that happen.

We need to start putting some action behind the rhetoric that education is one of the most important priorities in this country, don't you agree?

[DainBramaged]

4. Christie is scum, his statement reflects that

Michael Drewniak, the governor’s press secretary, released a statement on Tuesday saying that students belonged in the classroom. “It is also our firm hope that the students were motivated by youthful rebellion or spring fever,” Mr. Drewniak said, “and not by encouragement from any one-sided view of the current budget crisis in New Jersey.”