Gwinnett high school students walk out of class as part of nat'l protests against school gun massacres and gun violence (Atlanta: credit, high schools)

[Born 2 Roll]

The protests by students against gun violence at high schools all across the country came to metro Atlanta and Gwinnett County last week where students at multiple high schools in the county staged protests by walking out of class in the middle of the school day.

From the Gwinnett Daily Post:

Protests against gun violence continued at schools in Gwinnett on Friday, this time with students at Norcross High School walking out and expressing anger about a shooting that happened at a Florida school last week.

The students walked out at about noon and held a rally in front of the school, holding signs and calling for an end to gun violence. The protest at Norcross came on the heels of similar walkouts at Lanier, Collins Hill and Mill Creek earlier in the week.

After the protest at Norcross High School, videos began emerging of the walkout on Instagram and Twitter.

“Them students in Florida, that could have been us,” one student is shown telling his classmates in a video on Instagram. “It could have been you, it could have been you, it could have been your little brother or sister so you think we’re just going to stand here and not say something about this? We’re going to be protesting about this until the day something happens.

“Today we got the movement started, but the revolution never stops.”

Walkouts and public protests have been taking place around the country since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14. Seventeen people died from wounds they sustained during the shooting.

"Norcross students walk out of class in latest protest against gun violence" (Gwinnett Daily Post)
Norcross students walk out of class in latest protest against gun violence | News | gwinnettdailypost.com

[seussie]

Good.

[AnsleyPark]

I appreciate the students' activism; however, I wonder if their protests would be better received if they conducted them during lunch break, before classes or after school. In my humble view of the world, they are consuming precious resources (teacher time, taxpayer money) protesting during the time they should be learning. I can so both sides of this, though.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

I appreciate the students' activism; however, I wonder if their protests would be better received if they conducted them during lunch break, before classes or after school. In my humble view of the world, they are consuming precious resources (teacher time, taxpayer money) protesting during the time they should be learning. I can so both sides of this, though.

This IS a learning experience, and a very valuable one, and any school worth its accreditation would capitalize on it and turn it into the most powerful civics lesson of these kids lives.

[JPD]

Good. Keep it going, young folks. We all need your leadership on this, because the adults have utterly failed.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

I appreciate the students' activism; however, I wonder if their protests would be better received if they conducted them during lunch break, before classes or after school. In my humble view of the world, they are consuming precious resources (teacher time, taxpayer money) protesting during the time they should be learning. I can so both sides of this, though.

Basically, you just said that they're not protesting right. This is exactly what people said during the lunch counter protests, bus boycotts and more recently Black Lives Matter. A protest isn't about making people comfortable.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

I appreciate the students' activism; however, I wonder if their protests would be better received if they conducted them during lunch break, before classes or after school. In my humble view of the world, they are consuming precious resources (teacher time, taxpayer money) protesting during the time they should be learning. I can so both sides of this, though.

That is what Fulton County Schools suggested.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cparker73

Basically, you just said that they're not protesting right. This is exactly what people said during the lunch counter protests, bus boycotts and more recently Black Lives Matter. A protest isn't about making people comfortable.

And at the same time, you have to be willing to accept the consequences if you don't "do it right."

Imagine if they walk out on their job to protest something. They will lose their job.

[ATLTJL]

I wonder if their protests would be better received if they conducted them during lunch break, before classes or after school.

I'm sure that would be better received by school officials, but it would lose an awful lot of what they're trying to accomplish. It becomes much less of a news story if students protest after school than if they walk out of class.

The point they are trying to make is that they don't feel safe in schools and they don't want to be there until something is done. Do you think the Civil Rights protests would have been as effective if African Americans gathered lawfully in the black only sections of town? If Rosa Parks protested having to give up her seat AFTER she gave it up instead of refusing to do so?

The second word of civil disobedience is DISOBEDIENCE. Nobody cares about civil obedience.

In summary: They ARE doing it right.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by bu2

And at the same time, you have to be willing to accept the consequences if you don't "do it right."

Imagine if they walk out on their job to protest something. They will lose their job.

Unfortunately, Georgia is a right-to-work state, but if you walked out of a union job, you were ready for the hardship during the walkout. At the end of it, you still had your job and possibly better benefits.