Hundreds of school walkouts planned on Columbine anniversary

theFuToday  08:25 am JST

Do you walk out of work to protest? No. You'd be fired.

Actually I didn't walk out of work to protest because I choose to work in a country with sensible gun laws so that I don't need to publicly protest in order to protect my own safety. You can bet that if I were in the US, I would definitely walk out of work to join these protests, and as I'm a skilled worker, it is highly unlikely I would be fired for a single absence.

That is after all what we're trying to teach these young people to be, right? Skilled workers who can make choices for themselves on their own terms, not mindless factory drones who have no choice but to live by the shift bell?

Personally, I doubt very much that there is anything much that their teachers planned on this protest day that can't be made up another time,

Is your advance knowledge of the lesson plan for the day relate to a specific school or covers the whole of America ?

Protest on your own time.

Do you walk out of work to protest? No. You'd be fired. Teaching kids that walking out is fine, is doing them a huge disservice.

I am amazed at the gullibility here.

I was in high school. We "walked out of class" over some new law - or a pledge never to drive drunk or something like that. I don't even remember what anymore. Everyone did it. Why? To WALK OUT OF CLASS! It had nothing to do with demonstrating anything.

We spent the next 4 Saturday mornings in detention for skipping. The entire school, except a few people who didn't want it on their "permanent record" You know, the people getting appointments to military academies or some of the kids with diseases which made walking hard.

BlacklabelApr. 20  10:40 pm JST

The columbine shootings were before these kids were even born. How does it actually affect them?

I read there were students who went through the Stoneman Douglas getting coping advice from students who went through Columbine. It still affects them because people of our generations sat on their asses after Columbine and never actually fixed the problem that any disturbed individual can get a powerful firearm and mow down tens of innocent victims in seconds.

ulyssesApr. 20  10:22 pm JST

So it justifies kids missing out on education?? Two wrongs do not make a right.

There is something very disingenuous about claiming that missing a single day of school is missing out on "an education".

Personally, I doubt very much that there is anything much that their teachers planned on this protest day that can't be made up another time, but directly participating in the democratic principles the country was founded on in order to be involved in making the lives of American students less deadly, that's an educational opportunity that is quite rare. I would bet that whatever students went to this protest learned more there than they would have had they stayed in school.

zichiApr. 20  04:00 pm JST*

They are the future!

Yes they are, but it must be remembered that in “the future” these kids will be (for the most part) very different people compared to what we see now.

The human brain develops in stages throughout the maturation process, with different regions serving the function of executive control at different times. In a fully developed adult brain the prefrontal cortex, the region involved with reasoning, is fully integrated with the other regions of the brain and in that capacity exerts primary control.

The full development of the neural pathways necessary for the prefrontal cortex to dominate takes time. Starting at puberty, that process extends into the mid-twenties. During that developmental period the function of control is dominated by the amygdala.

The amygdala is responsible for inducing emotional and impulse reactions to outside influences, it is the source of the fight or flight reaction. The amygdala’s function does not included logic or reasoning.

So essentially, adults think with the rational part of the brain and teens and adolescents think with the emotional part. Conscious decision making, understanding consequences, complex cognitive function, moderating social behavior are functions of the prefrontal cortex. Emotional outbursts, impulsive behavior, hypersensitivity to perceived injury or threat are in the domain of the amygdala.

For some kids, the emotional, psychological and social chaos of the developmental years provides the impetus to achieve great things. For for many more this time is a scary and confusing period of their lives. This makes them especially vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by, let’s say, more mature minds.

For fairly recent examples of this one has to look no farther than the Khmer Rouge or the Red Guard. So yes these kids are the future but what that future will look like is anybody’s guess.

So this is obviously an issue that partisan adults are pushing on kids to spread fear and push political objectives.

You can think. It's convenient speculation that allows you to push aside the kids' messages since, in your eyes, the kids don't really feel this way, they're just being manipulated by others. We call that self-serving.

Those of us on the other side think that watching their classmates get slaughtered turned some of them into anti-gun advocates. Not surprising, underhanded, or illogical at all. Surely you can understand how some of us would think that.

Since columbine 122 kids, including the shooters, have died. While sad, that’s 6.24 people per year. 8 times as many people die from lightning strikes yearly. So this is obviously an issue that partisan adults are pushing on kids to spread fear and push political objectives.

How would something that happened before people were born outrage them unless adults with a political agenda encouraged it? Has there been such a nationwide walkout every year on the anniversary for the last 19 years?

A one-day walkout? Hardly irreparable damage, is it?

There are plenty of other anniversaries , so each day of missing school adds up.

But what is wrong with protesting outside of school hours, and do try giving a meaningful reply, not the eyeballs stuff.

Do your scales balance with a one-day walkout and filthy massacres of kids?

Pretty melodramatic stuff, but doesn't mean anything. This kind of self serving drivel is what is wrong with this whole thing. Nobody's stopping the kids from protesting after school, but that for some reason is not acceptable.

If the kids give up school for a whole year, that would make people notice for sure, do you think the scales balance out there?

The columbine shootings were before these kids were even born. How does it actually affect them?

People are still walking into schools and killing kids with firearms pretty regularly.

Appalling to think this filth has been going on since before these kids were born.

First, missing one day of school in America won't effect your test scores at all. To think the kids total education would be hampered my missing a day a month would even be a stretch.

On the other hand direct contact with organized groups that stand up to bad government is a civics lesson you'll never fully grasp from reading a book or listening to a lecture.

The columbine shootings were before these kids were even born. How does it actually affect them?

So it justifies kids missing out on education??

A one-day walkout? Hardly irreparable damage, is it?

Two-wrongs don’t make a right

Sometimes it’s worth checking what’s on the scales. On one side you have kids missing a few classes. On the other you have the monstrosity of people walking into schools and blasting holes in innocent kids. People blasting holes in innocent kids doesn’t happen in other developed countries on a regular basis.

Do your scales balance with a one-day walkout and filthy massacres of kids?

We are talking about innocent human beings getting mown down by bullets here.

So it justifies kids missing out on education?? Two wrongs do not make a right.

This isn’t an adolescent bleat about smartphone bans.

Didn't realize kids were marching for that?

”Hundreds of protests planned on Columbine anniversary”

Children protesting for a just cause, no unnecessary sensationalism and doing it in a productive way.

Anything wrong with that?

Nothing wrong with it at all. It just doesn’t carry the same impact which was my original point.

Given the inaction by bought and paid for politicians on this matter, I’d say you need to go for impact. Will it change anything? Probably not, but you need to give it some wellie.

We are talking about innocent human beings getting mown down by bullets here. This isn’t an adolescent bleat about smartphone bans.

Imagine this headline

”Hundreds of protests planned on Columbine anniversary”

Children protesting for a just cause, no unnecessary sensationalism and doing it in a productive way.

Anything wrong with that?

Hilarious, so if the kids protested outside of school hours, nobody would notice. Does the cause get diluted just because its not done from 08:00 to 15:00.

Imagine these two headlines:

“Hundreds of school walkouts planned on Columbine anniversary”

”Hundreds of after school protests planned on Columbine anniversary”

The first gets your notice and carries greater impact. Be honest.

It’s not as if these kids are protesting about school uniforms or smartphone bans.

They don’t want to get shot at school.

The only reason to do this during school hours is the same reason anyone does any protest ever - because it makes you notice it.

Hilarious, so if the kids protested outside of school hours, nobody would notice. Does the cause get diluted just because its not done from 08:00 to 15:00.

Hopefully the kids can keep up the momentum.

You mean kids giving up on school altogether ??

Hopefully the kids can keep up the momentum.

theFuToday  08:19 pm JST

The only reason to do this during school is so that 95% extra people, the lazy students, will join in. If this happened at 16:30 or on a Saturday, only 5% would show up.

The only reason to do this during school hours is the same reason anyone does any protest ever - because it makes you notice it.

They should protest outside school hours.

The only reason to do this during school is so that 95% extra people, the lazy students, will join in. If this happened at 16:30 or on a Saturday, only 5% would show up.

If I were their teacher, I'd schedule a mid-term exam on that date worth 40% of their grade.

Allow teachers and staff to carry guns: problem solved.

This gun "problem" won't be solved by protests. Train teachers and school staff in the effective use of firearms first

My parents made me go to school, Sun, wind, rain or storm and it built a discipline which helped me in my life. Not that we didn't care about politics, but we didn't let our education get affected.

@TorafusuTorasan , English is not my native language, and my grammar and spelling still better than 90% of Americans college students., besides that I speak another 4 languages... relaxed now?

You seem to have managed to understand my sentence too, so that little pointless microagression not really relevant.

These kids dont do it for any altruistic reasons besides skipping school ,which with US level of edication is borderline criminal....

I walked out of high school many times. Usually to buy concert tickets, Blizzard of OZ, the J Giels Band and such. We didn't have this high school violence back then. We also didn't have mindless fantasy killing video games and our nation wasn't in endless wars either. Hollywood and TV was a lot softer in them days too. Terrorism, violence and war shoved down the throats these days. Young unbalanced teens choosing an M-16 in a video game to shoot people are probably going to want the real thing some day. Add on top of that a fracturing of the family.

Organizers say there will be walkouts in every state,

What Organizers? Who? It would be great if this came from the bottom up, but I suspect it's coming from the top down. That rarely works. Just causes more division, but that's what Soros wants.

I guess us old f*** did our time in school without walking out, thats the reason we have jobs where we can squeeze out a few minutes without affecting our productivity.

I walked out on a couple of occasions. And I was serious about it too - it wasn't an excuse to get out of school. I was sure I was going to get in trouble for walking out both times.

"we can squeeze out a few"

That's enough from the codger brigade, back to the grindstone and no more bathroom breaks.

LOL at all the old folks here taking a break from work to post about how angry they are these kids are stepping out of school to express their opinions.

I guess us old f*** did our time in school without walking out, thats the reason we have jobs where we can squeeze out a few minutes without affecting our productivity.

The kids who want to walk out can look at better ways of protesting, education is important and the alternatives aren't too pretty.

LOL at all the old folks here taking a break from work to post about how angry they are these kids are stepping out of school to express their opinions.

Why do people keep patronizing these kids by portraying them as puppets of adults with agendas?

Has it ever occurred to some that these kids don’t want to get shot at school?

Does anyone here want to get shot?

@Alex Einz--Bringing up their education is laughable because you mangled this simple sentence: How DOES getting less education ACHIEVE anything? Go sign up for study hall, kid.

Yes. If its important enough, they can also do it totally on their own, without help from anti-gun or anti-Trump groups that are using kids to push partisan agendas.

What does getting on a bus, during school time not personal time, a free ride that is scheduled and paid for by someone else, holding a sign someone else transported and paid for, and chanting things other tell you to say teach you anything at all?

They can do it after school, weekends when the impact might be more.

"You don't need to be out of school all day to make your voices known," Chancellor Richard Carranza told students at Brooklyn Technical High School. "You've already made your voices known. So I'm going to ask you to stay in school."

That's right kids ! If you stay at school, you can learn about the Boston Tea Party, and that protest never leads to anything !

I wholeheartedly support these kids - okay, I'm not American, but I can empathise with them. They see kids their own age being slaughtered by gun-toting loonies and want to do something about it. Good on them.

"You don't need to be out of school all day to make your voices known,"

I think thats a sensible response. The issues are important, but cutting classes is not going to help. They can do it after school, weekends when the impact might be more.

While I totally support these kids it will unfortunately only fall on deaf ears. To change the current gunlaw something radical needs to be done, protests don't help unless they will protest RIGHT in front of the gun-supporters front door. Maybe then something will change.

Alex EinzToday 01:56 pm JST

how is getting less education achieves anything

Those little slackers, taking a stance on what they believe ! Only 21+ should be allowed to have opinions !

Anything to avoid homework.

All I need to know right here. Even Columbine themselves won’t and have not participated in a “walkout”

They also have received help from Indivisible, a left-leaning nonprofit based in Washington that helps boost grassroots activism. The group says it was formed after the 2016 election to oppose the policies promoted by President Donald Trump.

Its heartwarming to see young people take a stand for something good. When I see young people like these, I want to shake the hands of the parents who brought them up. The millenials today are conscious, somber, active and aware in ways that make us proud. Cheers to these young people saying no more to guns because the spineless lawmakers have their hands in the gun lobby pocket. Cheers to them.

how is getting less education achieves anything