OC Register: Students may be punished for walkouts

[question everything]

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Students may be punished for walkouts

By SAM MILLER and ERICA PEREZ
The Orange County Register

Students who on Monday protested a proposed immigration bill were back in class Wednesday but were facing discipline at many Orange County schools.

(snip)

About 4,700 county students walked out of schools Monday to protest legislation before Congress that would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant. In Santa Ana Unified, where some 2,800 students walked out Monday and 1,300 on Tuesday, students were back by Wednesday after a district translator spoke on a Spanish-language radio station urging parents to keep their kids in school. The district will hold Saturday school for truants, allowing the district to reclaim lost funding.

Rumors of a walkout had students agitated Wednesday at Marco Forster Middle School in San Juan Capistrano. Some approached teachers and administrators, asking for advice... At 9 a.m., the school found a compromise. Students could go to a community forum instead of physical-education class. Civic and district leaders discussed the legislation and answered questions. The most common question: "I'm a citizen. My parents aren't. What will happen to me if they're deported?"

(snip)

Police told Buena Park High students Tuesday the city would impose a daytime curfew by issuing truancy tickets.

(snip)

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/article_1079265.php

[Nickster]

1. That's it, make sure to pound apathy into their heads early. "Hey, if I

speak up, I'll just get punished and no one will listen to me anyways..." They should be thanking those kids for actually giving a darn about anything outside of what kind of cell phone they have and the latest fashions.

[Howardx]

2. its about $$$$$

the schools lose state money $28 per day per student in LA county, $500,000 according to the la schools boss for the recent walkouts.

[silverlib]

3. And that's where civil disobedience has the biggest impact...

the pocketbook. Good for the students!

[Nickster]

6. What's more important, the kids grow up as good citizens, or that they

lose a few days of state pay? They can treat those days like snow days and make them up on the back end.

Personally, I want that generation to grow up giving a damn about the important things and not being afraid to stand up and demand to be taken seriously as a part of the overall process of a society.

[Karenina]

10. Did they walk out

before or after attendance was taken?

[northzax]

5. welcome to civil disobediance

part of it is taking the responsibility for your actions. no one ever said it was painless.

[Nickster]

7. Oh I don't disagree. Myself, I'd take the punishment, but I don't think

most kids at that stage of development are quite capable of making that distinction themselves. Heck, I know adults who still can't... Anyways, I guess I'd feel better about if they made real sure to explain it in the fashion that you did.

[coalition_unwilling]

15. What is really disgusting is that society is allowing these

high-school students to act as the conscience of the country. Yes, no one ever said it was painless. For my money, the students should be walking out of L.A.U.S.D. and Orange County schools every day because the caliber of education they're receiving (especially now following NCLB) is little short of criminal, making Dickens' Hard Times look positively progressive by comparison.

[Star]

19. I'm so tired of this

What is your career? what job do you hold? How many people tell you what a poor job you are doing?

Its so easy to take complex issues and come up with the easiest solution of placing blame and pointing fingers.

The quality of education my high school students receive from me and the other teachers at my school is very high, and I strongly resent your characterizations. I spend a good deal of my free time (yes, including summers) grading papers, writing lesson plans, and attending Professional Development classes/courses/seminars to constantly improve my teaching. I hold Masters degrees in Oceanography and Science Education. I have achieved National Board Certification to teach science to young adults. Do you know the educational background and teaching experience of all the teachers in LA and Orange County?

We need to stop bashing education and start looking at the societal issues that affect how our children learn.

[coalition_unwilling]

21. I didn't mean to bash teachers at all. They're the system's

proletariat. But I actually interviewed two English teachers at L.A.U.S.D. (at University High) who told me their work had gone to hell because they were being forced to "teach to the test" required by NCLB. Based on my observations at that school and other L.A.U.S.D. warehouses, like Venice H.S., I think it's fair to say the kids are being "warehoused" and that the NCLB-inspired continuous assessments are the content analogue to the physical warehousing going on.

If there's any blame to be placed, it's most certainly not on the teachers, but rather on the type of society that creates the kind of public education system evident in L.A. County. Having gone through the teacher recruiting process at L.A.U.S.D., I would say that the problem (from my perspective) is L.A.U.S.D. They are the agents for NCLB, which is really fucking public education up, if my teacher interviews are to be believed.

You sound like the kind of teacher every one of these students should have the privilege of learning from.

BTW: I have a Master's in English (and am ABD). Also have a B.A. in History, with minors in French, German and Econ. (I was a perpetual undergrad back in the halcyon days of endless PELL grants.)

[Star]

23. Thanks, C=U

Sorry for jumping all over you like that, but usually when people bash the schools, its the teachers they're talking about first. I actually overheard two parents talking one night, and one said to the other that the teachers at the school were only at that particular ("low-performing") school because it was an easy, cushy path to retirement. Argh!!

NCLB, of course, is just another attempt at privatizing schools. Its ridiculous to think that any large group of people anywhere could eventually all become proficient in anything, but that's what's expected of the students in our schools regardless of their background, home life, language, or other issues.

the trick is to find a way to cover all the material required by the "standards" and still make the classes interesting and increase student's critical thinking and analysis skills. I'm still working on that!

[coalition_unwilling]

24. I applaud your effort, although I think it may be a Sisyphean task.

I'm sure your students really enjoy your classes. These English teachers I interviewed were far from "time-servers." They were incredibly dedicated and their students seemed to recognize that and respond to them affectionately for the most part. I was really moved by my observation(s) of their classes. Which made their telling me about the "teach to the test" bullshit all the more dis-spiriting.

BTW: Have you read Dickens' "Hard Times"? It might give you some interesting perspective on today's educational scene. It's a great read, also.

[BR_Parkway]

4. "allowing the district to reclaim lost funding" it's always about the

money, isn't it?

[northzax]

9. well, it's a lot of money

if the students aren't there for the day, and the school doesn't act, then they don't get their federal money for the day. it's about 5 bucks a day, per kid. Or should the teachers not get paid for that day, since the kids walked out?

[shanti]

13. it's more than five bucks a kid

another poster stated $28 which is about right. but did you know that even VERIFIED absences (such as being ill) are under this umbrella too?

[northzax]

14. of course, if the kid's not in school

then he's not in school. I meant to add a zero to say fifty bucks, but I forgot.

[MrPrax]

8. Why is this battle being ONLY

fought by high schools? Why the fuck aren't the teachers and OTHER folks walking out...

I find this encouraging as a lot of young people get a bad rap for political apathy, when in fact the kids are really showing up the hypocrites on the left for what they are...worthless phonies.

[coalition_unwilling]

16. I heard a call on KPFK this morning for a general strike on May 1.

Can't seem to find any information about it yet, but CIRNOW.org has information on actions planned for April 10.

[leQ]

18. my sentiment exactly... students are doing things adults should be doing.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. I don't think they want to open that can of worms

I know the good Republican voters of Orange County demand high standards of respect and obedience from their darker-skinned revenue consumers, but mass punishment usually comes back to haunt the punisher(s).

Little concerns like group stigmatization, denying the civil rights of young people (even if they are "dorsally moisture-enhanced"), the destruction of hundreds of thousands of families (many of whom still attend Sunday church services), etc.

SOME of the students walked out for ONE DAY; a much smaller number walked out for TWO. On DAY THREE, compromise was found within an hour of the opening of the school day. A guess the Superintendant figures that stern floggings all around will strengthen their moral fibres.

They might as well call their "Truancy Tickets" something truthful, like "Latino Labels". It's enough to make a Gringo with justice on his mind -- like me -- want to hoist the Jolly Roger and quote the rest of Mencken's quote that only Conservatives are allowed to without going on the No-Fly List.

Viva la Huelga y Viva la Lucha, kids.

--p!

[phoebe]

12. they cannot be punished for "truancy" which is a pattern of behavior

as opposed to a day of observing their rights to free speech and to congregate..plenty of threatened lawsuits will put a stop to this ridiculous stance by the schools.

[noonwitch]

17. This has always been the rule in school, for as long as I know

It's not some new rule. It isn't much of a protest if students are allowed to walk out en masse.

[Star]

20. Oh, this is such a complicated issue.

I’m a high school teacher in a very ethnically-diverse district in San Diego. I strongly support these students’ right to protest, their right to free speech, and their rights to fair and consistent immigration policies. However, too many of them have no idea what they’re protesting. They’re using the protests as a way to get out of school, as a way to show Mexican nationalism, and as a way to throw around their muscle. Not all of them feel this way, of course. Many of them have a grasp of the issues, but even many of those students have no real idea what they hope to achieve by protesting except that they don’t want their parents deported.

I’ve tried to use this issue to prompt discussions about the need to be politically and socially aware, and then to vote in every election, and some of them get that, but they really don’t want to expend any energy to learn. They just want to react.

As for the attendance policy, its just too bad that the money the district gets from the state is based on Average Daily student Attendance (ADA). It’s a terrible way to run a school district, but its all we have. If we lose money, we lose teachers and resources, so all students in the district are affected. Yes, one of the consequences of peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience is to inconvenience others, but in this case, its hurting our children rather than helping.

To me, walking out once gets the attention they want for their cause. The other demonstrations (such as the huge one in LA last weekend) should be held during non-school time. This issue is not a school-based one but rather a society-based one.

[BiggJawn]

22. We did a walk-out in 1973...

...to protest a much-loved teacher not getting his contract renewed.
We got 3-day suspensions.
I lost my role in the spring musical.
Did NOT increase my dating popularity.

And they still let the teacher go.

Sometimes you get your head busted. If it was easy and painless, everybody'd be doing it.