“On March 5, a nationwide event entitled ‘Students Strike for Books, Not Bombs” will take place. College students are encouraged to walk out of class and participate in day-long activities conducive to bringing world peace. The walkout also serves to protest the general actions of the Bush administration….”
(i.e. we really don’t have an objective so we’re just going be say we’re anti-Bush)
This was included in Student Announcements and my response is to ask “What has Skidmore Done Wrong?”
Generally, walking out of class and disrupting the daily activities of a school is done to protests actions taken by the administraion or other authorities. Skidmore College has made no statement either in support or dissent of the war. Skidmore College has made no statement either in support or dissent of the Bush administration. Skidmore College does not force its students to take a position. So why do you want to disrupt the activities of an institution that has no affect on the policies of the president or his administration?
The main purpose of a college is to educate its students (well..that’s debatable, but let’s pretend to be idealists here for just a minute) Ideally: We, as students, have the opportunity to learn everyday, to participate in discussions, read books, interact with professors and our peers. It is an opportunity we should not take for granted. By walking out of classes in protest of issues that Skidmore has nothing to do with you are disrespecting your professors and your peers.
(Furthermore, if you are against Bush’s stance on education, isn’t walking out of a classroom WHERE YOU ARE BEING EDUCATED, counter-productive?)
In addition, who are these ‘activities towards promoting peace’ supposed to help? Do you think Bush really cares that some students, at some schools are against him? He has publicly stated that he does not care what public opinion says, he will do what he feels best for the security of the country. Bush is taking the power of the executive office to the extreme – and much as we (I) disagree with him, I don’t think he has overstepped his rights as President.
Finally ‘walk-outs’ are rather immature and went out of fashion in middle-school (any one from VMS remember the planned ‘walk out’ to protest the fact that we didn’t get a Halloween parade or something equally ridiculous?). If you want to participate in anti-war activites, do so on your own time. If these activities will really be going on all day, you will have plenty of time to partake in them. If you do choose to skip class, accept the consequences.
It would please me to no end if all professors to penalized students who don’t attend classes for these activities in the same manner they would anyone on any day, but no matter how harsh an attendance policy is on the syllabus, it is usually rather lax.
But that’s another rant, right?
