Scott Walker's Anti-Union Bill Prompts Wisc. Student Walkouts

UPDATE: All during Friday, Facebook groups and Twitter users have been urging students to rally in support of teachers and public education in Wisconsin.

By 5:15 p.m. ET, studentactivism.net reported that students from 19 states participated in the Wisconsin Solidarity School Walkout; some students plan to continue student activism into next week.

The citizen journalism news blog, The UpTake, is currently hosting streams from today's events.

WATCH:

theuptake on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

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Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker's bill to end collective bargaining for public employees passed the state senate on Wednesday. In reaction, Wisconsin high school students are planning a nationwide walkout in order to send a unified message in support of public education.

A Facebook event labeled Nationwide Student Walkout already has more than 5,000 people "attending." The group asks for the nationwide walkout to happen this Friday, March 11, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. local time.

Started by statewide coalition Wisconsin Students in Solidarity, the group states their goals are "outreach, education and action." An open letter signed by Sheboygan's Asher Heimermann and Madison East High School senior Jesse Banks lists the three reasons students feel compelled to act:

1. That a strong public education system is not only our right as young people, but is vital to the success of the democratic process. 2. That the reforms proposed by Governor Walker and Republicans in the state government are an outright attack on the solvency and quality of the education system. 3. That the importance of balancing the state budget should not outweigh the importance of the programs that the state provides.

Students hope this grassroots effort will not only bring attention to events in Wisconsin, but create a forum to discuss "the future of public education as a whole," explains the letter.

For more information on how to get involved and photos from this week's demonstrations in Wisconsin, visit Facebook.

Comments

[TheFishisBack]

12:32 PM on 03/21/2011

Those kids are clueless. They are the same dolts that vote Dem until they have a career and start making money.

[Lucas Horsman]

01:15 PM on 03/21/2011

you do know it isnt just students its teachers as well. also there are people holding up signs that say, and i quote "Not a Republican anymore".

[chucknchar]

11:38 AM on 03/27/2011

And you're the corporate ass sucking droid who have enabled them and give the elites all they want in living the good life at the expense of Americans and their community and country.

Shame, shame on you.

[TheFishisBack]

08:12 PM on 03/27/2011

May I ask what company you work for, if you even work at all?

[cmr11]

10:47 AM on 03/15/2011

i see the republican/teaparty programed response it still to minimize and dismiss any and all actions taken against walker and his ilk. today it's walkouts don't matter, kids will do anything to get out of school.....

why is texas broke and having the same problem as wisconsin? they are right to work and have no teachers union........ according to the rightwingnuts they should be rollin fat....... it didn't fix anything.......

[John Melgar]

01:45 PM on 03/14/2011

kids would do any thing to get out of class, walk outs are not effective any more

[mrpotatohead]

02:59 PM on 03/14/2011

I certainly would have done anything to get out of class, but I would strongly disagree that walk-outs are ineffective. That's just what people in their faulty towers want us to believe.

Besides, walk-outs are just the beginning...

[LearnMe]

12:25 PM on 03/14/2011

SchoolLess wanted to know why there aren’t more protests in this country. My short answer—Scitcha was on his way, the clarinet was calling, I hadn’t written a post in over a week—was that we live in a police state and don’t even know it. And we isolate ourselves: in likeminded communities, in our homes, and in our minds. If things are going well, people say, “Well, the war sucks, but I have a nice car and good bottle of Cabernet.” If things aren’t going well, people say, “My life sucks, I don’t have time to worry about anybody else.”

We all know: “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it” (MLK). Yet we persist in our passivity. The only potential contributions I make to the greater good are through my writing (limited, at this point, to this rantish blog, the value of which is dubious at best) and my children (or students), who may or may not change the world for the better. http://learnmeproject.com/2011/01/14/unity-coherence/

[PRR Fan]

11:14 AM on 03/14/2011

Student solidarity? Oh please, it wasn't that long ago that I was in high school and 99% of them would've been happy to have any excuse to get out of class. And that last statement serves to demonstrate how naive' and idiotic these children are. The laws of economics don't care what people "need" or what the government "should" do.

[mrpotatohead]

03:00 PM on 03/14/2011

Many of the students I talk to know that there are two paths - an education or poverty. Even working in the low-rung jobs requires literacy and computer skills.

[Lucas Horsman]

12:57 PM on 03/15/2011

I dont know if its wrong to want to punch your face in but heres the thing that you need to get into your head. Many kids in the state didnt just go home during the walkout they went to protest so it wasnt just to get out of school. You need to stop with your Reactionism beliefs. This isn't just some "Idiotic" High school kids this is a real thing going on. If you stop unions you stop the minimum wage. Also you say it wasnt long ago that you where in high school so tell me when you where out of high school and looking for a job you probably wanted one that payed well. If that is the case do you not want these kids to get a good job?

[TheFishisBack]

12:34 PM on 03/21/2011

They just watched woodstock and thought it was cool to act like hippies and protest. I am sure they were smoking blunts and listening to John Lennon as well.

[kengault]

11:13 AM on 03/14/2011

America's college students. When you've been away from your mommies for a while; when you've shown that you can handle the rigors of academia ... and, most important, when you've actually spent some time on your own earning your own living, taking care of your own needs, filing out your own tax forms, and living free of the parental and academic umbilical cord ... then maybe we'll be willing to listen to something you have to say.
Less than half knew about federalism, judicial review, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and NATO.
Since the vast majority of the students tested are products of public schools, the results represent a comprehensive indictment of public education, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers."

[LawrenceRoth]

11:01 AM on 03/14/2011

Students are more in touch with politics than the members of the teabagger astroturf Koch funded anti-American group.

[TheFishisBack]

12:35 PM on 03/21/2011

an you are? LMFAO!!!!

[allengoldchain]

10:36 AM on 03/14/2011

Were these students even learning anything before all this happened.

NOPE

[bigmadd]

10:01 PM on 03/12/2011

And they say Public Education doesn't work! These kids just proved the Republicans wrong! They understand the end result of Walkers attack on Public Education does to them and their futures these Young people give this 60yr old man hope for our Country, Our future is bright with these kids coming up to the helm

[madame48]

07:53 PM on 03/12/2011

this is WAGE CAPS...and the WAGE CAPS will be gutting non-union pay too...for all you union haters..YOU TOO will get WAGECAPS...but no cap on gas...food..shelter

[SOD]

12:00 AM on 03/14/2011

Maybe you missed the memo? Collective bargaining remains intact for wages.

[fredvh]

09:44 AM on 03/14/2011

only at cola rates.
if a department or district has proven themselves and they and their studens excell, why can't they be honored with money?
if a school board wants to pay above a cola raise, why can't they?

[mlaiuppa]

07:30 PM on 03/12/2011

If they're paying attention in government and civics classes, then they know the Republicans are systematically disenfranchising them through what amounts to a poll tax, demand for an ID card that most students don't have and can't qualify for in order to register to vote.

[pilseung]

04:23 PM on 03/12/2011

Sadly, any time "liberals" (Basically anyone who doesn't agree with Republicans) have a walk-out or strike, or protest, they're disregarded by the right as lazy, and not doing anything because they expect something for nothing.

This is hardly the truth, but time and time again this is the logic they use. They will never receive the message. A rock sees more than they do.

[bigmadd]

10:07 PM on 03/12/2011

A hard working liberal agrees with you but we must stand up and not back down we can only get stronger if we "Unite against the Right". You now have 4 fans.

[fozzi58]

09:05 AM on 03/14/2011

Great port. Up to 5

[ChicagoDMT]

12:22 PM on 03/12/2011

FIGHT BACK AMERICANS

The top 1% owns 43% of the wealth; the next 4% owns 29% of the wealth. THE BOTTOM 80% SHARE ONLY 7% OF THE FINANCIAL WEALTH.

THAT'S INSANE!

Republicans are pitting workers in that 80% against each other. The poorest are meant to pay so the richest can become richer.

There's a great pie chart on Flickr. Go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37566903@N02/5500300007/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Click on "Download" and print it out and pass it on!

I've been leaving copies in restaurant booths, public restrooms, waiting rooms, shopping carts, etc.

When I quote the wealth distribution figures to people, they don't believe me. When I prove it to them, they are shocked.

We need to get this information out, and since the media isn't going to do it, we have to do it ourselves.

[corwin]

05:43 PM on 03/12/2011

You need help.Haldol is cheap,but with side effects.Probably one of the newer anti psychotics. But, you need help

[madasamarchare]

06:37 PM on 03/12/2011

There you guys go again - any time anyone brings up well established facts, you guys are right there to make snarky comments. No offer of an opposing viewpoint, no intelligent discussion on the issue, no links provided to show evidence to the contrary, just mean and dismisive comments more befitting a junior high school diva than an adult.

Do you think you're funny? The rest of us think you're cognitively disabled.

[Rodger leMonde]

09:10 PM on 03/12/2011

Familiar with anti-psychotics are you?

[bigmadd]

10:02 PM on 03/12/2011

this is good I well, you fanned

[TheDuke75]

11:47 AM on 03/12/2011

Out of the mouths of babes come words of wisdom. Asher Heimermann and Jesse Banks appear wise beyond their years and we could learn from them. My hats off to them.

[SOD]

12:04 AM on 03/14/2011

"Asher Heimermann and Jesse Banks appear wise beyond their years and we could learn from them."

If so, these two are exceptions to the rule.

Adolescents are inexperienced, impulsive, impressionable and gullible creatures.

I know, I was one of them about twenty years ago.

It's also quite likely that they have been manipulated by parents or faculty.

[fredvh]

09:46 AM on 03/14/2011

quite likes they have been manipulated by parents or faculty?
do you know this as fact?
are you saying these high school kids don't have their own minds? that they can't decide for things on their own?

[TheDuke75]

11:56 AM on 03/14/2011

Manipulated or taught well? Maybe they've read and educated themselves to the issues at hand and formed opinions. Are you saying they shouldn't be free thinkers? Or are you afraid they are free thinkers and that goes against your grain?