Garfield High School Students Walk Out Of Class, Protest Education Cuts (PHOTOS)

After the Washington state government proposed in a special legislative session to cut education funding as a way to close a $2 billion budget gap, hundreds of students from Garfield High School walked out of class in protest, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports.

"For too long, this state's budget has been balanced on the backs of its students," protest organizer Mathis Watson said in a statement to The Seattle Times. "We are the people who have been affected most by these cuts, and we are showing that we care."

According to the report, students left their classes at 12:30 p.m. to begin their walk to City Hall, where they met with students from West Seattle and Nathan Hale high schools.

There, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn spoke and shook hands with the students, as they chanted "no more cuts" in unison, according to The Seattle Times.

On its website, Garfield High School addresses the possible punishments for students who left class to protest:

"GARFIELD PARENTS/GUARDIANS-Announcement for 11/30: Any Garfield student who is considering being part of a student planned 'walk out' will not have their absence(s) excused UNLESS they have a note written from parent/guardian."

Earlier in the week, Garfield High School teacher Jesse Hagopian was arrested for protesting in the House chamber viewing gallery, King 5 News and the Associated Press report.

"I'm outraged that our state doesn't fund education," he told the station. "...That pushes teachers to have to take these kinds of actions... to get attention to our schools and school funding."

Check out photos from the protest below:

Comments

[lkberrykagan]

08:20 PM on 12/07/2011

a walkout for all seattle public schools is being planned for december 14th.

[vampyreincubus]

05:11 PM on 12/04/2011

how bad is it when only people with mental issues can see that what you all do is wrong?

[Nathan Train Douglas]

12:15 AM on 12/04/2011

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year. It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and planning-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year. I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. Wait a minute... The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!!!!

[Rothay]

11:30 AM on 12/03/2011

I'd better correct a typo here before the educated students sqawk again. The State of Washington is facing a huge budget shortfall of $2 billion. That's a lot of money by any standard. Washington is not alone. There are cities on the brink of bankruptcy nationwide. Not mentioned in the article on the Garfield students, of course, are the other cuts that the legislature have been forced to make - on social programs? It is certain that they had no choice but to cut everywhere. If you don't have the money you don't have it. That's a bit of basic life education that many of us have been confronted with. The students don't get it. They don't have to. A public school is funded by the hard pressed taxpayers.

[Rothay]

11:18 AM on 12/03/2011

What is not mentioned in this article can give rise to a misunderstanding as to what these students are really protesting about. This was started by Garfield history teacher Jesse Hagopian who compklained that the legislature was refusing to "fund basic education." Not included in the article was the fact that the State of Seatle is faced with a $2 billion budget shortfall. For anyone,with basic education, that means no money. Period. The cuts are to the Advanced Placement classes. The standard class curriculum is in place at Garfield. Algebra and geometry will continue to be taught. The cuts are to advanced classes with low enrollments for the most part. BC Calculus has fewer than 15 students enrolled (out of a school of over 1,450). Any bright student could get books from the bookroom at Garfield and download information on this to self-teach.Lifetime Sports has been axed. No loss there. But bands, clubs, spirit days and field trips are all alive and well. Cuts in French and Spanish (also with low enrollment)? In any language, there is no money in the public coffers. Go study architecture at your local library. Stay in class.

[Elizabeth44]

04:19 PM on 12/03/2011

What you failed to mention is the Constitution of the State of Washington requires providing basic education (k-12) to be the foremost duty of the legislature. The question is, of course, what constitutes basic education in this day.?

[Rothay]

09:04 AM on 12/04/2011

Elisabeth44, it also is a matter in this instance of what students consider to be basic education. I did some research. Only 15 students in the whole school of over 1,400 enrolled in the AP calculus class. Just 15. Basic education has always been reading, writing, and arithmetic. Then other subjects were essential. I got one of the finest educations in the world at a grammar school in England just after the war. At 10 we had a curriculum in additon to the 3 R's of: Physics, Chemistry, Geography, History, English Literature, Latin, French, Greek, Algebra and Geometry of course, and Art. We did not choose to take those classes. They were there and you had better be there, sitting at your desk, and learning. Back to GHS. Every state is required to provide basic education. Whether students attend is another matter. Many parents simply don't care and absenteeism is high at some schools. I know about education. I am grateful for mine and took advantage of it. If a student doesn't want to learn, skips classes - yes and walks out of classes, all the money in the world won't change that. Incidentally, Washington State is broke. It is making cuts everywhere. It is a matter of necessity. The Constitution of the State of Washington cannot conjure up money that isn't there.

[Nathan Train Douglas]

05:25 PM on 12/03/2011

Advanced Placement students should NOT be the ones punished for this solely on the basis that they can just "self-teach." I self-taught myself for four AP tests. Let me tell you, it is NOT an easy thing to do. I was forced to teach myself AP Spanish material since our regular Spanish IV class wouldn't cut it. Same deal for Calculus, Human Geography, and Comparative Government. Self-teaching IS NOT THE SAME as a classroom. To be competitive (especially for Ivy League schools) students need to load up on their AP credits to impress admissions. Not only do they serve this purpose, but successful completion of these tests allows students to fulfill general education requirements so that they can seek more education in their majors, or even add another major/minor.

Don't even get me STARTED on foreign language cuts. These classes are JUST as important as all the others (i.e. English, Math, and Science). Their enrollments are already to high. To learn a foreign language requires a great deal of teacher-student individual attention. If the teachers have to focus on too many students, they lose precious time that they could have spent refining pronunciation or other basic language skills. I know that all classes are like this, but foreign language is like this to an even greater degree. In foreign language, students are thrown into an unfamiliar environment, unable to use a language that they can (hopefully) speak effectively and with confidence.

[Rothay]

09:56 AM on 12/04/2011

Nathan - I am responding to your lament about foreign languages being taught. Firstly, it has always amazed me that schools in the USA provide language courses for just 2 years, and students can elect to study a language for just one year. It doesn't work that way. I studied French at a grammar school for 7 years, but it was when I went to live in Paris, France, that I became fluent in French - and still am and only because I read French and speak to French friends. That being said, it is a fact that most Americans are not interested in French, or any other language. No problem, neither are the British. I worked for OECD, an international think tank currently very much in the news, and colleagues in Paris refused to accept their offer of free French classes! English, Irish, American, no one was interested. I had a good friend at the time, a German girl, who spoke 8 languages with ease, but modestly said it was because Germany is surrounded by other countries and Germans neeed to speak the other languages. That also being said, I did some research of GHS. Spanish is one of the AP classes that has low enrollment. Washington State is not pinpointing languages, simply cutting courses that they deem non-essential and certainly which generate little interest. The State is broke! That's the reason for the cuts - everywhere, and believe it, beyond the school walls.

[sharon1122]

08:07 AM on 12/03/2011

These kids are to be admired. They were not afraid to stand up and be heard and for a good cause. If this was my child I would have had a long talk with them and in the end encouraged them to join this group. They did things in the right way and I am pretty sure most of the teachers wished they could have joined right along with them.

[garfieldstudent]

06:57 PM on 12/03/2011

thanks for your support.

[RevengeRook]

07:38 AM on 12/03/2011

This must be an illusion-----a protest with a worthy cause, initiated by our youth, and in the media.
I'm shocked. Wow--there just may be hope.............

[paul macleod]

07:33 AM on 12/03/2011

OMG.. a bunch of know nothing protesting ... dah what did he say we were protesting ? kick them all out of school for a few weeks .. that's how you save money... moronic activity by babies who have no experience , no knowledge of real budgeting, no actual dog in the fight , since education budget cuts usually don't extend into the classroom .... this folks is a " dah" moment

[Elizabeth44]

04:23 PM on 12/03/2011

these kids don't have a "dog in the fight"? Its their schooling, their advanced classes, the size of their classes, their specialty classes, their school buses... on the line.

[Mr Anonymous]

09:57 PM on 12/03/2011

"Education budget cuts usually don't extend into the classroom."

Where do education cuts usually extend to then?

[screwed by the system]

07:21 AM on 12/03/2011

the kids are right... its about time... school boards waste money on non-edcational programs...and junkets they want to go to at vacation spots.... a lot more control should be taken over those who waste tax dollars

[baydolphins]

07:12 AM on 12/03/2011

good for them, having kids collectively decide to do something to affect change is the American way.

[Rothay]

11:25 AM on 12/03/2011

Hmm. the only thing is you need educaton, know how, to effect change. Rah rah rahing it at the legislative building won't do it.History teacher Jesse Hagopian started all this - but wasn't among the protesters, interesting! The kids (and that's what they are) simply jumped on the bandwagon, good excuse in their view to cut class. I hope the school penalizes all of them for their bad judgment.

[Nathan Train Douglas]

04:06 PM on 12/03/2011

That would be like putting you in jail for the wrong affect/effect usage.

[Elizabeth44]

04:24 PM on 12/03/2011

I know, we'll suspend them for truancy!

[lippylulu]

07:00 AM on 12/03/2011

Good for the school and the kids for standing up for their beliefs and first amendment rights for peaceful assembly! You better beleive there are occupiers of the future and that is a good thing! Do we want a future filled with complacent non thnking robots who take whatever scraps are shoved at them, or people capable of critical thinking and taking part in government deceisions---as it was in the beginning?

[Rothay]

11:36 AM on 12/03/2011

Well now, LippyLulu, these students won't be capable of any kind of logical thinking or, heaven forbid, participating in government decisions, if they continue to exercise their "right to peaceful assembl"y" by cutting classes. First get an education. Then start talking about decisions for everyone else.

[Elizabeth44]

04:25 PM on 12/03/2011

They are getting an education. They are learning how government works first hand.

[GHS Student]

06:26 PM on 12/03/2011

If the government is proposing CUTS to our education how are we supposed to receive the proper education?

[NAVRETRD]

06:39 AM on 12/03/2011

Worse thing they can do is discount student power/protests, education is the # one job and future hangs on it.

[lifehub]

06:12 AM on 12/03/2011

So if people don't like it that the kids have protested, and the powers that be won't reinstitute the funding---then whose doorstep does this belong? Agree or disagree until the cows come home, but if anyone's going to complain for either side, you better come up with a solution.

[Rothay]

11:41 AM on 12/03/2011

>>> litehub - there is no problem so no solution need be sought. The State of Washington is faced with a $2 billion budget shortfall. That does mean that the expenditures far outstrip the money coming in by $2 billion.The legislature in Sesttle has cut back on those advance placement classes that are not necessary and above all and especially have low enrollment. So the students are protesting cuts to classes they don't even want to attend. The cows have already come home, they are in the miling shed, so let the students get their act together and get back to class.

[Elizabeth44]

04:27 PM on 12/03/2011

FYI: the legislature is in Olympia,.

[jcs977]

05:51 AM on 12/03/2011

this makes me sick, what do they need more money for, field trips, i pod computers, better musical instruments, more flat screen tv in classes, leather chairs and coaches in there lounges, books are not expensive noor chalk boards, you learn from books and testing with paper n pens ready and stuyd, this kids want this n that more computers more games, 80percent of this kids are not smart enough to go to an ivy league school, bunch of babies and future problems for our country, go landscpae, go do construction, work for the city, work as a nurse, go work and everyone of you punk kids can donate your owm money for you so called needs to your school, god bless the u.s red white and blue ungratefel kids is our futures problem

[baydolphins]

07:15 AM on 12/03/2011

I'm guessing you've been around the block a time or two by your tone...just because we are well past caring what happens (closer to death's door) doesn't mean we shouldn't support those who will be affected by the future, especially our children's, children

[j7vega]

07:25 AM on 12/03/2011

Sour puss at 3 o'clock! Ebenezer, should'nt you be gearing up for Christmas?

[benne841]

05:50 AM on 12/03/2011

And what about the Education cuts? How about the school administrators and state politicans cuting their four figure paychecks. How about cuting prison costs by setting free victimless crime inmates and thus cut court costs as well. How about raising taxes on citizens with kids in school? If your going to have kids, you better pay to have them educated.

[paul macleod]

07:36 AM on 12/03/2011

comeon you people bring it up a notch.. you likely have not seen the budget and the article did not say what was being cut. so how come you all are assuming that "GOOD" cuts were not made.. these kids need to be in class not protesting.. they no doubt have not seen the budget either.. come on smarten up all of you