Students who oppose the military were among the collection of whackos, moonbats, and unemployed "activists" protesting the Republican National Convention this week, and their exploits are lovingly detailed in this article on EdWeek:
Now 17 years old, Ms. Gordon-Loebl, a Manhattan public school student, is a more seasoned activist, but no less strong-willed. On Aug. 29, the day before the Republican National Convention opened, the high school senior-to-be joined tens of thousands of protesters in a march that took them through the heart of Manhattan past Madison Square Garden, the site of the GOP gathering...
Many of the student-protestors vented anger over a provision in the No Child Left Behind Act, the sweeping federal education initiative Mr. Bush signed into law in 2002, that requires schools to give military recruiters greater access to students' personal information and makes it more difficult for districts to bar the recruiters from high school campuses. Those policies, at a time when the United States is immersed in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, seemed to galvanize many of the activists...
"A school's a place for knowledge, a place to learn, not necessarily what to think but how to think," said Ms. Gordon-Loebl, wearing sunglasses over her close-cropped hair. "To have militaristic propaganda, to have the government recruiting for combat, for war, for violence, is wrong. ...A lot of people say well, it's so easy to turn down a military recruiter. But a lot of people really don't have other options. They're recruiting people to go die for them. It's not [students'] cause."
I can't say I believe Ms. Gordon-Loebl has learned much about "how to think," not if she's merely parroting the standard bumper-sticker slogan that "War is wrong." She also obviously doesn't think much of other students' rights to choose their own causes and make their own decisions.
Numerous students pointed out that the maximum Pell Grant award has remained stagnant under the Bush administration (at $4,050 a year), and they predicted that rising tuition costs will force them to take out more loans, work more off-campus jobs, and eventually graduate with larger debt.
"The Bush administration has not been friendly to college students, and students in general," said Ashwini Hardikar, 19, who attends the University of Michigan. "Higher education should be a right, not a privilege. Overwhelmingly, it's the privileged classes that have access."
Ah, there's the classic "it's a right, not a privilege!" argument, which translates to "Give me more of your money now!" Hardikar could benefit from a few economics classes at U Mich, where hopefully they will convey the fact that someone has to pay tax money for all those grants and loans, and that working one's way through college has traditionally been thought of admirable, not pitiable.
But hey, there is one kid in the crowd with some sense - and he's from New Jersey, to boot:
Not all students in Manhattan that day were keen on the protesters' message. Michael Garson, 16, caught a glimpse of the protestors not long after he and his family exited their train, having just arrived from Marlboro, N.J. He blamed the activists for taxing security forces that were already burdened with the week's security concerns.
As the New Jersey student saw it, the protestors' worries about education issues were overblown. Students still had every right to turn down military recruiters' overtures, he said, despite what the activists claimed; and when it comes to paying for college, there was no reason the federal government's obligations needed to grow.
Posted by kswygert at September 1, 2004 10:52 AM