Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, November 30, 2011
Occupy / Education Garfield Students: "Fund Our Future"
Posted by Goldy on Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 3:52 PM
- Goldy | The Stranger
- Garfield students hang banner overlooking rally at City Hall.
Organizers of today's march and rally of Garfield High School students couldn't have hoped for a better outcome. Several hundred students walked out of school around 12:30 pm to protest continued cuts in education funding, and marched to a rally in the city hall plaza. It was a large, enthusiastic, and diverse crowd—"The most diverse Garfield event I've ever been to," one student told me—and well behaved almost to a fault. Every time a student strayed into the street, others would call for them to stay on sidewalk, and bike cops had to repeatedly yell at students to continue crossing against the crosswalk light. It made for slow going.
Students, parents, teachers, and administrators should be proud.
- Goldy | The Stranger
- Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn talks with Garfield High School student protesters during a rally in the City Hall plaza.
"Fund our future!" the protesters chanted as they occupied city hall plaza, a demand that, really, no generation of students should ever have to make—in a civil society, this is the sort of thing that one generation just does for those that follow. But in this selfish era of budget austerity and ever lower taxes, high school students must now march to demand the same educational opportunities today's budget writers enjoyed in their own youth.
On the bright side, thanks to the general lack of leadership in Olympia and the inspiration of the Occupy movement, it looks like a new generation of activists are being created to assure that their own children don't need to wage the same sort of fight for basic education funding.
3
Awesome. Props to Garfield students.
How about the rest of the high-schools out there? What will your response look like? Perhaps shut down a major road? :)
How about the rest of the high-schools out there? What will your response look like? Perhaps shut down a major road? :)
5
1053 is largely responsible for our fucked up state budget...perhaps someone should go #Occupy Tim Eyman.
6
#2
Right and how many of them understand the difference between a sales tax, an income tax and an asset tax?
Based on the grown up versions of these kids, working for SLOG...none.
Right and how many of them understand the difference between a sales tax, an income tax and an asset tax?
Based on the grown up versions of these kids, working for SLOG...none.
8
I am damn proud of them. But perhaps City Hall wasn't the best place for the protest? Schools aren't funded by City Hall, or controlled by them (thank god). This a good thing though.
10
@Supreme Ruler Of The Universe I think you'd be surprised by how much us high school kids know about the different forms of taxation. I was one of the leaders of this protest, and I advocated for an increase in the dialogue on a graduated income tax. However, the purpose of this first protest was simply to raise awareness and inspire students to join in the political discourse. Be sure that in the future you will be hearing a lot of our ideas on taxation.
11
@Supreme Ruler Of The Universe I think you'd be surprised by how much us high school kids know about the different forms of taxation. I was one of the leaders of this protest, and I advocated for an increase in the dialogue on a graduated income tax. However, the purpose of this first protest was simply to raise awareness and inspire students to join in the political discourse. Be sure that in the future you will be hearing a lot of our ideas on taxation.
12
Not very bright students...they should have gone to Olympia where they make those decisions or at least to a school board meeting.
13
6 - As a participant, I guarantee my friends and I know more about economics than most Americans. Of course, more cuts are made to education, non-core subjects such as economics will suffer the most.
We were aware that the city does not control education funding, City Hall was simply the most effective location considering our resources.
By the way, we were NOT affiliated with the Occupy movement.
We were aware that the city does not control education funding, City Hall was simply the most effective location considering our resources.
By the way, we were NOT affiliated with the Occupy movement.
14
6 - As a participant, I guarantee my friends and I know more about economics than most Americans. Of course, more cuts are made to education, non-core subjects such as economics will suffer the most.
We were aware that the city does not control education funding, City Hall was simply the most effective location considering our resources.
By the way, we were NOT affiliated with the Occupy movement.
We were aware that the city does not control education funding, City Hall was simply the most effective location considering our resources.
By the way, we were NOT affiliated with the Occupy movement.
15
Cato, like many on Slog, tries to piss on anything positive that people are doing because he can't muster the nerve to take action himself.
GHS students: Ignore the negativity here...people in their 30s who've never had the courage to stand up to authority are jealous of younger folks like you who do. They live in a sad world and take it out on anyone trying to make their world better.
GHS students: Ignore the negativity here...people in their 30s who've never had the courage to stand up to authority are jealous of younger folks like you who do. They live in a sad world and take it out on anyone trying to make their world better.
16
If they march to olympia wouldn't they miss a lot of class? Sounds like a pretty smart bunch to me.
17
Cato, I been reading your negative comments for awhile now, but, really, attacking the kids? C'mon.
18
Hey if City Hall is determining the school budget then hell...good on the kids. Seriously, good on them and our educational system really is working.
I'll make sure to ask the mayor and the council members what they are doing to increase the school budgets.
And 15, perhaps you can tell us what you have done in civic work since apparently you know what I have done, or apparently not done? Or are you just talking out of your ass?
I'll make sure to ask the mayor and the council members what they are doing to increase the school budgets.
And 15, perhaps you can tell us what you have done in civic work since apparently you know what I have done, or apparently not done? Or are you just talking out of your ass?
19
Bravo. Now, kids, go home and convince your parents to stop voting for against school levies and for those stupid Tim Eyman tax-base-gutting initiatives, please.
22
We ARE funding your future, you little shitwipes.
(along with lots of goodies for ourselves.....)
And we're using your money to do it!
UWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
(along with lots of goodies for ourselves.....)
And we're using your money to do it!
UWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
23
Cato, the kids know City Hall doesn't determine the budget, but City Hall can influence the budget, and that doesn't even matter. What does matter is they organized themselves and took public action. The budget makers, I would assume, took note, students around the US took note, and another level has been added to a much needed public outcry. Sometimes this stuff is prose, sometimes it's poetry - the Garfield students were poetry.
@21 that's so patronizing. It's about time you kids woke up. Give me a break. The adults of this world are barely stirring from a lifetime of sleep, the kids have spent barely 17 years on earth - they've woken up a lot faster than most adults.
@21 that's so patronizing. It's about time you kids woke up. Give me a break. The adults of this world are barely stirring from a lifetime of sleep, the kids have spent barely 17 years on earth - they've woken up a lot faster than most adults.
24
@23, Why don't you stick to what I wrote instead of making wild ass suppositions about what I meant.
25
What else is happening at Garfield?
http://publicola.com/2011/12/01/rumors-o…
http://bit.ly/rIZ4Jz
Rumors of Muggings Lead Garfield High School to Close Bathrooms
Crime December 1, 2011 at 3:29 pm Jonah Spangenthal-Lee
Garfield High School closed its second and third floor bathrooms to students last month after rumors circulated throughout the school that students were being robbed in the restroom.
The rumors became pervasive enough that school officials took action, closing four of the school’s nine bathrooms (all boys’ restrooms) for three days in early October, according to Seattle school district spokesman Teresa Wippel.
The school’s principal went as far as notifying the school’s parent/teacher association about the rumors, but because Garfield staff were unable to identify any suspects, or find any victims, they did not report the rumors to police.
Wippel says Garfield closed the bathrooms in order to “isolate where [the incidents were] happening” so security and administrators could monitor the situation. ”The rumors stopped once they did that,” she says.
Asked whether it was unusual for the school to shut down half the bathrooms at a school with approximately 1600 students over a rumor, Wippel says the school “want[ed] to make sure our students feel safe.”
http://publicola.com/2011/12/01/rumors-o…
http://bit.ly/rIZ4Jz
Rumors of Muggings Lead Garfield High School to Close Bathrooms
Crime December 1, 2011 at 3:29 pm Jonah Spangenthal-Lee
Garfield High School closed its second and third floor bathrooms to students last month after rumors circulated throughout the school that students were being robbed in the restroom.
The rumors became pervasive enough that school officials took action, closing four of the school’s nine bathrooms (all boys’ restrooms) for three days in early October, according to Seattle school district spokesman Teresa Wippel.
The school’s principal went as far as notifying the school’s parent/teacher association about the rumors, but because Garfield staff were unable to identify any suspects, or find any victims, they did not report the rumors to police.
Wippel says Garfield closed the bathrooms in order to “isolate where [the incidents were] happening” so security and administrators could monitor the situation. ”The rumors stopped once they did that,” she says.
Asked whether it was unusual for the school to shut down half the bathrooms at a school with approximately 1600 students over a rumor, Wippel says the school “want[ed] to make sure our students feel safe.”
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