Education Protests Add to School Problems

At the Chico Enterprise Record, "Keep Education Protests Rational":

We hope students and teachers remember that there and right and wrong ways to protest. Vandalism is the wrong way.

Students statewide have promised a week of protests in response to budget cuts at all levels of education.

It could be a teachable moment. Or it could be something much worse.

We hope students and teachers realize that staging walkouts at campuses statewide only adds to the problem, especially at the K-12 level. The last thing students need is less time in the classroom.

Various protests are planned at public universities, community college and even K-12 schools.

Vandalizing school property, which has already occurred at UC Berkeley, also makes little sense, particularly when money to repair schools is more scarce than ever.

Education protests this week could only serve to make the problem worse if they aren't carefully considered. When students gathered in Berkeley late Thursday to discuss this week's activities, some people at the gathering vandalized a campus building and a nearby business. Why?

On Monday, five students were arrested at the state Capitol when they wouldn't leave the office of north state Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber. Earlier, student leaders and administrators gathered and spoke with Nielsen and his staff. Later in the day, five more arrived and demanded Nielsen pledge to restore education funding. When told to leave, five UC students did not. They were arrested for disrupting state business. What did that accomplish?

And previously:

* "No Cuts to Education! Collectivize!"

* "Unions, Radicals to Protest Education Cuts Across U.S."

* "Shut it Down! March 4th Mobilization - Protest, Strike, Solidarity!."

* "California March 4th Protests: 'Berkeley Pre-Game Communiqué'."

* "Teachers Unions, Anarcho-Communists Launch 'Day of Action' to 'Occupy California!"