Nathanial Garrod

Walk In

Today in California, and across the country, students at various levels of education participated in a number of events along the lines of walk-outs, rallies, and etc.

First, I want to applaud these individuals for doing something that they believe in. I think it is important to passionately believe in something, and actively do something about it. On that basis, I support you.

There are many things I disagree with on walking out. The first and most straightforward point is that it is very counter-productive to be walking out of a class that one sweated, cried and complained about barely being able to get into. A class that perhaps is already receiving a certain number of furloughed days anyways this semester. You are missing out on your education in order to complain about missing out on your education.

Next point: Education is like a sewer. One gets out of education what they put into it. The work, effort, and energy that one puts into their education is the reward that they will receive from it. What ties into this is that one has to care for their education enough to work outside the classroom. When a class is furloughed, students should go to the class anyways. Granted, the teacher will not be there. But do we need teachers to make our own education happen? We are fortunate enough to have books, the internet, and films. All excellent resources that we should be using to their full potential. Beyond that, having a class without the teacher allows the students to take more control of their education. Students are able to control the pace and nature of the discussion. They can help others who are struggling out more freely. It allows students to show that they really can work independently, which is important when it comes to being in the professional world.

Finally, I go to my Beautiful California University. I do not go to Harvard, Yale, or Brown. Thus, I do not expect my degree to be as beautiful. I do not expect my degree to compare to someone with an Ivy League education. However, I am getting an education. I believe there is a statistic that says that only 1% of people in the world have a Bachelor’s Degree. Which means that when I graduate, I will be part of 1% of the world. And if I am in the 99th percentile of that, I am still in the top 1% of the world.

Please feel free to leave comments in the comments box, but remember to be respectful of other peoples views, and do not bash. I will delete any comments that do not follow this simple guideline.

9 Comments on “Walk In

  1. Christine
    March 4, 2010

    What is a furlough day anyway?

  2. njgarrod
    March 4, 2010

    They are days that either a) a professor has to SELECT to not teach class, answer e-mail, grade papers or do anything school related, or b) a professor is REQUIRED to not do any of the above.

  3. Megan
    March 4, 2010

    Yay Nathan.

    I know I said I wasn’t going to participate in the walkout; which I didn’t, I stuck by my word but I did go to the rally during my break between classes to watch. Good for everyone for standing up for a cause but I’m going to quote my ethics teacher because I think he said it best.

    “Yeah, I do want more money for education but I also want money for health care, scientific research and about a billion other things.”

    I think what people need to realize is we don’t have the support of the economy to satisfy our every want and desire. And to reference to an economist who was interviewed on the news, while people are doing the right thing by making their concerns known, most people in this protest are driven by personal incentive; not looking for a solution that will benefit everyone. Just because something benefits one person, doesn’t necessarily mean it will benefit another.

    I still think money needs to be taken more from the few people in this country who hold all the power and money; banks, CEOs, etc. Taking from the people who are being taken from right now isn’t working and they, we, are being hit hard whereas I, personally, believe that if you took more from people who hold a lot of money in high positions of power, yeah, they’ll lose some money but they won’t be as burdened by it. At most, what? They won’t be able to take their month long vacation to the Mediterranean? GOD FORBID!

    So I’m glad Sonoma had a peaceful walkout and everything went smoothly. Bummer that didn’t happen everywhere else. I don’t really see the benefit of rushing the highways to protest cuts in education but whatever floats your boat.

  4. Christine
    March 4, 2010

    Wow. What’s the point exactly?

    • njgarrod
      March 4, 2010

      @christine The point of the furlough? to save money. The point of the rally/walkout? to stop furloughs.

      • Christine
        March 4, 2010

        Yeah, the furloughs. It just seems really random.

  5. Hasan
    March 5, 2010

    In response to Meg’s comment, fighting for more funding to go towards education is not just a personal thing. More funding for education will benefit EVERYBODY who decides that they want a higher education. Think of how many more people would got to college if it was say, $100 per semester for tuition, or even FREE! Think of the benefits of our great nation having a highly educated populace.

    And yes, we do have the support of the economy to make this happen. Think of how much money we waste on “defense” spending. In 2009, we as a country spent $541 BILLION DOLLARS on defense. Guess how much we spent on education? $61.9 billion dollars. In 2008, the U.S. had 41.5% of the GLOBAL military expenditures Just think of all the good things that could come out of slicing our defense budget by 25% or even 50%!

    And defense is only one area where we could get money from, don’t even get me started on our flawed tax system. My basic point is that what we were doing yesterday was not just fighting for our education…we were fighting for the education of generations to come.

  6. Megan
    March 5, 2010

    @Hasan

    You make very valid points. Thanks for not bashing me for my opinion.

    • Hasan
      March 7, 2010

      I’m all for polite discourse!

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