I Wish I'd Bunked Off School Today

in #steempress5 years ago (edited)

Today we had a casual clothes day at school. The theme was 'green' because, all over the state, students were foregoing school to rally in Melbourne against government inaction against climate change.

Our school doesn't allow for protest or support it. Talking about it was fine. Green ribbons and shoes and tshirts were fine. But overall, it was business as usual and the line was that school was more important than protest. That education was better than political action. Of course, the Education Board's position was clear - any student not in class will be marked absent, and subject to the school's disciplinary code. What a threat, against rising sea levels and environmental destruction. What use are school results against all of this? Students stay home from school for less important things.

Watching the photos emerge from Melbourne & Sydney today, I felt teary. What the fuck have we done to these kids future? And then to tell them to shut up and go to school? How can we preach to them about their future yet not give them any say over it? How can we raise them to be politically aware yet politically oppress their voices at the same time?

Images below from various news sites. Easy to find - I can't be bothered sourcing them because I don't think that's important at the moment.

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What's both amusing and infuriating is the response of adults to these protests. Some decry it as organised by the left who have brainwashed children - one online article dared to compare it to the indoctrination used by ISIS. Some believe children should be seen and not heard. Some honestly believed it was better they stayed in the classroom and believed that was far more important than this day and threatened students who would miss VCE assessments with failure. Many argued they should be learning - about what? About things that give them a score that is said to improve their prospects when this is no guarantee of a happy life? Ah, the illusion of education.

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On the contrary, schools have a moral responsibility to teach children the importance of having a political voice and how political action can change the world. How can we teach, for instance, the importance of the civil rights movement in history or the need to close the gap between indigenous and white Australia yet turn around and say 'don't do anything to affect social change yourself'? It's hypocritical at best. It's not even important whether or not you believe in climate change - what's important is that we teach kids to stand up to injustice and fight the apathy, complacent and cruelty of political systems that fuck the world.

At a protest last year, Resources Minister Matt Canavan went on community radio and said that children don't learn anything from protesting - and that the only thing they learn is 'how to join the dole queue' and that their future life will look like being 'up in a line asking for a handout, not actually taking charge of your life and getting a real job."

Can I swear? What a bloody drongo.

He'd rather they learn science. You know, like how to drill for oil and gas and build mines. Now who's brainwashing?

One of the best things we can do for this planet is to teach kids to have a voice. That's why I'll talk about climate change and environmental politics in class. And that's why I taught my son to stand up and be counted when it matters.

And so I was pleased as punch when I got this text from him today, as he joined the students with many other adults who back their protest in Melbourne today, sending me this photo.

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I only wished I'd wagged school and joined him.


Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.riverflowings.com/?p=283



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A proud mother moment, I'm sure... and a job well done, I see...

If protesting is that important (and I agree that if you believe in something, you should fight for it) then why does it have to be on a schoolday? Why not teach the children that it would mean more if they sacrifice a leisure day for their beliefs?

That's a really interesting question. I think it probably has more impact if it is during work hours in terms of being noticed.

I also think that climate change and environmental destruction occurs on school days so why not protest against it then too? Plus, they are still getting an education - just not in an institution.

It does nothing to disrupt the system and get noticed if it's on the weekend. This is why all the feel-good American protests like the Women's March are funtimes but ultimately have gained nothing at all. People took a Saturday afternoon to march and have lunch after with their friends. No work was disrupted. The economy probably gained rather than lost, as a lot of those people popped into restaurants after or ran errands. The establishment only responds when a wrench is thrown in somehow - traffic is stopped, the economy suffers, people don't fall in line with the established routine.

Ah yes! Exactly. Xx and here, roads were shut, and people moaned, so they got noticed. On the weekend it's just another event in a sea of 'stuff to do' .. xx

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The best protest is $$ boycott of products and companies which destroy Mother Earth. That, and sharing factual information about poor practice, & safe climate-friendly alternatives. No amount of placard waving & wagging school changes things if people keep buying their crap.

Exactly. I do know that many kids, including my boy and his girlfriend, do boycott and refuse plastics and so on. The kids are often far more on it than we are. And this protest is just a part of a wider action that needs to be taken - many of them know that and it's not as if this is the ONLY thing that they have done or considered. I just really believe that no one has the right to supress their voice in the name of an education system that is part of a wider social malaise. In terms of 'education', I think placard waving like this can invite conversation about what can be done to change things in other ways too. I don't think 'not buying cotton' stopped the slave trade.

71% of global emissions come from 100 companies:
http://fortune.com/2017/07/10/climate-change-green-house-gases/
and
individual responsibility is not enough to stop climate change:
https://theclimatelemon.com/individual-collective-fixing-climate-change/

So the beginning is to stop buying from all those 100 companies. Eg I NEVER buy from amazon or nestle & a whole pile of others. Individual responibility is the ONLY thing tbat will ever work - just a LOT of people need to step up.

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But you can't buy out of the system. As the second article points out, a huge part of our footprint is from the systems - infrastructure, etc. - that we can't just not buy. Ergo, we have to make the decision-makers do what we want. And the first article will show you how much of that is energy production - if you're boycotting one brand but buying another, it still takes energy to make and ship to you and so forth. It's a much bigger hit when cities pledge to go fossil fuel free or we close down a coal plant and so on, which only happens with public pressure - like protests.

You can - and I am - progressively extract yourself from "the system". Believe you can't and you're right. Im less & less convinced protests change anything other than resistance & a lot of noise.

Posted using Partiko Android

Whether you extract yourself or not, those systems are still being built, it's not a matter of how participatory you are. You can believe protests don't accomplish anything, but the data shows otherwise, when they are sustained and popular enough.

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Agreed. But not the only thing. Education matters. Public awareness matters. Vocal, loud and disruptive voices CAN make a difference.

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weird how all of these schoolboard members seen to have forgotten how effect these rallies had back in the days already and how much has changed because of it.

honestly, getting these kids to think 1 second about how the world potentially might end and their share in that is so much more valuable that 1 class that they can miss..discussion is also education right?

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I think it's great when kids will actually put down their phones and go yell about something that matters! So often it seems they feel like they have no power to change anything at all so they sit and do nothing. Schools should be encouraging engagement like this instead of punishing them for it. Of course, that's assuming the school system wants to produce thoughtful, engaged adults. I'm not sure that's the case!

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Is great to see how conscious Young people are. In this type of events the majority of participants are young people, older people are minority, or at least that happens in my locality

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