The city of Los Angeles, and this board, was stunned on Friday when more than 2,800 area high school students synchronously stepped out of their classrooms and stepped into protest. The L.A. Times reported that the protest included four different high schools and lasted for about an hour.
This board applauds the actions of these ardent adolescents, but also asks: Why don’t we see more of this student activism?
In the ‘60s and early ‘70s, students were a vociferous channel of American sentiment, especially about the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. However, it sometimes seems that today’s ‘future’ is generally mired in a pervasive culture of apathy. So, when events like the student walkout occur, it demonstrates the gravity of the issue at hand.
Sure, the walkout was ripe for opportunistic class skipping, but the majority of these kids marched simply because they cannot make their voice heard through traditional means: The vote. They must wait a bit longer for that.
Of course, this act of civil disobedience does not leave this board convinced the ambivalent fog across the nation’s campuses is beginning to lift. Nevertheless, the ability of these teenage rabble-rousers gives us hope. [LATimes]
Editorial Board members Mike Gimignani, Eva Kis and Dwayne Robinson did not participate in this week’s editorial.
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