The Scott Walker Generation

[marmar]

The Scott Walker Generation

Thursday, 01 August 2013 16:45
By James Cersonsky, Truthout | Report


[font size="1"]Protesters rally against the anti-immigrant HR 4437, 2006. (Photo: Voces de la Frontera)[/font]


Wisconsin's Student Bill of Rights is a 43-point program written by high schoolers. Similar to the National Student Bill of Rights, it calls for student input in school decision-making; support for technology, arts, music and bilingual education; freedom from discrimination; culturally relevant learning; restorative justice in school discipline; and college counseling - and access - for all. Points 6 and 7 bring a Wisconsinite twist: "Students have a right to a school environment where all teachers and staff have the right to collectively bargain" as well as "a desegregated public education system that is not undermined by privatization."

Youth Empowered in the Struggle

"I've gotten a lot of comments saying it was the teachers making the students write it," says Karla De Jesús,17, from Milwaukee. "There's a lot of discrimination. It's so hard to believe that students are doing something."

As students in Racine tried to get the bill encoded in district policy last year, the school board resisted. "They didn't approve of it, because we were too political," says Berenice Beltrán, 17, a Racine student "They said we were brainwashed."

Wisconsin's collective memory suggests otherwise. As the governor maneuvered to squash organized labor, the conversation percolated from news outlets to dinner gatherings to math and social studies lessons. "If you were in Milwaukee when Scott Walker was going into office," says Kika Meráz, 19, a Milwaukee native who now attends Marquette University, "everyone knew what collective bargaining is, what privatization is." ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/17941-the-scott-walker-generation

[xchrom]

1. du rec.

[Scuba]

2. Yes, anyone who tries to improve their lot in life must be "brainwashed".

Yeah, that's it.

[marmar]

3. Orwellian doublespeak. Trying to escape brainwashing is being "brainwashed." War is peace.

[dembotoz]

4. cool