An Ohio student was suspended for refusing to participate in the anti-gun student walkout Wednesday.
MSN reports:
An Ohio high school student says he tried to remain nonpolitical during school walkouts over gun violence and was suspended for a day because he stayed in a classroom instead of joining protests or the alternative, a study hall.
Jake Shoemaker explained he’s in the “middle of the road” when it comes to the gun issue, and preferred to spend the walkout time in class – you know, where students are actually supposed to be during school hours.
Hilliard City Schools is denying they suspended Shoemaker for not participating in the walkout, claiming the punishment was for “refusing to follow instructions.” The school claims they cannot leave a student unattended in the classroom for safety reasons.
Which begs the question, why not simply assign a teacher to supervise this kid during the 20-minute protest? Or were faculty so eager to participate in an anti-gun protest that no one wanted to stay inside?
Ironically, it seems that this one kid got the whole “civil protest” concept in a way many of his anti-gun peers didn’t.
A school-organized “walkout” isn’t a protest. An authority-sanctioned demonstration isn’t civil disobedience.
And a kid sitting calmly in class, refusing to go along with the latest societal mandate even in the face of consequences, is a lot more brave than stomping around with the masses because it’s the cool thing to do.