It has always been so, Doohickie. That's the way people are.

I was in middle school (8th grade, I think) during the first Iraq war. A bunch of kids went out into the parking lot to "protest", basically to get out of class. It was kinda disgusting. I think stuff like that really demeans the efforts of people who put themselves in grave danger to be heard (see Serbia, Belarus, etc)

In my high school during the mid-80s, we had a walkout and damn straight I participated. I have no idea what the issue was; I think I understood it at the time.

For those of you too young to remember it, the critical turning point in the Civil Rights movement was when the elementary students decided that the grownups weren't getting things done and took matters into their own hands. The exemplary incident took place in Louisiana and involved the Deacons for Defense. Wiki

Okay, I'm going to respond to this and fill it with as many respectful disclaimers as I can. I don't mean to offend anybody by this post.

I've been seeing complaint posts about the school walkouts from people on various websites all day, and with some merit - education is necessary and important, and hooliganism is bad - but it can be said that 'Brown Pride' is not a bad reason to walk out of class, considering the systematic discrimination these kids and their families get. Maybe people don't have knowledge of the particular bill but I have got to say it's likely that these students will get some education out of joining in the protest, perhaps of a different character than the education they might have gotten in school that day.

For hundreds and thousands of years, people have joined crusades, movements and protests for reasons other than well-thought out political positions. There's always a spectrum of political understanding in every movement and it's the responsibility of the people in this one who've got the understanding to pass their knowledge (and discipline) on to those who could benefit from receiving it.

There will always be troublemakers in any movement. The BoingBoing post mentions that the kids who walked out are the ones who have consistently failed in their classes. Perhaps there is a correlation between this failure and the family history of these kids - perhaps they have encountered racism, criminalisation and their secondary effects. This can certainly contribute to underperformance in school.

and Doohickie, I am not condemning what your wife did at all. That was definitely a teachable moment.

I go to animal welfare/animal rights protests all the time. They're basically good for gaining media attention to an issue and showing that the issue has public support.

Does that have anything to do with this?

So a bunch of Tio Tacos are dissing the Movement. Color me shocked. You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

In Houston, there's a very large amount of distaste for what students are doing. TV reports show the hooligan-est of the hooligans; they speak gutter English, flash gang signs, threaten violence, threaten women and children. Radio goes on about how these kids have substituted passion for reason, and that they're playing right into the hands of the communists (!!!) that are behind the riots in France. Newspaper reports tell us that the real reason behind the illegal immigration problem is NAFTA, that the trade agreement has actually widened the economic gap between Mexico and the US.

Sure, it's great to teach these kids about the actual nature of the problem and the political debate it's caused lately. It would also be wonderful to teach them that empires, nations, states, coalitions, movements, people, ideas always--always--fall or fail due to the triumvirate of greed, complacency, and apathy.

I figured most of the people 'protesting' don't have any clue what the issue is, they're just ignorant followers. It's amazing but not surprising how easily people can get whipped up into a frenzy.

I could understand if this really was about racism, but it's not. It's about illegal immigration. And the people protesting are for illegal immigration and call you racist if you don't agree. And I can't get behind that.

It's not about illegal immigration, it's about rolling back immigration policy to accomodate the political aspirations of white supremacists and using white supremacy as an ideology to recruit a reactionary base to the Republican party to make up for the "conservatives" who are deserting over the war policy.

The kids are allright.

rock on, warbaby :)

Thanks for reminding me why I am thankful I've never lived in Houston, wolfdaddy. But I have lived in both Amarillo and Lubbock, so I've paid my dues.

I ignore local media, which I regret, so I have no clue how people are acting and reacting here. I'd imagine it's mixed. The native Hispanics here, many whose families go back several hundred years, tend to be very anti-illegal immigration and discriminate against them.