Thread: Teachers, students find lessons in walkouts

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Teachers, students find lessons in walkouts


History teacher David Cope leads a class discussion about illegal immigrants.
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Teachers and students are turning the pro-immigration walkouts that have emptied high schools across Southern California into a real-life lesson about immigration policy, the lawmaking process and civic duty itself.

"So do you think yesterday was a good thing or a bad thing?" teacher Christian Quintero asked his social studies class about Monday's walkout, which involved an estimated 36,000 students in Los Angeles County, including many from Belmont High, where he teaches.

"A good thing!" a boy in the back shouted.

"Why?"

"Because we let them know what's up," the boy said.

Students in the Los Angeles school system -- which is the nation's second-largest district and is 73 percent Hispanic -- have walked out of class along with thousands of other young people in other U.S. cities over the past few days to protest legislation on Capitol Hill that would crack down on the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants.

Among other things, the legislation would make it a crime to be in this country illegally.

The morning was relatively quiet in the Los Angeles district after two days of protests that began with blocked freeways and pleas from the mayor to go back to class, and escalated Tuesday to school lockdowns and scores of truancy citations.

In classrooms and halls, students debated whether the protests were effective and whether leaving class was the right thing to do.

Turning life into lessons
Some teachers seized the opportunity to make the connection between the textbook and real life. Some offered lessons on how a bill becomes law. In one school, lunchtime morphed into a forum on immigration policy.

"There is an opportunity to take this and fold it into what students are learning in their government, history and civics classes," said district spokeswoman Susan Cox.

The principal at Belmont told teachers to let students talk freely about the walkouts but to stress "the merits of being in school and continuing with their studies to make a difference."

Keeping youngsters in class also helps the 746,000-student district, which because of the walkouts stands to lose more than $500,000 in state money that is based on attendance.

Ernesto Torres, a 10th-grade history teacher, fielded questions about legislation working its way through Congress.

Why is the government targeting immigrants? one student asked.

Torres asked the 18-year-old whether he registered to vote. When the student said no, Torres responded, "That's why."

The students were surprised to learn theirs was not the first mass student protest in Los Angeles history. Torres told them about the landmark 1968 Chicano walkouts to protest poor conditions in East Los Angeles.

"You are a part of history now," Torres said.

Several protests continued Wednesday. In the southern San Joaquin Valley, up to 1,800 students snarled traffic in Bakersfield. In San Diego, more than 1,000 students staged walkouts.

In Texas, hundreds of high school students in El Paso marched toward the Mexican border, despite threats they would be suspended for leaving classes.

Similar protests also were staged in Arizona and Tennessee.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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"Because we let them know what's up," the boy said.

36,000 students have no respect for the law and can't follow the rules.

Keeping youngsters in class also helps the 746,000-student district, which because of the walkouts stands to lose more than $500,000 in state money that is based on attendance.

Ernesto Torres, a 10th-grade history teacher, fielded questions about legislation working its way through Congress.

Why is the government targeting immigrants? one student asked.

Torres asked the 18-year-old whether he registered to vote. When the student said no, Torres responded, "That's why."

If this guy is 18 and still in the 10th grade, he should have spent the day in class than protesting. He was probably the one that lead them onto the freeways!