Some school officials were too anxious to control student dissent at walkouts

I have a nephew who attends Homewood-Flossmoor High School in the suburbs, and he was among the participants in that school’s attempt to participate in the national walkout of high school students desiring more stringent gun laws.

Not all high schools were as photogenic in their activity as these on Walkout day. Photo by Gregory Tejeda

Although to listen to his account of the school’s activity this week, it most definitely seems that some people have no clue of what a real “walkout” consists of.

SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICIALS did not make an effort to stop students from voicing their concerns; all students were told they could partake in such events.

But students at the south suburban high school were given various sites both inside the school building and outside on school property where they could gather to express themselves.

“Express themselves” meant conducting 17-minute moments of silence to pay tribute to the high school students who died in the Parkland, Fla., high school incident that had occurred one month earlier.

But as my nephew explained it, students had been told that while they were excused from class to participate, they were expected to do so in a respectful manner.

SOMETHING ALONG THE lines of go outside, do your moment of silence, then get back to class. Students were informed that disrespectful behavior WOULD be grounds for detention.

Downers Grove detention won't look like this

For what it’s worth, the number of students who got punished by the school for their behavior Wednesday morning wasn’t any higher than it would have been on any given school day. The school pulled off the illusion of protest without having any of the ugliness of students feeling compelled to speak out.

There certainly wasn’t any of the kind of activity of students marching through the streets of their surrounding neighborhood, yelling and screaming and demanding that our government officials take their heads out of their behinds and quit acting as those individuals in our society paranoid enough to feel the need to own an AK-47 or some other high-powered semi-automatic rifle are somehow expressing their “American-ness” in such actions.

It definitely isn’t the most controlling behavior I have heard of from school officials this week.

THAT COULD POSSIBLY go to the administrators of Downers Grove North and South high schools. There, students were told that participation in such activity would be regarded as a disruption of school and would be punishable by an hour’s detention.

The Chicago Tribune reported that some 3,900 students went to class, but another 1,100 engaged in a walkout. Perhaps we should complain about all the paper wasted due to all the detention slips written up – except that in today’s day and age, the students probably got detention e-mails informing them of their punishment.

It would be a crowded detention hall, except that school officials say they’re splitting the students up and having them serve their “time” either before, of after, school. Or even on Saturday.

As though they’re creating a real-life version of “The Breakfast Club.” Only no Molly Ringwald-like cutie hanging around, in all likelihood.

I NOTICED THE Chicago Public Schools administration put some organization into the marches that their students made so as to express themselves.

To the point where Illinois Attorney General candidate Pat Quinn felt compelled to show up at such a march – the one done by students at Benito Juarez High School.

At Benito Juarez, was it about Quinn?

Quinn even made a point of issuing a statement calling for, “common-sense solutions to end gun violence” – and a plea for donations, “if you can.” Although I suspect his real intent is less to pocket a few bucks, but to try to sway some of the Benito Juarez parents into casting votes for his political comeback dreams come Tuesday.

Making the student expression of political views nothing more than a political campaign stunt – just the type of activity that ought to warrant students rising up in protest against someone trying to steal their political voice.

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The finish line is in sight (we hope). So now we turn to quirky predictors

It always amuses me to learn of trivial little actions that some people like to believe predicts the outcome of a presidential election.

ROMNEY: Should he have rooted for Yanks?

Such as those individuals who believe the fact that the Washington Redskins’ defeat on Sunday means that President Barack Obama will lose come Tuesday.

FOR IT SEEMS that some people believe if the Redskins win their home game before Election Day, then the incumbent wins. President-elect Mitt Romney, anyone?

Not so fast. For there’s the VOTES Project, which is a mock election that has been held along the northeast at high schools to try to educate students in a practical way about how the election process works.

Supposedly, it has been correct every year since 1988 (except for 2004, when it guessed that we’d get “President John Kerry”).

This year, it resulted in Obama getting 316 electoral votes, compared to 208 for Romney. It also threw in a reality check in the form of the storm known as Sandy, which caused students at five high schools to be unable to cast votes.

WHICH MEANS THERE are 14 electoral votes that nobody gets!

So who should we trust, the high school kids, or the Washington Redskins?

Or perhaps we should be focusing on the Carolina Panthers – the team that beat the Redskins 21-13 on Sunday.

OBAMA: Giants fan, and Redskins basher?

The campaigns thought that North Carolina’s electoral votes would be up for grabs and that Barack Obama might actually have a chance of taking that southern state. It seems we should have been paying attention to the professional gridiron, instead of anything said at the convention held in Charlotte.

NOW, OF COURSE, anybody with sense realizes this is a batch of nonsense. One could probably find just about anything that matches up with election cycles in a way that makes them appear to be reliable predictors.

And while I realize the overly-religious amongst us are going to take offense at this next statement, it is a big coincidence! I’d really like to think that God, in whatever form he exists, has better things to do than worry about who wins an earth-bound election.

So I don’t think that a heavenly spirit is in any way giving the Redskins or these high school kids or any other human entity the ability to predict how an election will turn out.

That is up to the voters who bother to take the time to cast ballots. And as for those who speculate that votes will be lost due to weather damage caused by Sandy, I believe that those individuals determined enough to make a difference WILL find a way to vote.

BESIDES, WE ALL ought to know that the only true predictor lies within professional baseball.

It seems that when American League teams win the World Series in an election year, the Republican candidate prevails. While World Series champions from the National League benefit the Democratic Party candidate.

The ultimate Republican hero?



Although that is mostly because of the presence of the New York Yankees in the American League. It seems that the Yankees do well by Republican presidential candidates – thereby boosting the number of American League victories overall.

That wouldn’t be a factor in this year’s elections, since the Yankees managed to get knocked out of the playoffs by the same Detroit Tigers who got whomped on by the San Francisco Giants.

SO DOES THAT mean Obama will have extra special reason to invite the Giants to the White House next year for the traditional championship celebration?

And should he be grateful that the “fans” of U.S. Steel didn’t get the chance to see their favorite ballclub win its 28^th World Series title.

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