New Jersey high school students are learning about political activism firsthand this week as they staged walkouts to protest Gov. Chris Christie's proposed education budget cuts. Nearly 18,000 students signed up to participate in a Facebook event titled, "Protest NJ Education Cuts - State Wide School Walk Out." Michelle Ryan Lauto, an 18-year old college student, started the Facebook page in protest to Gov. Christie's proposed reduction of direct aid to over 600 school districts by as much as 5 percent of each district's operating budget.

The budget crunch could be used as an opportunity for educators to teach students about balancing budgets, the impact of overspending, or the difficulties of the political process. This type of education would be valuable, considering a recent report declared, "Across New Jersey, 120 school districts had no student pass the language arts section [on the Alternate High School Assessment] and 40 school districts saw no student pass math."

One protesting student explained, "The schools here have bad reputations, and we need aid and we need programs to develop." While aid programs are helpful, education happens when teacher and student come together with the common goal of learning—an opportunity missed by hundreds of New Jersey students this week as they walked out.

How should New Jersey school districts respond to the walkouts?
Have students ever staged a walkout at your school?
How did you respond?
Comment below.

Read more on the excitement in New Jersey in earlier AAE blog posts:
New Jersey Update: Voters Say No to School Budgets (4/22)
Midnight in the Garden State of Good and Evil (4/13)

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