ed miliband
7th October 2010, 21:51
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11468635
Not a story of great importance, no, but it intrigues me.
I've witnessed two student protests:
1. In primary school football was banned for health and safety reasons and we marched around chanting 'we want football' or a variation thereof. I was about eight at the time and the oldest pupil would have been twelve. I suppose seventy or so students would have taken part in this protest though it seemed massive to me at the time. Teachers began to rush out of the staff room at the sound of our chants, forcing us to stand against a wall until we could be adressed by our head teacher (he wasn't best pleased, to say the least). I think we got our football back.
2. Two years ago a teacher lost his job at my former secondary school. Students refused to return to lessons after break had ended, gathering at a particular point in the school and demanding the teacher was given his job back. He wasn't.
What interests me is that without any knowledge of historical revolutions or revolts, and without even a basic grasp of any sort of organisational theory or whatever, students manage to organise these protests in what can be very repressive places (or seem to be, anyway). People expect it from knowingly political university students, but when eight-to-twelve year olds decide to march around their school playground demanding something they want (and getting it) it's pretty astonishing. If only we had seized the climbing frame and established a council.
It's also interesting that this protest has taken place in an academy, and I wonder if this is a sign of things to come...?
Not a story of great importance, no, but it intrigues me.
I've witnessed two student protests:
1. In primary school football was banned for health and safety reasons and we marched around chanting 'we want football' or a variation thereof. I was about eight at the time and the oldest pupil would have been twelve. I suppose seventy or so students would have taken part in this protest though it seemed massive to me at the time. Teachers began to rush out of the staff room at the sound of our chants, forcing us to stand against a wall until we could be adressed by our head teacher (he wasn't best pleased, to say the least). I think we got our football back.
2. Two years ago a teacher lost his job at my former secondary school. Students refused to return to lessons after break had ended, gathering at a particular point in the school and demanding the teacher was given his job back. He wasn't.
What interests me is that without any knowledge of historical revolutions or revolts, and without even a basic grasp of any sort of organisational theory or whatever, students manage to organise these protests in what can be very repressive places (or seem to be, anyway). People expect it from knowingly political university students, but when eight-to-twelve year olds decide to march around their school playground demanding something they want (and getting it) it's pretty astonishing. If only we had seized the climbing frame and established a council.
It's also interesting that this protest has taken place in an academy, and I wonder if this is a sign of things to come...?