“It was a silent call to arms: an easy-to-overlook message urging New Jersey students to take a stand against the budget cuts that threaten class sizes and choices as well as after-school activities. But some 18,000 students accepted the invitation posted last month on Facebook, the social media site better known for publicizing parties and sporting events. And on Tuesday many of them — and many others — walked out of class in one of the largest grass-roots demonstrations to hit New Jersey in years.”
That’s the lead paragraph for a New York Times article titled “In New Jersey, a Civics Lesson in the Internet Age.”
The story highlights that:
- Social media can bridge gaps and create mass organization in a very short amount of time
- Students care about their future
From the article (and related to the second bullet),
“It feels like he is taking money from us, and we’re already poor,” said Johanna Pagan, 16, a sophomore at West Side High School in Newark, who feared her school would lose teachers and extracurricular programs because of the governor’s cuts. “The schools here have bad reputations, and we need aid and we need programs to develop.”
After reading that paragraph I couldn’t help but think of the kids I recently talked to at the Hope Project meeting. At the meeting the kids stressed the need for extracurricular type programs… and I don’t think most people have a clue as to how these programs, or lack there of, can impact their lives. It’s a big deal.
It will be interesting to see how groups such as students continue to make their voice, that has been somewhat silent in the past, be heard by using social media.
