| Topic: | Re:Mass walk out by students at Chiswick Community School | |
| Posted by: | Francis Rowe | |
| Date/Time: | 25/11/10 10:01:00 |
| My school went on strike in the late seventies and we had a mass walkout. Cannot for the life of me remember why. Most of us went to play football whilst a hard core organised a fight with another school in the area. I'm sure it was great fun for the children at Chiswick Community School and good luck to them. The protest in central London seemed to be divided up into two distinct groups. A very middle class group of students who clearly were there for a legitimate protest plus the group that surrounded the van for whom the issue of tuition fees is never going to be a factor in their life. The problem that people organising these demostrations have to face up to is that this element will be there if they think there is a chance of trouble and whilst it may give the students a frisson of excitement to be at the fringes of a riot it doesn't do their cause any good. The middle class nature of the protest is really clearly shown by the reluctance to make common cause with the unions. There is undoubtedly an element of snobbery but also the realisation that when put against the plight of the people that the unions represent many of whom will lose their livelihood in the next few years the students' will seem a bit self-indulgent and frivolous. |