“Pennygate”
I am not sure that anyone actually has read or heard about this story. I thought it was interesting and profound.
According to the news, students at Readington Middle School each brought in $2 worth of pennies to pay for lunch. The students pulled this prank in order to protest their short lunch. The students only receive a half-hour for lunch. The school made a huge deal and decided to give a 2-day detention to about 29 8th grade students. Bad PR for those who are sympathetic to the students’ cause.
Below are links to two different news sources about the story:
http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/pennies.readington.township.2.666113.html
http://www.nj.com/hunterdon/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1204797913104490.xml&coll=12
I happen to be on the students side. I think it is amazing to hear about young adults fighting for a cause—whatever it may be. I think it is unwise to punish these students who protested in a non-violent way. They made their point and I applaud them.
I read several other blogs about this topic. I love reading entries by angry parents. It is so amusing.
Here is an example: “If, like you say, these students have a problem eating in 30 minutes, I’m even more inclined to think they are out of line. Your telling me that with 675 students, only 29 couldn’t eat in that amount of time? Everyone I know only had half an hour to eat and we ate in 10 minutes so we could go out and play. We had to sit for 10 minutes. These kids have every right to protest but not at the expense of all the other kids. No wonder why most lunch ladies are crabs having to deal with something that they have no control over,” from a blogger named Jane (Parentdish.com).
Isn’t that great. Angry over something so simple and non-violent. Lovely.
Laura! I think this is so interesting. This reminds me of a case we learned about in communication law where the students wore black arm bands in protest of the war (I think…). I love when young people try to make a stand.