Walk-outs are an ineffective method of demonstrating protest against schools. Students take advantage of the situation only to leave class and hang out with their friends. 

            Many of the kids involved in school walkouts have absolutely no clue as to what they're trying to achieve. Several Venice students saw it as an opportunity to escape the boredom of biology class or long speeches given by their history teachers. 

            Budget cuts in the magnet program were the main reason for the Venice high school walk-out on Tuesday, April 12. However, students in some of my classes said they didn't care much about the reason. They sought this as a deliberate chance to escape one day of school. 

           I had a friend who said he just wanted to get out of class and hang out with the other students who were "ditching."

            Senior Jocelyn Castaneda did not attend the Venice walk-out, saying it was "pointless."

            Hamilton High School's March 18th walk-out provided an illustrative contrast. It consisted of 1,500 students protesting layoff notices being issued to their favorite teachers, according to latimesblog.latimes.com. The Gondos' walk-out was no comparison to it because of the small number of students that protested. Nor did it have the same objective in mind because of students' intentions to ditch class. 

            Though some students were punished with detention by strict teachers, others received no punishment at all, despite the truancy threats made by school administrators.  

            The protest didn't stop the budget cuts nor the layoff of teachers. There was no need to risk receiving punishment if the walk-out results weren't beneficial. In reality, it was just a waste of a school day. A period of class the protestors could have used to study and advance themselves in knowledge, to make the best of a bad situation.

            Walk-outs should never be exercised as a mean of protest.  Instead, try a petition or sending letters to district officials to alert them of the problems the school is having involving the budget cuts.

            Walk-outs are useless and their modern definition is "ditch-time." 

See also: "Save the Magnet" By Mitchell Handler