I walked onto campus today to the sight of graffiti on multiple walls proclaiming that there is a walk-out on May 1st. This is a great example of the stupidity of many college students. Sure, it may have started out as a good cause, but the way they go about showing their opinion is all wrong. Advocating for a wide-spread student strike, from what I've seen, involves almost no information about what the strike is for. The problem with this is that many undergraduates will go along with it and skip class, yet have absolutely no idea what they're protesting. News media has interviewed students in similar situations here and at other schools. Most don't even know what their "cause" is. On the off chance they do, they only have a shallow understanding of the general purpose but don't understand any details or big-picture repercussions of what they're protesting for.
So, as a result of this lack of understanding and blind following by students, walls are vandalized, traffic may be disrupted, campus operations are impeded, and other students are affected. I'm not arguing one way or the other about the merits of protesting, I'm simply saying that if you do, it should be an issue that you really care about (to do something as extreme as a strike) and you should definitely know what it is you're protesting for or against. And if you care enough about fighting for your quality education, you should care enough to go to class then dedicate your free time to your cause. I doubt the majority would be protesting if it wasn't an excuse to get out of class.
My favorite example of these blind followers who jump on the walk-out bandwagon is a few years ago when a major walkout was staged for some education issue. There was a picture in the paper of a student holding up a sign that said "Who's school? Our school!" I doubt many of the people in that picture knew what they were protesting, but even if they did, their time would've been better spent in class, brushing up on their grammar.
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