Several students at schools participated in the Ontario-wide, student-organized, school walkouts to protest the provincial government’s recent changes to education.
Here are some of the students’ words …
“I walked out today because special school programs are amazing to help kids, just like me, with special education problems.” Grade 3 student
“Why I walked out today is to get Doug Ford to keep the special education classrooms so anyone who has learning disabilities can have special education classroom classes. If there’s no special education classrooms then kids with learning disabilities are going to get a regular class and they can’t learn better than in the special education classes and then they won’t be able to learn at all.” Grade 4 student
“Why I walked out today and protest was so we still have special education classes and to get a good education. It is important to get a good education so you can go to college and you can get a good career.” Grade 4 student
“I walked out because I didn’t want Dug Ford to take away special classes. I went out to walk to make sure I get an education. The last reason I went out was so that more Dug Ford would see that more than one person is going out there, like 50 people going out there, so he sees that education is important to us students. That is why I went out today.” Grade 4 student
“I did a protest today because I need to still get Smarter so I can I get a job. And because I need to learn to write.” Grade 5 student
“I walked out today because I was protesting by yelling ‘we need an education’ and to keep special education because people need more help in reading, writing, and other things so we can get a good job.” Grade 5 student
“I did a protest because I want to keep special education classes. This is very important to me because it helps me learn and I work really hard and it’s really special for me. We said we need to do this protest because if we don’t get a good education we will not have a good job. My teacher taught me that it is important to have a good education because it will get you a good job. I LOVE SCHOOL because it will help you in life and so stay in school kids.” Grade 5 student
Today’s student walk out for education was by students, for students … because changes to education funding directly impacts students.
Collaboratively Yours,
Dr. Deborah Weston, PhD & classroom teacher