by Liam Otero (8th)
Daily Rubbish: Students boycott school after a new schedule is released.
GONE! GONE!! EVERYBODY IS GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome back to the Daily Rubbish, where in today's episode, a school is losing money because everybody has refused to come to school! Let's get started! I’m Liam Otero, and this is the Daily Rubbish!
Our journalists have taken us back to Baltimore(How original) Where we drop down from high school to the middle school, Baltimore JH. This school is considered to be the top school in Baltimore, and the highest funded school in the district. Why? Because they do an insane amount of stuff in there. I’m talking about fundraisers, musicals, TSA competitions, sports, and music classes, and going as far as letting 8th graders join the high school marching band. (sound familiar?) So you may be asking, why have people refused to come? Good question! You see, BJH’s Head Principal, let's call him Dr. Erutrot, noticed students were having trouble getting to class without being late. And the transitions between lunch and class were way too rowdy. So, he decided to change the entire schedule. He lengthened the classes, shortened lunch to 24 minutes, where it was previously 29, and worst of all, lengthened the ending period. This left the students feeling frustrated and angry. For 2 weeks, they had to endure disgusting wastes of money(Unfinished school lunches), boring classes, and barely any time to socialize. Not to mention, Dr. Erutrot decided to up the frustration factor by making the curriculum way harder than it needed to be.
Students were beginning to fail their classes. Kids had to quit their hobbies, just to make time for homework, parents were complaining that their kids couldn’t spend time with them because they were overloaded with homework and studies, and even teachers were questioning this overload. And the principal(Evil! Evil! Evil!) refused to do anything. By week 3 of the curriculum, the students were outraged by the way they had to live. And they knew. They had enough. They were no longer going to endure this suffering. They were going to stand up for their lives, which were being ruined. But none of them could stop it. They tried everything, they tried petitions, pulling the fire alarm 5 times a day, they tried strikes. But the principal still did nothing. All he did was get them into more trouble and give the kids standing up for themselves detention, and more school work. It was hell. Pure hell in this school. But, one day, 3 kids came out of the ashes, with a revolutionary idea. 3 students, named Luther K.Martin(Hmm), Chavez Cesar(HMM), and Parks Rose(HMMM), had a dream(Okay, wow). They learned from their history classes, of ways to fight off unfair rules.
Especially during the seminars of February, which, of course, is Black History Month. And we will take a quick few sentences to honor the real names of the men and women who fought for civil rights in the states. Seriously, if we're going to talk about courageous people, those many people are at the top. MLK, Rosa, Cesar(I know he isn’t black, but he's still an important activist), Harriet, and many more. They will never be forgotten.
But of course, one of the most popular peaceful protests to use, is a little thing called boycotting. If you have never been taught history and don’t know what boycotting is, well I don’t know either!(Kidding). Boycotting is essentially refusing to use or follow a specific rule or law in order to prevent it from happening. One of the most infamous boycotts was the bus boycott of 1955, where after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and got arrested, many people stopped using buses. Boycotts are effective, especially for things that earn money, because if you stop using the thing you are boycotting, such as using the bus, the bus company will lose money. And so, in order to earn money back, they will be forced to stop the unfair rule. And so there it was. On Friday, somehow, without any teachers knowing, students spread the word that every student will not be going to school until the schedule was fair again. And this, of course, spread fast around the school, because, well, gossip trains. And as for those worried about skipping, you can’t punish the whole school for skipping. It's just not possible.
And so, the next Monday, present time now, was supposed to be just another school day. But, guess what? The school? Empty. No student entered through those doors. Principal Erutrot thought maybe it was just a coincidence. He called it an off day, and said he expected everyone there tomorrow.
But no one came.
No one entered through the doors of the school(except teachers, obviously) For the next 4 weeks. Principal Erutrot began to get worried. Without students, the school would lose money. And he was right. Because of the lack of students, all the school activities were losing money. The school's reputation plummeted quickly. Principal Erutrot was forced to write an email to the whole school. It went something like this.’
Dear Students and Families,
We understand your outrage about the new schedule. But we have decided to stop it. Starting Monday, the schedule will be reverted back to the original schedule. And the curriculum will be changed to better fit the students' comfort.
And I must admit, the intelligence of the three students who have operated this protest were incredibly thoughtful with their cause. I will be giving the following students honors recommendations:
- Luther K. Martin
- Chavez Cesar
- Parks Rosa
Thank you for your time.
And it worked! It really worked. So what's the moral of the story? Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe is right. And that's no theory. And that concludes the third episode of the Season 8 of Rubbish. Don’t forget to be kind to someone today, God bless ya’ll, Adios!