With AQENY, we participated in a protest that was pushing to give schools the money they are owed. It turns out that schools in New York state are owed around 6 billion dollars. When we got there we briefly met with Maria (our contact) who greeted us and gave us signs to hold. Then we stood on the steps with the other protesters as people stood up at a podium and gave speeches on the underfunding in public schools. One man was a teacher from Brooklyn Tech who said that many of the labs don’t have gas, another speaker was a student who talked about the right to education, and how it was being denied for many people. The people who made speeches were parents, teachers, students, and concerned third parties. We learned about some of the results of underfunding such as a lack of space, lack of materials/tools, and a lack of resources. Overall, we learned a bit about how much money schools in New York State were owed, and the real effects of underfunding in public schools are. As a side note, I found it very interesting that the most moving speakers spoke like preachers, and used emotion, far more than fact, nonetheless I learned more from them than from the fact listing speakers.
