Occupy MoCo!

Courtesy of MontgomeryCollege.eduA community college outside of Washington D.C., Montgomery College, will be offering a course on the Occupy Wall Street Movement this summer as part of its Youth Summer Program. At the cost of $190, honors students in ninth through 12th grade can learn about the Occupy Movement in this course titled, “Occupy MoCo!”, which stands out among the other courses offered in the program, including “Battle-Bot-Build-a-Thon” and “Passion for Fashion.” 

While the school’s communications director, Elizabeth Homan, claims that Montgomery College, “does not take a stance on the Occupy movement,” the college’s description of Occupy MoCo! suggests otherwise. The course description, in a clear ploy to recruit young students to join the Occupy Movement, states, “We are at an exciting time in the history of the world. People all over the planet are taking democracy into their own hands and working together to create solutions for a better world…Young people hold the power to change their community, their schools, their future — are you ready to join the movement for justice?” Homan has assured that the wording of the description was not meant to be controversial, but simply to excite students about the material.

Instead of falsely advertising the course, why not present it in an objective manner? Perhaps administrators rightfully understood that if students knew what this ludicrous course actually entailed, nobody would sign up. Bringing the Occupy Movement into the classroom demonstrates another pitfall of the American public education system. This course will not teach students anything worthwhile or substantial, except for maybe how to protest, destroy property, defecate on a car, and make anti-semetic comments.

–Elizabeth A. Reynolds