School Protests

So I have had to postpone my post about my tour to the trappist monk brewery for some other pressing news taking place here in the Netherlands. In recent days I have been following news stories in regards to students protesting their yearly required hours in the classroom. Now this is not university students protesting, but rather youth of the ages 14, 15, 16 who see their 1,040 hours of required classroom time as excessive. Many students apparently feel that their instructors must fill the mandated hours with fake and time consuming lessons only because they are mandated to use all of the required hours.

Now, I was not thinking much of the protests today until I ran into one happening right here in Leiden. As I was doing some early morning shopping (11am) I accidentally biked right into the middle of a group of probably 200 youth chanting, cheering, lighting fireworks, and tipping over signs as the police followed in pursuit. It was pretty crazy to see because I would never imagine this happening back in the US. I mean maybe some isolated protests here and there but nothing this massive by young teenagers, especially over classroom instruction hours! As it turns out, these protests have only grown here in the Netherlands and now spread across the country. In Amsterdam they even had to call in the riot police to disperse the crowd. So with that I will leave you with these images, a video clip, and your own thoughts about this..... Enjoy!

I'm back

So I haven't written in a while. I have been quite busy with school and enjoying my time in Leiden. I have three new classes this quarter that are very interesting. They focus on democratic institutions, international development, and neighborhood participation. Aside from school, me and some of the other Rotary Scholars in the Netherlands are planning a student conference on humanitarian issues for April. As for the weather, it is getting colder and the rain is falling more often but things couldn't be better. Other then that, the only problem I am having is to read everyday about the dollar falling further in value against the euro.... but hey! at least the economy here is doing quite well. The Dutch economy is enjoying a seven year high.




On a lighter note I will leave you with a clip from Dutch (American) Idol...