Students protest cuts to Alberta education

Sun News Network, June 11th, 2013EDMONTON—Hundreds of high school students walked out of class Tuesday to gather at the Alberta Legislature in protest of budget cuts to education."Students are more than just the people who sit in the classrooms that taxes fund every year," said Samantha Kennedy, a Grade 11 student, and one of the event's student organizers."They are the next artists, engineers and nurses. As soon as we place a dollar amount on someone's potential, we are limiting them in so many ways."Speakers included representatives from Kids Not Cuts, opposition parties and Public Interest Alberta."I'm encouraged to see Alberta's youth joining so many other groups in standing up to tell the (Premier Alison) Redford Conservatives that they refuse to stay silent any longer," said Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman, who attended the rally."The PCs see education as a cost; Liberals see it as an investment. To prepare Alberta for the future, we must increase funding and programs, not cut them."Sherman, who met with student organizers before the rally, says concerns range from run-down schools and overcrowded classrooms to the gradual vanishing of their favourite physical education, language, music, and art programs.Read the article at the Sun News Network's website