May 28, 2017

Naturally, Ryan posted the smiling photo with the half of the class that would be seen with him. Probably unaware that Ryan wants desperately to cut education and gut the social safety net beyond all recognition.

Source: Left Wing Nation

Turns out there IS hope for our future. A group of 200 eighth grade students from South Orange Middle School [New Jersey] were on a field trip to the Capital on Thursday when they were offered a group photo with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. 100 of the students declined, choosing to stand in the parking lot and observe rather than be associated with a man who has supported Trump and his policies every step of the way.

Matthew Malespina, one of the students who chose to abstain from the photo-op said he did not want to be associated with someone who has repeatedly chosen the best interests of his party over the well-being of his constituents. He stated,

It’s not just a picture. It’s being associated with a person who puts his party before his country.

Clearly Matthew’s civics teacher is doing an outstanding job.

And of course, these kids came from "a progressive, upper middle class community". From ABC7:

The students were on a field trip to Washington. Matthew found out the night before.

"I'm just not going to do it," Matthew texted his mother.

"Say you would rather not," she wrote back. And Matthew agreed.

"The point was, 'I don't want to be associated with him, and his policies and what he stands for,'" said Elissa Malespina, Matthew's mother.

Other parents see it differently. One of them disagreeing on social media that the students should respect the office of the Speaker of the House, even if they disagree with the man who holds that office.

The students, from a progressive, upper middle class community, were evenly-split. 100 others posed with Ryan.
...
Students say the speaker left entirely unaware of the eighth grade dissidents watching from a distance.

"Eighth-grade dissidents." That has a nice ring to it.

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