if we had been in 40 in London we would have probably done the same. .
when thousands marched peacefully in 1997 against the introduction of fees we got fees
when thousands marched peacefully against the introduction of top-up fee in 2006 we got top-up fee
This is what happens when governments constantly stifle the students voice.

I am beginning to believe most of the higher tier educational processes are pointless until this country gets it problems under control. There is little point to learning the basic of Mechanical Engineering when the Auto Industry is being destroyed by the country and Unions. But even more important, the money to pay for the societies part of the students education is not there with all that is happening. In addition to that, the colleges seem to be allowing illegal aliens an open system and that while Citizen Students cannot find a slot.

We need to think clearly about where we are, where we are going, (and without the hype) and what we want to do with the educational system.

What choice does anyone have? Should they immigrate to another country?

It would be wonderful if Americans in every situation protested to the extent that Europeans do. General strikes in France over austerity measures will never be matched by one in California over the proposed raise to the retirement age. However, this short dismissal of the Cal State protest has no awareness of history or the systems being protested. Cal State students and UC students, as well as faculty, staff, and the teachers and staff of K-12, came out to protest in huge numbers around the state about six months ago, in the Spring. The effort was sincere and organized, and in spite of it, fees went up, teachers were laid off. Now, only months later, they are being hit with more of the same. The University system in England is more centralized, and Europeans have a stronger tradition of mass protest, as well feeling (justifiably) more entitled to a very affordable college education (just like universal health care, you'd have to pry that from their dead hands). Regarding this editorial, I am amazed that pictures of students breaking windows in London was used to illustrate a point because had any students broken a window in Long Beach the whole thing would have been dismissed a riot and the editorial would have condemned the "violence", not lauded it as an international example of effective protest.

@RDuriez I didn't mean to demean the protest in California, the point I was making was there was a difference. I took a day off work because I knew this was the big one after years of small protests. If you really want to know what happened, the short version is there were 52000 students on the streets, and the police decided to let them run riot because they are facing major cuts and need to be able to justify asking for their budget not to be cut when the whole country has to tighten their belts. I saw kids walking into the building looking around to see if anyone would stop them and no one did.