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When a 2-year-old wants attention, he screams, cries or bangs pots and pans.

A good parent would allow him to finish his fit and lie on the ground, out of breath and out of tears. The parent would then pick him up and set him on his way.

The student walkout led by the Progressive Action Coalition tomorrow at 1:11 p.m. seems to be in the same playpen as the metaphorical tantrum above.

It is admirable that students want to have a voice in how their bill is made, and that they want to throw back to the ’60s when walkouts and sit-ins were in style. But this action is just too little, too late and too wrong.

Provost Shirley Willihnganz met with the group to set some ground rules and make sure that the students who were walking out were not going to use pots and pans to cause disruptions.

Obviously to Willihnganz, this walkout is little more than a hissy fit, “There are many ways for our campus community to engage in meaningful dialogue about this issue other than walking out of class,” she said. “I wish that we could have explored some of those prior to the planning of this action.”

The Rally for Higher Education which took place in early February was the perfect place for students to voice their opinions in the budget cuts and rises in tuition. Unfortunately, representation from the University of Louisville was meager, boasting around 60 students, most of them members of the Student Government Association.

How can playing hooky from class be effective in arguing for the right to be in class?

It seems as though the students in charge of this effort are attempting to punish the wrong people. The professors of this university are not the ones who choose how much tuition costs. Leaving their classes will do nothing but hurt students’ education and disrupt the professors’ classes.

SGA President Brian Hoffman completely supports the event. He feels that the Senate’s failure to pass endorsement of the walkout was disappointing. Endorsing a student-led activity is laudable, but if this activity were actually worth endorsing, the student-led Senate seemingly would have endorsed it.

Students must realize that if they want to have a voice in tuition and other matters controlled by the government, they must appeal to their state legislature, and they must act earlier than one month before the budget is completed.