On May 2, 1970, National Guard troops were called to Kent, Ohio, to suppress students rioting in protest of the Vietnam War and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. The next day, scattered protests were dispersed by tear gas and on May 4, classes resumed at Kent State University. By noon on that day, despite a ban on rallies, some two thousand people had assembled on the campus. National Guard troops arrived and ordered the crowd to disperse, fired tear

Klein acts appalled by the students' wholehearted acceptance of the values of the Reagan era. The students are all career-oriented in a way that baffles him, and he accuses the student population (and possible the entire college system) of being apathetic. That word crops up a lot, until one student challenges Klein. "I hate that word," she tells the film maker. "We aren't apathetic. We are concerned in other ways." Just what those ways are, however, is never made too clear. Overall, the general momentum for students coming to college appears to be purely based in the acquisition of wealth and future job skills. The amount of people concerned with international political and moral matters, or at least the level of their concern, has greatly diminished since the Vietnam era. Klein's film make light of this disturbing shift from concern toward apathy, as the people he interviews make attempts to put the Kent State incident behind them. From my perspective, this level of connection with matters of the world continues throughout colleges today. Although some recent events on our own campus such as "Project Mexico" demonstrate some support, I feel many would rather earn their business degree than participate in a rally for moral causes.

gas, and advanced against the students with bayonets fixed on their rifles. Some of the protestors, refusing to yield, responded by throwing rocks and verbally taunting the troops. Minutes later, without firing a warning shot, twenty-eight Guardsmen dis

Some topics in this essay:
Klein Kent, Kent University, National Guard, Letters Generation, National Guardsmen, Guardsmen Faculty, Vietnam War, Project Mexico, Kent Ohio, Letter Generation, kent incident, national guard, kent university, tear gas, film maker, era students, guard troops, national guard troops,