A reply to Clark students from a Clark Alum:

Thank you for starting an open and honest dialogue about an instance that represents a number of important rights and concepts at a crucial time in a young person’s life. I am an alum of this school and your story affected me deeply for many reasons.

Whatever the technicalities are about this incident, I believe it is about more than just free speech.

Ideally, a high school is supposed to provide not only education, but a sense of personal development for teens. It is supposed to facilitate independent thought, critical thinking, and a basic level of self-respect. Without these characteristics, it is difficult at best to navigate college and adulthood.

When I was a student there, Clark actively discouraged all of what are objectively identified as the aforementioned necessary skills for growing and thriving. It is appalling to see that nothing has changed since then.

I am not surprised that the administration did not allow students to show any sort of originality or independent thought.

As a young student there, even without a perspective of the real world, Clark always felt oddly stifling at the core. Though it was lauded for being different and somehow “preparing” us for the real world, it wasn’t until I was an adult that realize that it was, indeed, preparing us for something… the world where one is a mindless “corporate drone” of an employee, with no original though, no confidence, and absolutely no sense of empowerment.

While there are a handful of educators at Clark who are positive forces, the administration sets an ugly tone for the entire experience. And oddly enough, much of this is reflected in that ridiculous dress code.

This rule reflects the pettiness of the Clark leadership and its need for mindless obedience. The administration never fails to remind students of how irrelevant they are, and how little power they have as human beings. If they spent less time thinking about this antiquated mandate, and more time helping students develop career paths and valuable skill sets, maybe they could achieve that ego-stroking recognition that drives their actions.

Many years after graduating, after seeing how other educational institutions facilitate the human experience for teens as well as what skills I needed that were stifled in my teenage years, I realize that Clark is a horribly unhealthy environment for a young person.

Back to this instance — these brave students decided to communicate their feelings about a cause that was gravely important to them. Is disobeying a petty rule really the biggest takeaway here?? Is there really not an ounce of deductive logic from an educator's side, to consider what it means when a young person has an opinion, especially in the context of one day of the year, in a way that doesn’t harm any person or property?

And going into classrooms to “nail” students, like militia?? That just makes me unbearably sad. I would bet that they probably never even engaged these students in a dialogue, beyond telling them they did something wrong. A good educator would want to discuss the students’ thoughts and feelings surrounding the desire to even organize this protest and work with them to feel empowered to do something about it. Maybe there is a compromise reached… an event, an educational screening, anything!

And as for the possibility of having coordinated with the administrators beforehand, to get the permission to do this? Something tells me they would never have agreed to it.

Look — having the originality to do this kind of activity, and the social skills to organize so many people are actually positive real-world skills that should be recognized, not punished.

So instead of showing these students that it is ok to do something original, they have communicated to everyone that nothing matters beyond the hard lines drawn with what I’m imagining was an unwavering lack of empathy.

So to all these students, I will say this: it gets better. The real world is not that unforgiving and petty. Yes, there are rules in post-high school life too, but when you do something with great passion, especially something positive built out of love and respect? The world will find ways to work with you and make it happen. Or you will find ways to make it happen, but either way, it will happen.

Sometimes you have to do something beyond the confines of conformity. And at those times, you are expected to remain respectful and kind, as you have done in this case.

But I will tell you that EVERYTHING incredible that exists in our world has stemmed from an individual or group of people who have self-worth, confidence, passion, and courage. Hold on tightly to these qualities, because the winds of obedience will wear you down until you want to drop them.

Don’t waste your energy fighting people who remind you that you are invisible. Spend your energy creating, connecting, and engaging with like-minded peers and outside communities who will tell you that it is ok to be original.

And most of all, congratulate yourselves for having a new idea, the leadership skills to organize this activity, and the courage to express yourselves in this article.

There’s a whole world out there beyond green walls and collared shirts. You’re going to be amazing in it and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise