Why I Write: Out of Frustration

Writing takes many forms and comes from many different parts of one’s psyche. Writing also is done for many different reasons. On different days and in different circumstances, writers have different reasons for writing. But they write and they write for the reason that is important at the time. Today I write to make an argument I couldn’t say out loud to one person, but can say in writing.

A friend who is much younger than I asked me shortly after the announcement of the March for my Life event what I thought about students walking out of school to protest. Her argument was that students should be in school learning. “They can’t learn anything in a pack walking out of school just because they want to,” she said.

I was silent for a few minutes, thinking about how to respond. My friend is in her early thirties and has not been in school since she graduated high school. She probably isn’t familiar with and would not support newer methods of teaching that give the power of learning to students: allow students to choose which book to read, search the internet for information, write freely, research something and make it — all steering away from the teacher in the front of the room ideology of her day and my day. If I said that, would I sound pompous or like a know-it-all? Would she argue in the way that people who aren’t familiar with what goes on in classrooms argue about the 3Rs among other things? I value this friendship so I did not want to say anything that might jeopardize it. But I was frustrated. I mumbled something about how kids learn by doing alternative things and said no more. She made one Yeah but and then thankfully we moved on to something else.

But I can’t remain silent on this subject. As a teacher who worked constantly to encourage students to stand up for what they believe in, to make noise when things aren’t right, to be the one to tell the emperor he is naked, I support every action the students have taken since the Florida school shootings. And yes. They are learning. They are learning more as they write their speeches, create offices with groups of like-minded students, plan the marches, appear on television and radio broadcasts. They are learning in a life situation what we try to simulate in a classroom.

Even more, they are learning to take responsibility and leadership roles and to share responsibility and leadership roles with other students. They are learning to face adversity with an educated answer in a calm, mature voice. They are learning history, the constitution, the tough controversy of individual rights. They have taken ownership of their education in a way that will be more valuable to them than days of moving from classroom to classroom to sit and listen and take an occasional test. Their tests are negotiating the real world and they are showing their mastery in the way they handle themselves after being thrown into these adult issues that are not of their making.

What courses are they covering? I can name a few and I am sure that there will be more as they continue their movement. This is the opportunity of a lifetime — to learn as they create. They also are learning about human nature, about how their voice is important and how they can peacefully get their ideas into the mainstream — the strength in numbers.

As for students in my small town and their walking out of class in support of the national movement for stricter gun laws; they, too, are learning. They are reading, making decisions, and identifying with a cause. Through all this, they have to make arguments about why they chose to (or not to) join the movement. This is learning that they can’t get in the classroom, but hopefully they have good teachers who are encouraging them and helping them with research and details along the way. Even those who are walking out of school just because they can (and I am not naïve enough to think that they do not exist) are learning from the conversations around them. Perhaps they will find meaning in their defiance.

At my age and with my physical limitations I can’t walk out with the students or march on the designated days. But I can support them through writing in support of their efforts . Are they learning? Yes. Am I learning from them? Yes. If I were still teaching in a high school would I be in favor of them walking out? Yes — I would go with them.

There. I’ve said it and I feel better.