“It is hard to make decisions for the people without the people.”
I was so impressed by what I heard from students recently, I had to write about it. When we are sincerely interested in students’ viewpoints, we gain important information and thoughtful insight. Having an open exchange of ideas with students is enlightening, proven again to me recently. When Melinda said, “It is hard to make decisions for the people without the people,” I was so inspired, I wrote it down. I repeated it, and I have been thinking about the implication of her words as they apply to learning, leadership, and systemic change.
I was working with school leaders from 10 different districts to develop a program that will bring their students from different districts together to talk about their experiences in school and their communities, and to discuss issues that are important to them. These dedicated adults came together several times over the summer to work out the details, create a budget, and write a program announcement that would encourage districts to participate. We knew from the onset that we needed students on the planning committee so we could listen to their ideas and create a program that would genuinely meet their needs, but we were unable to have any join our team until our last planning meeting before school started again in September.
As the students began to introduce themselves and explain why they had given up a summer day to join this planning team around student voice, I could feel the energy go up in the room. I could see the adult leaders, sometimes distracted by their many tasks, lean in, and listen intently. One student introduced himself as a rising 9th grader, and he let us know that he was a member of a middle school club focused on fighting racism. We learned later that this student left out that he was responsible for working through various channels to allow the Black Lives Matter flag to fly at his school during Black History Month and the Pride flag to fly during Pride Month. This was not an easy feat in his district. His experience included meeting with board of education members, requesting policy revisions and speaking at public meetings. This humble student has more experience around anti-racism work than some of the adults in the room and has already enacted systemic change.
Three students from another school talked about their involvement in the No Place for Hate club and how they structured their meetings so students felt like they could be prepared and be heard during their discussions. Their feedback about the program’s description flier and the expectations document was priceless. They talked about audience, stating that the expectations information didn’t read in a friendly way and would make some students hesitant to participate. They suggested that instead, we make a video about this program, and that students studying filmmaking in the Career and Tech Ed program might enjoy the project. They reminded us that students interact via social media and often speak out using videos. By softening the language of the expectations document, students would see that they would be part of a safe space for sharing and discussion. Glancing at the other adults, I acknowledged that we wrote these documents with an academic voice, and with an audience of superintendents in mind, including citing the New York State Culturally Responsive- Sustaining Education Framework. These student voices reminded us that if we wanted to attract students and show them that this program is genuinely about them, we needed to create products that would attract them. Raised eyebrows and shoulder shrugs revealed that the adults wondered why we hadn’t spent our summer making a video and I knew we all wished we were as technologically savvy as these students and could figure out to get one made in the next week.
Another student let us know she was a three-sport athlete and had been elected captain of these teams. As we were describing the program, she asked how students would be chosen for this program, who would be able to come? Her question brought up the notion of what it means to be selected, be chosen, to become part of something, and what it means to be denied access. She reminded us that she was often asked to join these sessions because she stood out as a leader in ways that adults typically define leadership. She leaned over toward the girl sitting next to her and said, “she doesn’t like to speak up much yet, but I brought her here because I know she has important ideas and needs to be heard.” Others commented on the need to seek out students whose voices are often overlooked or silenced. She said, “It’s hard to make decisions for the people without the people.”
I was struck by her words and repeated them to the group. The murmur in the room, much like a congregation coming together in unison to say, “Amen,” affirmed my sense of this student’s deep understanding of an essential component of leadership and systemic change. “It’s hard to make decisions for the people without the people.”