This summer, I had the pleasure of going to Philadelphia’s Wooden Shoe Bookstore on my This Is Not A Tour book tour, co-sponsored by my publisher and the Caucus of Working Educators (a caucus of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers). In the midst of having conversation about race and education reform, I wanted to send a message of hope in the bleakest of times, knowing full well that in weeks, the teachers in front of me would have to teach students not unlike mine. These are the conduits and gurus to our children’s learning.

Obviously, Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Corbett doesn’t agree, as he decided to break contract with the PFT mid-day while they were teaching students. This sort of mid-day political shocking of our system doesn’t stretch the imagination of anyone watching politicos shuffle laws and contracts like cards and fast hands. The fact that it came while school was in session only added a coal-colored taint on another so-called education governor’s legacy.

Yet, the most impressive reaction didn’t come from the adults, many of whom drew up signs and blasted officials up and down for the Corbett’s School Commission decision. It came from the students. That night, I received an e-mail from one of the students asking me to help get the word out about the Philadelphia student strike on behalf of their teachers. When I woke up the next morning, the pictures showed up on my timeline: students gathering in front of Science Leadership Academy, belting their concerns and participating in this thing we call a democracy.

A few minutes later, I came off my computer to greet my students. How do I teach them democracy? Can I be a conduit to that in a district that’s anti-that? Are we asking our students for rigidity and complacency, and how can we separate the idea of control and discipline without dousing their independent fires? That’s the struggle, often a lot harder than it looks.

It usually starts with remembering that kids, unlike adults, still have a long way to go before we hold them ultimately responsible for all their actions. Thus, there’s no such thing as a good or a bad kid. There are only students growing in one form or another. It’s equally important for me as the adult to learn these distinctions, too. The student strikers have surely had their set of issues in the classroom, but it doesn’t take away from the degree to which they risked their education to speak up for their own education.

But they have to be taught. Not that they need teachers to learn this, but it helps.

photo c/o