National Student Walkout

As I’m sure you might have heard by now, a number of marches and protests are being planned in response to the recent school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Perhaps the one receiving the most attention is Women’s March Youth EMPOWER’s call “for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.”

Some schools have responded by saying they will suspend students who participate in any such activities during school hours.

What should the job of the social studies educator be in such a situation?

First, I would recommend you check with your mentor teacher and school administrators about how they plan to respond to any student walkouts. If your school has not had any discussions about their approach, perhaps you can suggest that the school be pro-active and organize initial discussions among the teaching faculty. Perhaps teach-ins for interested students might follow.

Second, I would have you consider what opportunities are available in your existing curriculum to discuss and study gun violence, gun control, and student protest. Where appropriate, consider studying the Parkland shooting, the media coverage, and responses from various social and political groups.

Finally, I would recommend that you view your own role, through all of this, as guardians of the democratic process. Of course, you are a citizen and have a right to form and share opinions (as do your students and colleagues). But as a social educator, I would argue that your main role is to assist students as they make up their own minds about the issues, in general, and the walkout, in particular.

A student can walk out of school for the wrong reasons—out of unthinking conformity or simply to get a day off. A student can stay in class for the wrong reasons—out of fear of suspension or unthinking conformity. As social studies teachers, our job is to help students reason about their course of action.

In short, while I think it is very appropriate for teachers to stand in solidarity with the victims of the shooting and to join the walkout on March 14, I think it essential that we preserve a thoughtful and free space where reasoned disagreement and peaceful protest have a space to (co)exist.