To be serious about this work, we need to start by creating safe and inclusive spaces where students are encouraged to share their real feelings and experiences. Our schools and educational policymakers need to establish environments that encourage open dialogue, active listening, and respect for diverse opinions, ensuring ALL students feel comfortable sharing their thoughts.

Can we shift our work in ed policy and school improvement from work that is designed to do what is “good for” students and instead move toward asking them what they want to accomplish?

Listening to students is always the right first step.

But this trick intends to miss the point. In this exchange, one side favors parental involvement, elevating their experiences and those of their studnets so that more equitable systems might be put in place and years of discrimination, bias, and exclusion might begin to be replaced with systems that better align with the American ideals of free expression AND the fundamental nature of how learning works through discussion and deliberation across lines of difference.

Are there students who really want to get to school but simply cannot because they are stranded somewhere? Sure. But if we truly understand that there are students in such overwhelming circumstances, our reaction is shamefully inadequate.