Priorities and Focus

This Monday, almost two full weeks after the shooting in Parkland, Florida, students contemplate returning to class. This morning CNN ran an article titled “They survived a school shooting. Now, activism feels more urgent than classes” in which journalist Emanuella Grinberg who covers crime, justice, gender and race issues for CNN’s digital news quoted several adolescents from Stoneman Douglas as weighing the importance of activism against homework, the latter of which for them “doesn’t really seem that important now.”

Their feelings are understandable. Some of them have just lost friends to a tragedy no child should suffer. Some of them thought school was a safe place, having never been bullied or finding their largest challenge to date being a “B” on their report card. And for a few, society is asking them to return to the school where they forever lost a brother or sister, boyfriend, girlfriend or cousin. For them, homework seems completely unimportant.

But for the adults, the parents and guardians left to care for the survivors, the teachers whose job will be to teach simple algebra to a now only child, and the school resource officer who now needs to rebuild a broken trust, homework is exactly what the doctor ordered. Kids, no matter how gravely impacted by a tragedy, need normal. It doesn’t matter whether the student is a freshman with his whole high school experience ahead of him or a senior with plans for college, the military, or trade school, they need to know they can and should expect to return to normal. That “normal” should be their goal.

But it’s not.

We adults should neither rely upon these adolescents nor should we encourage them to carry the burden of activist momentum on their juvenile shoulders. It is not their job to maintain the momentum of the activist safe schools movement. It just isn’t. Their job, as they have so painfully communicated via opportune television interviews and town halls, protest actions and walkouts, is to go to school, study, learn, test, and eventually graduate at which time activism can become a part of their repertoire. Does that mean the students of Parkland should not engage in activities meant to raise awareness for safe schools? It absolutely does not. But their level of activism should be limited to extracurricular activities and the adult world’s reliance upon them should be as surviving reminders of our own failures.

Otherwise, we will again fail these students, first by not keeping them safe, and then again by allowing this singular tragic event to derail their education.

So commit to not failing them again. Pick up the safe schools torch and let kids be kids.

See full article on CNN.com: https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/26/us/florida-parkland-students/index.html