student voice

after a long convo of kids saying how much they want to do/learn their own thing,
and talking about how much time in the day they feel they own - or are participating wholeheartedly,
we started talking about why we are just complaining about or discussing it - and not doing more about it.

their first response was that they can't do more.. that they are just kids - so i shared with them the mad cow protest in s korea, how teenage girls changed their presidents mind.

these poignant comments followed:

if we do this - and we fail - i'm afraid of being far behind

so we discussed what behind meant,
behind what?
and how much behind of that same thing they are now... ie: once they take a test they claim to not remember much, etc

then the comment:

if you aren't with the mass, you are behind.

with the clarification
i'm not even talking about school/schoolwork

so more talking about the truth or reality to that statement, one said

what if you're more ahead if you aren't in the masses

then being behind turned into a discussion of what waste was
what determined if your time had been wasted
the conclusion:
if i feel after that what i'd done didn't matter to me or didn't help anyone

and no one could define that - does it matter - for another.
they could group define.. and that's what they often did, but that wasn't an ultimate.

we talked about ideas from Jane McGonigal's Reality is Broken, how in a sense, they see themselves using her strategies of getting through difficult situations, or situations you don't want to be in by connecting to others via texting.

some of them watched Gary Stager talk about creating environments with no stakes.

__________________________________

they so want to own their day/time, yet they are so used to following the crowd,  we're all so afraid of being rejected or being behind.. or sticking out..
but without taking the time to think what all that means..
without realizing how many others (teachers included) they could/would unleash if they decided to notice more and respectfully question everything..
what we are doing now, those of us who spend more time in a day stressed than not, is much more risky/ridiculous..