In previous newsletters, I’ve made the case that, if schools are going to prepare students to flourish and thrive in the 21st Century, they must be completely reimagined and holistically transformed around four key circles to be:

→ Hubs of Innovation and Creativity

→ Centers of Purpose and Meaning

→ Communities of Care and Belonging

→ Hotbeds of Advocacy and Activism

In this newsletter, I want to talk about the fourth circle:

Schools as Hotbeds of Advocacy and Activism

Students are some of the most creative, innovative, bold thinkers on the planet!

They are hardwired for questioning, dreaming, pushing, testing, and exploring.

They are natural designers, natural storytellers, and naturally curious.

They are innate problem solvers, critical thinkers, community minded, meaning seekers who desire for their voices to matter, who want to do something impactful with their one precious lives.

The students in our schools are bursting with energy, enthusiasm, drive, hope, talent, skills, and personalities that want to engage in projects that have meaning and are purposeful. They want their work and their lives to matter.

And instead of giving them outlets for that energy and creativity, we force students into desks and rows, force them to fill out worksheets and cram for quizzes, and work hard to keep them quiet with busy work to manage the learning environment.

Instead of fostering, harnessing, supporting, encouraging, and unleashing those superpowers, schools silence the innate sense of wonder and imagination in students in the name of test scores and GPA.

But What If That Is The Problem?

What if the discipline, apathy, disrespect, and lack of engagement far too many teachers experience is rooted in the reality that the work students are asked to do has no tangible meaning…to them or anyone else?

We complain about overcrowded classrooms as breeding grounds for chaos, but what if, instead, we harnessed the power of the intellectual and creative talents in the room and gave them something more than memorization and regurgitation to work on?

What if, instead of students sitting passively listening to class lectures for yet another quiz…they were invited to be problem solvers and solution bringers to the most pressing issues of our time?

Issues that impact them every bit as much as they impact us?

And there is no shortage of pressing, critical issues

• Excessive heatwaves

• Plastics polluting our oceans

• Political unrest

• Homelessness

• Poverty

• Overpopulation

• Food deserts

• Mental health concerns

• Issues of unrest, injustice, and oppression

• Prison reform

• Cancer

• Water scarcity

The list is almost endless

We cannot waste the precious brain power, creativity, ingenuity, wonder, and passion of our students, both for their sakes and for ours.

We need them in the race, in the arena, fighting, striving, working, dreaming, and designing better systems, better worlds for us all.

We must also not forget that it has been our youth who have historically turned the tides of change in our culture:

• 13 students, ages 6 to 17, led by their teacher Clara Luper, sat at a whites-only lunch counter in downtown Oklahoma City, shaping the course of the Civil Rights movement

• Malala Yousafzai began using her voice at the age of 11 to advocate for the rights of girls around the world to receive an education (even doing so after being shot in the head by the Taliban)

• High school senior Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, used her voice to advocate for gun control, inspiring hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to join the cause at the March For Our Lives rally

• Greta Thunberg has used her youth to advocate for climate change awareness and legislation, leading to meetings with world leaders and speaking at the United Nations

• The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led the Freedom Rides, conducted sit-ins across the nation, and were instrumental in planning the March on Washington at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement

Students have the capacity, conviction, and compassion to change the world..and they always have.

Our students are capable of doing great things now; they do not have to wait until they are adults to be difference makers in the world.

It is time we make room (and often get out of the way) so they can advocate for better upstream solutions to the downstream problems they are inheriting.

Transforming Schools To Be Hotbeds of Advocacy and Activism

Instead of being places that help students "do well on tests" and "get good grades"; schools should intentionally chart a different path: a path for those who want to change the world!

A path for those who want their voices and their lives to make a difference.

A path for those who have a passion to see things made new.

A path for those who do not want to wait until they "grow up" to find meaning and purpose in their lives.

A path for those who dare to dream big dreams, who want their lives to matter right now!

Schools should be the place where students put their creativity, their talent, their intellect, and their drive to work today, helping to find solutions to the most pressing problems and imaginative possibilities of our time.

Transforming schools into hotbeds of advocacy and activism invites students to use their voices to speak out and speak up about issues they are passionate, curious, and maybe even angry about

Schools that act as hotbeds of activism and advocacy

• turn their math classes into hubs of innovative design, giving students the chance to put geometry to work building tiny homes for transient populations and giving spoken words on the statistical reality of zip code inequity

• use their botany classes to plant edible gardens in food deserts, unleash their anatomy classes to create public service announcements on fast food and diabetes, and help students think critically and well about the impact of climate change

• use their literature classes to write and deliver original slam poetry on the impact of the female voice across cultures and generations

• use history to help students plan peaceful protests to issues of injustice taking place in their local community

In short, schools that act as hotbeds of activism and advocacy do all they can to help students become architects of repair in the world!

In such a school, no student ever asks, “Why does this matter?” because the importance of the learning is evident from the start.

It matters because our common humanity relies on it.

It matters because our students live in the same world, see the same chaos, and feel the same existential concern we all feel.

It is time we unleash the power of the students in our schools to help us change the world.

It is time we take seriously the power of student belief, voice, and agency to be agents of transformation.

It is time we support them

• Lead fights to reverse book bans

• Fight for reparations in their communities

• Push Congress for action on climate change

• March beside them when they ask for a school walkout to advocate for criminal justice reform

• Host town halls on mental health

• Fight for LGBTQ rights

Society is never redeemed without effort, struggle, and sacrifice, and it is past time we make room for our students to enter and lead that effort.

Transforming schools to be hotbeds of activism and advocacy unleashes the innate creativity, energy, passion, and excitement students have for seeing wrongs made right, for being active agents in their own communities, and for seeing the world they stand to inherit made new

Students crave purpose, they are filled with passion, and they are ready to be difference makers in the world.

The only thing holding them back is us.

Transforming schools into hotbeds of advocacy and activism will take courage, but our students, communities, and world need our students to become change agents in the world!

→ For those genuinely interested and truly ready to turn your classrooms and schools into hotbeds of advocacy and activism, I invite you to check out the work we are doing at Odyssey Leadership Academy. Our students are doing amazing work as architects of repair in the world

→ If you want to see what that looks like in action, join us for our next ReimaginED Educator Site Visit is September 28-29, 2023. Come spend two days with us and see the magic firsthand.

My life’s work is to help see schools transformed into healthier, more imaginative places

When you are ready to make the move towards belonging and community at your site, here are 3 ways I can help you:

→Check out my website: If you're looking for direct, one-on-one advice on transforming your school or classroom, my website is where I take all the wisdom, experience, struggle, knowledge, and expertise I have learned over my 30 years as a thought leader in reimagining education and bring it all to YOU! From one-on-one dream sessions, to consulting with your team, to sharing at your site, I am passionate about helping you make a difference in your learning community.

→ The Flourishing Schools Podcast: For a more in-depth, deep dive into thinking imaginatively about schooling, check out my “Flourishing Schools” podcast, where I jam with thought leaders, experts, community leaders, educators, students, and parents on all things related to the intersection of schools and student well-being

→ The Odyssey Center for Transformative Schooling: If you are looking for more upstream, systemic resources, the OCTS is just the thing! From leader cohorts to educator collaboratives, onsite training to inspirational retreats, this is the hub for inspiring hope and resourcing transformation! The OCTS partners with insightful, innovative educators just like you from around the world to help bring about upstream, systemic change.

**For a deep dive, come join us this November 2-4 in Scottsdale, AZ for the OCTS RecenterED Retreat where a group of intentional thought leaders in education will engage learning for human flourishing in the 21st Century

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