Walking Up

I have seen so much in the news about the students walking out and all the Facebook debates about wanting gun control, so I thought I would share my opinion here. I’m sure I will offend some people, but this is how I feel and things that I believe.

I feel that adults encouraging students to walk out of school is a terrible thing to do. This is not how students should be taught to protest. There are appropriate ways to protest and this is not one of them. What kind of values are we teaching our students? If they walked out of a job, they could lose it. The teachers in our district are being held accountable if they walked out.

I do not believe gun control is the answer because it won’t stop gun crimes. It will only keep law abiding citizens from protecting themselves. People driving cars can kill people with their cars. Arsonists start fires with matches/lighters and this can kill people. People could stab others in the jugular vein with sharp pencils and kill them. Yet, we don’t try to ban cars, matches, lighters or pencils. It is the PEOPLE who are committing the crimes!

I like the push to encourage students to walk up instead of walking out. One middle school teacher encouraged students to “walk up not out.” Walking out doesn’t solve any problems but walking up to others may create an atmosphere that can help situations. I like the thought of looking for others who may look like they need someone and take a step to be their friend. Showing compassion and tolerance is something that we need to encourage in schools.

There may be many people (students and adults) who would benefit from someone showing them some attention. There is way too much negativity in the world and we need to start promoting more positive actions by everyone.

Photo by Jodie Katsetos