On Tuesday, Jan. 28, the high school once again held its Day of Racial Reform and Solidarity (DoRRS). Unlike in previous years, event organizers made the decision to pre-record all speeches and postponed the event by two months. The decision was made following a controversial “Telling Our Stories” speech that mentioned the Israel-Palestine conflict last year and parental and staff opposition this year directed at a student speaker and centering around the Israel-Palestine conflict. A Brookline School Committee meeting in November saw impassioned debate between parents on the topic, with some arguing that the speaker’s words would be antisemitic—based largely on a clip of him speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally—and that he shouldn’t be given a platform in front of the whole school. Others argued that the words of the parents were racist and malicious and that the student had a right to make his speech.
There are times when it is necessary for parents to get involved in a school community, especially with younger students who may not yet have all the skills they need to navigate the world. Students need support getting to school. Parental involvement may make sense in deciding whether or not to raise funds to go on a field trip. When sensitive issues arise, it’s often important for parents to support their students emotionally. With that said, parents need to understand that there is a time to intervene and a time to allow students to stand up for themselves.
In the case of DoRRS, students need to step up if they want to see change. DoRRS is organized in large part by students and spotlights student speakers. Parents are not directly impacted by any of its content. This year, in particular, the school took precautions to keep the content of student speeches within the school community, utilizing pre-recorded speeches and referring to students by first name only. If students want to see changes, they can advocate for themselves. Parents should stay out of it: this is not a debate over whether or not to go on a field trip. This is a debate about the free expression of ideas.
Across the country, passionate parents exert pressure on their children’s school districts, often enacting radical agendas that silence the opinions of others. The rise of book bannings across the country is an example of such harmful activism. Such parents must recognize that education itself is meant to expose children to a variety of viewpoints, even those they disagree with. Parental involvement crosses that line when it targets the political beliefs and First Amendment rights of students.
Like parents, teachers and administrators should not impose their personal political beliefs on the impressionable students they teach either.
Driven by the strength and academic will of one another, we, the students, can forge a path forward in which we shape our education. The developing and impressionable minds of high schoolers must be protected from undue influences—including school administrations and parents—that push agendas that do not belong in school classrooms. It is important to remember this now when the conversations and topics are extraordinarily difficult to grapple with and understand. It is as simple as this: parents love, administrators and faculty support and teach and the students—and the students only—decide for themselves what they want to make out of their education.
