This is from me to the students, personally.
No one has the right to curtail your right to protest, not your teachers, school administrators, or even your parents.
As a new high school English teacher in the late 1960s I sat in the cafeteria while the students at Morristown HS (NJ) walked out to protest the war in Viet Nam. We had been told we would be fired if we walked out with them. Most of us agreed with the students. If I had walked out and been fired, I probably would have been beaten to a pulp by my then-husband who collected my paycheck every pay day.
I learned three things in those years.
1. American students, even the very young, are very aware of current events.
2. High school students, on the cusp of adulthood, are in dangerous territory. They can die for their country soon enough - or die in school as it happens these days. We should listen to what students say. They bear the burden.
3. It's not a good idea to let another person hold sway over you. I left that husband. After that, no one told me what I could say, to whom, or under which circumstances.
Having learned that, I was able to support Hillary Clinton, raise money, campaign, and vote for her.
Republicans and NRA supporters may call you names. They say you are whining while never having been sequestered in school when automatic fire is all around.
At Sandy Hook, babies were killed. Promising little first-graders just beginning their educational adventures. Those little ones were too young to mount a protest.
But this time, you did it! You are articulate, informed and unafraid! You are courageous and intrepid.
So from me, the girl who stood in the freezing mud on campus in 1965 to protest the "credibility gap" and marched in Washington against the war, I say - "Here's the torch!" Proud to pass it on to a generation so well-prepared for the fight!
Note to Betsy DeVos: "Tests" are not what you think they are. This is a test. The schools don't fail, and the kids don't fail either. The kids pass with flying colors. Most of the schools do, too. You fail.
Hillary Clinton addresses the crowd of supporters inside the Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of North Carolina State University on the final campaign stop before election day, in Raleigh, N.C., on Nov. 7, 2016. Logan Cyrus—AFP/Getty Images
