Giving Compass' Take:

• Andre Perry discusses cases in which student voices were rejected or ignored by adult superiors. Perry argues that this is not the message supposed role models and educators should be sending.  

• How can educators hold others in power accountable for supporting students in the right ways and amplifying student voice?

• Read about how academic innovation, especially in higher education, lacks student voice. 

Students need to be able to express themselves; the freedom to do so is not only a question of their intellectual development but also one of human rights. School kids may well rebel at the rules. They may challenge authority, or, God forbid, even resist.

But punishing students for their political beliefs or their opinion of their school is to chastise developmentally appropriate behavior. Believe it or not, students have views on how good (or not) a school is beyond a standardized test score — and it’s in our best interest to hear them.

Last month, Joseph Munno, founder of University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men (UPrep) in Rochester, NY, denied the first black valedictorian of the school, Jaisaan Lovett, the opportunity to give the ceremonial commencement speech, traditionally the preserve of valedictorians. Munno has not explained his decision, but there are several clues in Lovett’s six-year tenure at the charter school, where he had had several run-ins with the school’s principal.

If a school leader will go so far as to allegedly refuse the first black valedictorian a chance to speak to spare himself embarrassment, then that school undoubtedly has bigger problems. Lovett had something important to say, but by taking away his right to speak, Munno exhibited values that are the opposite of what a school leader — a role model — is supposed to uphold.

Rochester’s Mayor Lovely Warren, in whose office Lovett was an intern, stepped in, graciously inviting Lovett to give his commencement speech at City Hall instead.

No child is too young for his or her voice not to matter. Educators can’t teach kids to value the truth if they’re suppressing students’ ability to speak it.

Read the full article about student voice by Andre Perry at The Hechinger Report.