Rage or reason in our schools?
The recent string of ICE-related school protests show our local schools are missing a golden opportunity to teach our kids to engage in civic life in a meaningful manner. The school walkouts are fed by a deep-seated and irrational rage toward national immigration enforcement. This rage is taking the place of rational debate and respectful dialogue. This anger has eclipsed all rationality. Public schools are succumbing to the rage of the mob under the cover of free speech, rather than educating our kids to learn how to reason.
Empowered and emboldened by school administrators, teachers unions, and adult political activists, students across Bucks and Montgomery counties have, “walked out” of schools. Unfortunately, rage-filled adult liberals’ have transferred their penchant for resistance at all costs to school children, weaponizing and radicalizing a small number of them to support a political agenda.
By explicitly or tacitly supporting these protests, school administrators are feeding the rage at the expense of respect, reason, and rationality. They are also taking a political position at the expense of our students. In North Penn, Pennsbury, Pennridge and Quakertown, officials effectively endorsed the protests, promulgating ground rules. In all these districts, local activists made sure friendly news outlets provided coverage. These same local agitators showed up to make their own social media videos applauding the “grassroots” cause.
To be clear, cutting class for a cause du jour is performative rage, not effective citizenship, especially when you believe there are no consequences. While Pennridge officials indicated that students attending the protest would still be responsible for missed assignments, they left enforcement to teachers, who were largely supportive of the students. Pennsbury officials publicly lauded the protest and gave the students a safe space for their rage. In a stark departure from his campaign promise to refocus his department on its core duties, Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler (D), even sent deputies to the Pennsbury protest, performing the duties of local law enforcement.
In Quakertown, Principal Mattias van ‘t Hoenderdaal sent a letter to parents, students, and staff discussing the expectations for the “student-led” walk out, as if it were a scheduled field trip. The support of teachers and administration lulled all of these students to believe there would be no consequences for skipping class to protest.
When the collaboration between the student leaders and the Quakertown administration was publicly exposed, Quakertown ironically “canceled” the “student-led” protest. This very act begs the question of how a “student-led” event can be canceled, unless the administration is actually supporting the protest and its underlying message. This was not acceptable to the activist community. A small number of students left the school, followed by left-wing activists from Indivisible and Upper Bucks United.
According to reports, students left the school, blocked traffic, and destroyed property. According to these same reports, five students were arrested, and the chief of police was attacked. Video from the event shows the chief with his nose bleeding.
It is an understatement to say that the response from Bucks County is disappointing. Ceisler’s de facto support of the protests, especially after ending the office’s immigration enforcement partnership, reeks of pure politics. It seems that if a Democrat-friendly protest is occurring on a school campus, this is part of the sheriff’s shifting priorities, but turning over criminals in his custody to federal officials is not.
The most distressing reaction to the Quakertown violence is the public statement by the Bucks County District Attorneys’ office. The office is “investigating the police response” to the incident. The newly elected Democratic district attorney, Joe Kahn, immediately cast a cloud over the police response to student violence encouraged by the activist community who helped elect him. The question for Mr. Kahn is clear: Will he vindicate the Quakertown Police response or will he choose to sacrifice law enforcement at the altar of the left-wing activists?
These issues could be avoided if our schools made the decision to educate our students in basic civics and reasoned discourse, rather than feeding their rage. In this respect, our schools have failed our students, teaching them to value their own self-righteous sense of virtue over meaningful engagement with the institutions that can change.
If our local schools were serious about creating and educating leaders, they would have given the students an educational outlet for their interest in this important issue. Teachers could have assigned research projects which required the students to research and understand both immigration law and the roles state and local governments play. Schools could have arranged public forums and debates where students could hear all sides of the issue. Teachers could moderate the debates, so the students could also learn how to advocate for an issue without vilifying the people who disagree with them. Perhaps most importantly, they could have been directed to government officials who influence and enforce policy. They would learn the tools of citizenship that are far more effective than cutting class.
A solid education is foundational to a functioning society. Thomas Jefferson once stated, “If the children are untaught, their ignorance and vices will in future life cost us much dearer in their consequences than it would have done in their correction by a good education.” A good education empowers reason and civil discourse; it does not feed directionless rage. Our schools need to do better so we don’t end up with more incidents like Quakertown.
Don Petrille is an attorney and served as Bucks County’s register of wills from 2012 until 2020.
