by Kelly Siegel-Stechler,
Interfaith Youth Fellowship program
Co-Trainer and Outreach Coordinator
In New York City, we routinely hear about how our schools are failing, students aren’t graduating from high school, and change is needed if we want our young people to have the chance to succeed. What that change looks like, though, is heavily debated. Part of what makes education policy so complex and resistant to change are the deeply entrenched positions of various stakeholders, all refusing to budge while so little changes in classrooms and in the day to day lives of students. Because amidst the loud voices in the policy arena – teachers unions, parent associations, researchers and policy makers – one voice is almost impossible to hear: student voices.
While adults continue to talk over students’ heads and discount their experiences, it is those experiences that ultimately decide whether education is failing or succeeding. Students know when a teacher is effective, when a curriculum is engaging and relevant, and when an administration is mired in bureaucracy and out of touch. Without their insights and deep understanding of the true environments in which they learn and grow, we can’t understand the problems we are trying to solve, and we overlook a wealth of knowledge and ideas for possible solutions.
As an advocate for student voices and a strong believer in the power and validity of student opinions, I find this frustrating. But it is even more frustrating for those students who are smart, capable, and continually discounted. This is why the Learning Together Interfaith Youth Fellowship program is such an exciting and important addition to the Interfaith Center’s education efforts. Over the last few months, we have had the pleasure of working with a hand-picked cohort of talented and diverse young people, who come from a range of perspectives and backgrounds, and getting to know them in an intimate setting where they have a chance to engage with big questions and develop their beliefs and ideas into meaningful commentaries.
Though they come from public, private, parochial and charter schools and from more than half a dozen religious affiliations, what has struck me most about our conversations is how similar they are and how many experiences and beliefs they do share. Almost universally, our fellows believe in the importance of interacting and engaging with ideas and people different from oneself, and they proudly assert that New York City is the best place in the world to do this. They are open and ready to hear from all the stakeholders in the education policy arena, but they want a seat at the table, too. As they finalize their work this Spring and begin to look forward to publication, we hope that we will find media outlets who are willing to step up and welcome this important group of voices to the conversation.
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For media outlets interested in potentially publishing the works of the fellows in this program, please contact Kevin Childress, ICNY Social Media Manager at socialmedia@interfaithcenter.org.
More information on the Learning Together Interfaith Youth Fellowships program is available here.