At the head of the protests is sixth grader Rainier Long, 12, an avid reader who was outraged to learn Carlos Gilbert Elementary would be cutting library time in half — to 30 minutes a week — this year to make more time for technology education.
“It’s not going to help kids to spend more time on screens,” Rainier argued. “Reading will really stimulate your senses and make you a lot — I don’t wanna say smarter — but smarter,” he said.
Students were told that after implementing technology classes, the school didn’t have time in its schedule this year to allow all grades an hour of library time.
His next move? Staging protests during recess — the only free time students have during the day.
Rainier used sticks, tape and graph paper to craft signs with messages saying, “Stop the shortening!” and “We want to read!”
When the recess protests had little effect on administrators’ attitudes, he further escalated the strategy — convincing a quarter of his class to stage a sit-in protest in the library, staying for the full hour his movement is calling for.
Learning how to lead a protest and how to escalate until it is acknowledged is probably more valuable than whatever they’d be learning in that technology class. If there’s one thing that kids today don’t need it’s formal instruction on technology; I bet most of those students know more than the teachers.
Not sure about that last thing. Pre-smartphones that was probably true, but now the teachers are the generation who grew up with computers and the kids only know how to consume content on their phones. Lots of teachers lament that their students don’t understand a file system and the like.
That’s fair; my kid is probably an outlier in this regard as we’re a very tech friendly household in general, and my experience with him is the only real evidence I have to base that stance on.
I’m gleefully typing this response, so happy to see such a young person defending the value they see in library time. I’m all for it! This kiddo is making serious moves!
Ehehe this kid has already surpassed so many adults in having a strong mind
Edited: spelling
I wonder if maybe he reached out to a trusted adult that’s helping with the movement? I’m sure he’s leading the charge though 😄
Probably. I still wouldn’t go change my mind if anyone asked whether I did, however.
