The Kids Are All Right

Ebony published an article by Brooke Wilson and Cynthia Boateng, who are seniors at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA.

Mistakes are as common as they are guaranteed. No matter who you are, and regardless of your particular walk in life, you are bound to stumble sometime. While no one aspires to blow it, one can only hope their mistakes are met with grace and second chances.

The notion of second chances is not at all revolutionary. Yet imagine a world where no one, or only a small few, received do-overs. Worse still, imagine a world where people are penalized for mistakes that aren’t mistakes at all; where children are punished for trivial and non-consequential matters. I wish this were an imaginary tale. Sadly, it’s reality for many students across the country.

Is that gorgeous writing, or what? They go on to talk about discriminatory discipline practices in our schools and advocate for a restorative justice approach as an alternative.

I love reading stuff like this. It reminds me that, "Yeah, the kids are all right." We just need to listen to them.