“From the Podium” are reflections on life at Rice from the teachers and staff at Rice Memorial High School.
You don’t need a teacher to tell you that teaching is hard work; you know that already. But there are days when I look around and I think, “Wow. I’m so proud to teach these kids! I’m proud to work where I do.” Friday, January 30 was one of those days. A number of Rice students braved sub-zero temperatures to participate in a nationwide student walk out in protest of federal anti-immigrant policy and I.C.E. actions surrounding those policies. This event was student-led and student-centered and demonstrated the deep care for civic engagement and empathy of our students who participated. The passion with which students organized and participated in this event was inspiring, especially because they elected to stand in the cold over attending the Winter Pep Rally; what they were doing was that important.
Next year, Rice will be offering a Civics elective that will afford students the opportunity to learn about how our government works, the rights of the people, and what responsibilities come with the rights and privileges afforded those who live here. The students who walked out on Friday demonstrated that education in action. I look forward to seeing the way civic engagement of our students continues to grow in the coming years.
Friday’s walk out was also an important show of support for diversity at Rice and the richness of the educational experience provided by that diversity. Our students come from many backgrounds, nations, and faiths; it is vital that we keep a supportive environment and dialogue open through solidarity in action. I cannot say loudly or frequently enough how proud I am of these young people. I believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. summarized this need for collective action and solidarity best in his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” when he said, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It is this mutuality that our students were acting in recognition and support of on Friday.
