Read below to see what students are saying about their schools and about the need for an American right to high quality K-12 education. For more student voices, check out our magazine archives here, and then click here to tell your own story. We'd love to learn about what your school is like and what you and your peers are doing to change things. New comments are posted online every few weeks - and yours could be next!
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"It's not just adults who have a voice in things, but students care too."
- Valerie Cotto, EC Goodwin Technical High School in New Britain
I believe that access to education is a civil right. The soul of America lies in ideas, in creativity, in brain power. The very foundation of a democracy is an educated electorate. And yet, the issue of education in this country is all to often marginalized, misused, and underfunded.
- Sebastian Johnson, student at Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland
Everyone has the potential to do great things in this country...they just have to be given the opportunity.
- Kelley Settle, High School Student in Ohio
I believe that I should be given the best quality education that this country can afford. If we can afford to build bombs and wage wars, then we should be able to afford a more than decent education for the future of our country.
- Krystal Fernandez, Thomas Edison Vocation and Tech High School; Queens, NY
As a student and a peer educator, I believe that my generation and future generations, regardless of a student's economic status, race, or gender, deserve an education that will instill within them a sense of self-governance and a love of learning.
- Caroline Ross, City Year DC Corps Member
Because I'm in Special Ed I know that we all have differing needs and differing ideas of a High Quality Education. I have the right to be the best me I can be. To enjoy the same freedoms as my typical peers. To be understood and to count. Without a high quality (creative, progressive, intense, expanded, thoughtful, ground breaking, practice making, policy setting) education, I am destined to be...well, you can only imagine.
- Kyra Echols, Mission HS in San Francisco
…Learning is one of the most essential tools in growing and understanding the world around you. With a high quality education one can achieve practically anything they want. Without this type of education many lose the right to do what they've always dreamed... Giving the right of a high quality education to kids makes not only America's future brighter but also the future of countless children who are making their hopes and dreams come true.
- Monica Nguyen, student at Bradshaw Mountain High School in Arizona
[I believe there should be an American Right to High Quality Education because] how else are we going to start to end the cycle of poverty and crime? We all should have the chance to better ourselves, rich or poor, disadvantaged or not.
- Amy Goodwin, Massachusetts
The American Dream is based on the premise that there is equal opportunity to achieve it. But today's public school system is incredibly unequal. Public education is the civil rights and human rights issue of our time in the U.S.
- Stacy Tolos, Vanderbilt University
The only way to achieve inter-cultural respect and cooperation to benifit the individual communities within the nation,and the united states itself, is to ensure equal quality academic opportunities for all.
- Emily Zurow, HS Student in Oregon
The only way to free people from the shackles of ignorance is to have a strong public education system, and democracy can only exist with an educated and civically motivated public.
- Anthony Montaleti, New York University
An education is the biggest resource a person has when it comes to opening the doors to their future. To deny a child a quality education is to deny them the chance at becoming the best person that they can be. It's not fair that what family or town you're born into determines how many opportunities you have to achieve great things. By giving all American children a high quality education, we level the playing field and give all of them the chance to unlock their full potential.
- Tom Besade, Montville High School in CT
Education is the key to success. High quality education needs to be provided equally to everyone so that everyone has equal opportunities. America is not educating its youth to its fullest potential. We are far behind many other industrialized countries, which to me is truly a tragedy.
- Sally Golub, Beachwood High School in Beachwood, OH
