It's Less About the Principal than it is About the Principle

There are few things that feel better than standing up for what you believe in. At first it's scary and intimidating—the potential of getting shut down and disciplined, or even just laughed at, is enough to prevent most people. But after it's over, you realize that it's the only way you would have had it. The satisfaction you earned and hopefully changes made due to your actions pay you back many times over for any inflictions suffered. Personally, I have observed this many times in the past. Stubbornness is my thing... Some may say I take it too far, but it's helped earn me respect and change unfair situations in my life, so I still refuse to alter my ways. Students at North Atlanta High School demonstrated their own resilience recently when they stood up in protest to their Atlanta Public School superintendent, Erroll Davis.

The superintendent fired and replaced the principal, vice principal, and three other leaders at the school for reasons which the students found unfair. The day after he addressed the school with this news, over 200 students ditched class and headed out to the football field, where the majority remained for the rest of the day. Their names were reported to the new administration to receive disciplinary actions. Despite the rebellious nature of their behavior, many parents and faculty members supported the students' decision to skip class and protest. Their justification was that when the superintendent spoke at the school, he misrepresented the school's rank and grade situation. Making out North Atlanta to be a low quality, below-average high school infuriated the students because several of his facts were wrong or taken out of context, and these were his only reasons for firing the beloved principals. This was enough to cause the huge school protest that attracted a lot of media attention.

Although the protest did little to solve the problem, it was the principle of the thing that counts. The students felt that an unfair force was acted upon them, so naturally, they reacted. It was enough to keep their pride as an Atlanta public school and voice their opinions. In the future, superintendents will hopefully make better choices to avoid this type of scandal again.

Fighting to keep an old school principal in power is an ironic example of rebellion, since most kids already feel oppressed enough by their current administration. But even with the unusual circumstances, it is refreshing to see a large amount of young people join together to stand up for their cause. I feel that such an organized rebellion would never happen in our school. Unfortunate. 

 http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/north-atlanta-high-students-walk-out-and-protest/nSZWt/