Finding Your Voice at Greenville City Schools (by Elizabeth Horner)

I think most people agree that the teenage years are an awkward time for anyone to go through. Along with glimpses of independence you start to examine the ideals and opinions you grew-up with and sometimes you start to wonder. At times, there is not an easy answer to those things that you start to question in your mind but it seems that people, no matter how similar they are ---can have different ways of seeing the world. Sometimes it takes expanding your horizons a bit--- meaning gathering as much information as you can from as many different sources as possible to see where you fall in the line-up. You may still sound like your mother… or your father, or your teacher, or your grandparent --- but this time, it will NOT be just because they are your parents, or the people you are supposed to listen to, but because YOU agree with their views. In the midst of doing what you think is logical and reasonable, and with the benefit of personal experiences --- now YOU begin to tell YOURSELF what YOU believe is right or wrong, and hear what YOUR VOICE is telling you louder and louder, and clearer and clearer. And you hope that people hear what those voices say too….

Really, that’s the biggest catch for kids inching towards young adulthood--- trying to get others to take your voice seriously, or that at least, to feel that adults are hearing what you are saying. Sometimes, this stage that one goes through is either seen as "teenage rebellion" or a result of some external pressure... not one that as a young adult, you have given examination and is imparting wisdom, from a young age it may be, but nevertheless one person's perspective of the world. I happen to strongly believe that people have something to contribute and to teach us at any age, and when you shrug kids off simply because they are "not old enough to express an opinion", you may just be imparting in them a sense that they will always be underestimated and undervalued. It makes them not want to participate in the world that they are constantly told they don’t belong to… yet...in the same way that the American colonists were frustrated by their inability to participate in government during the British occupation, kids don't want to be told they’re “pawns” ushered from one side of the chess board to another without any say.

Just as we young people find our own identity, and do need to be aided by advice and wisdom from adults, I hope that you just don't simply dismiss us as either "rebellious" or somehow simply submitting to external pressure. There is always something to be gained from hearing somebody else’s opinion, young and adult. Respect should go both ways. It is easy to get a voice drowned out by noises in the crowd or other detractions. I believe that the strongest voices are not the ones that scream the loudest, or even the ones that have been there for the longest time but those given the POWER because they come from some place true and real within oneself.

As a kid, through adult intermediary, I have been given great opportunities to express my voice to the previous two Superintendents of Greenville City Schools as I advocated for students' rights, from discipline to teaching methods. Some of them, you have read in the local newspaper, many you have not. I know that our current Superintendent, Susie Riegel, listens to kids' voices and I believe that she responds to those voices the best way she knows how!