Before the student strike and a mother's question about how to explain it to her young son, I proposed that she simply tell him that improvements in Education are requested and that he make his proposals. The idea spread and many parents I know also asked their children that requests would they make to improve the school for those who considered it appropriate to protest. It would be necessary to see if they resemble something in what is so admired Finnish system offers them to children.
The children are very wise and know precisely what they need, which is not always what the school is offering them. So here they are the thirty requests of these children if they could strike a student. You will tell me what you think.
- The school should not be mandatory. You only have to go when you want and if you want you can stay at home. You should even be able to learn without going to school.
- Children should be able to play more. Classes have to be shorter and have much more patio time.
- Schools should not have bars like prisons and they have to be very nice and cheerful.
- The courtyards have to have trees and grass that can be stepped on, like a forest. And one must be able to climb trees without harming them and being careful.
- Parents should be able to enter the school whenever they want and be in class with their children to be able to accompany them and also monitor if the teachers are affectionate and kind. If a child cries they should always be able to be with their parents if they don't have to be working.
- The little ones should be able to drink tit at any time and be with their moms.
- Punishing, scolding and shouting should also be prohibited for adults, not just for children.
- Children need to move. Do not force them to sit if you don't feel like it.
- No queues. Children will learn not to push themselves if they are not treated as if they are not able to respect others.
- Children have to be able to play whenever they want and learn by playing.
- There have to be more stories and more beautiful and interesting toys that help them learn.
- You have to make many fewer chips and not force anyone to do it if you don't want to.
- You have to do more experiments and learn from the real things, not the chips.
- You should be able to paint as you wish, and nobody should force you not to get out of the margin and you should be able to use the color you want.
- Homework prohibited. The children spend enough hours at school. If they do not learn at school, the school must improve, not make them repeat everything at home.
- It is not necessary to make a child feel silly or clumsy if he does things more slowly or otherwise.
- You have to leave the school more for a walk and to go on excursions even for your town.
- Children should not be forced to be friends with those who do not like or bother them.
- You have to spend less hours at school and more with family and friends.
- Do not learn by heart or take exams. There are other ways by which a child knows if he has learned something.
- More teachers and fewer children in each class.
- May the teachers be cheerful and friendly and affectionate.
- That teachers do not make fun of children.
- There always has to be a teacher taking care that nobody hits or bothers others.
- No whistles or sirens.
- Eat, drink and go to the bathroom when you feel like it, without having to wait or ask permission.
- If you get bored you have to be able to do something that interests you.
- Be able to express yourself without teachers or classmates judging you or labeling you.
- No summer notebooks to review. On vacation you must play and learn without homework.
- Let the children's opinion be heard and respected.
Take note. This is what young children would ask if they could strike a student strike. The point is that all their requests are logical and completely adequate to the true needs of children, which are the ones that should prevail in any educational system.
