Written by Carolyn Hankins Wolfe, Boone County Board of Education Member
Senator Funke Frommeyer says school hours should focus on “the basics.” Reading. Writing. Arithmetic.
You know what’s also a basic?
Civics.
Public schools weren’t created to produce compliant test-takers. Leaders like Thomas Jefferson argued that public education was essential to preserving liberty. James Madison warned that freedom without knowledge would become a farce or a tragedy.
They understood something fundamental: democracy only works if citizens understand it and practice it.
For years now, members of the Kentucky General Assembly have insisted schools must double down on teaching the Constitution. They have passed mandates, standards, directives, and oversight. We’ve been told repeatedly that students must understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens.
Why is it then, that when students attempt to responsibly exercise one of those rights, peacefully, in coordination with school leadership, and within structured time limits, that teaching civic responsibility suddenly becomes a problem?
This is called irony.
Let us get some facts out there. Student walkouts in Northern Kentucky are not anarchist free-for-alls. In most cases, students notify administrators in advance. The schools set boundaries: where they may gather, how long they may be out, and when they must return. If students go beyond agreed limits, they can be marked truant and parents are contacted.
That is structure. That is accountability. And people that have actually protested know that this is literally how constitutional rights function in the real world. They have both parameters and consequences.
Situations like this should not be seen as a “battleground.” They should be seen as project-based civics lessons which teach scholars real world applications for the document that is literally supposed to govern their lives.
The Senator asks whether these demonstrations are truly student-led or influenced by adults. Fair question. But here’s a better one: Did she or anyone actually talk to the students? My guess is not. I am frequently visiting schools in my district and working with the “student voice” on issues our district faces. In addition, I myself have 2 teenagers. I can say with authority that our youth are much more informed than they get credit for. Our schools DO NOT influence how students should think, however they do encourage critical thinking. And that is what is happening in these circumstances.
Many of these young people being criticized will be eligible to vote this year or by the next Presidential election. Some are 18 right now. They can sign legal contracts. They can join the military. In Kentucky, there is even a push for them to carry concealed firearms at 18.
But members of their own state legislature seem to think they are not competent enough to decide whether they support or oppose a federal policy?
We trust them with credit cards and lethal force but not with a poster board?
Come on now.
The safety argument deserves respect; no one dismisses that. But safety is precisely why schools coordinate these events instead of pretending they don’t exist. Prohibiting supervised expression doesn’t eliminate risk; it removes guardrails.
Adults should not eliminate civic engagement because it carries risk. We manage it. We teach it responsibly. We model it.
And here’s the bigger point: Civic education isn’t memorizing the Bill of Rights like it’s a vocabulary list. It is understanding how rights are exercised within a framework. It’s learning that you notify, you coordinate, you respect time limits, and you accept consequences if you overstep.
That is democracy in action.
What is disappointing is the implication that students must be shielded from forming or expressing views during school hours as if the classroom exists in a vacuum separate from the world. Schools are where we prepare citizens. Not where we pause citizenship.
If we want young people to vote thoughtfully, we must allow them to think critically.
If we want them to respect constitutional limits, we must show them how those limits work.
If we want responsible citizens, we must allow them to practice responsibility, under supervision, with structure, and within the law.