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Dear Editor:
I appreciate Chris Hartig’s thoughtful letter in support of the Noblesville High School students who peacefully exercised their right to protest. It is encouraging to see community members recognize young people not as passive recipients of the world they inherit, but as active participants in shaping it.
Peaceful civic action is not a disruption to education, but an extension of it. When students engage respectfully with complex, real-world issues, they are practicing critical thinking, empathy, and democratic participation. These are skills our schools strive to cultivate.
Regardless of individual viewpoints on immigration policy, it is important to acknowledge that these issues affect real families within our community. The students who marched did so with care and intention, modeling civil discourse and compassion – values that strengthen both our schools and our city.
Noblesville should be proud of young people who are learning how to raise their voices peacefully, thoughtfully, and with respect for others. Encouraging this kind of engagement helps ensure a more informed, empathetic, and resilient community for all.
Jessica Garten Vandergraff
Noblesville
They can do all of that after school hours, I commend Southport High School for suspending their students for leaving school to protest!
surprised it took this long for the students to stand up. I can only imagine what it’s like to go to school always with the fear of being shot up while trying to learn. And our government never takes the steps to keep you safe , when they very well could. And so now there’s our government , once again a threat to you in a place of learning. That’s just a start, so, I’m very proud of the kids! Rage against the machine.
Do these young people really know what they are protesting about? They are protesting against their own country. The illegal aliens are here illegally if they are not a citizen of the United States. They take away jobs from Americans, and the ones who were involved in the rush over the border during the Biden Harris regime are causing a lot of grief for American families who have experienced the loss of a family member caused by an illegal who should not be here.
I had to really think about this one. When is a young person mature enough to consider all the yes/no, proper/improper, gain/loss decisions involved in laws, rules, regulations and the impact on people & the American Society, (short and long term), of the actions involving the Government rounding up and removal of illegal persons in this country ? When is that young person able?? I think of it this way;
Would a parent (and society allow their offspring to partake of the 2nd Amendment? If that parent, (and school administration), thinks that the student is able to fully handle the 1st Amendment, why not the 2nd? 3rd Amendment? 4th Amendment? And so on?
I doubt a full understanding by our young folks of the implication of unchecked and uncontrolled immigration into the USA is fully understood, by the student, as well as the parent in many instances.
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath free…” is such an important way of framing life & living in America.
Responsible immigration, not using the USA as a dumping ground for undesirable criminals, and permitting entry into the country at a pace that can be managed, is more the way.
Sometimes Doctors say the human brain is not fully matured until the age of near 25 years old, and having been in the controlled, disciplinary society of the U.S. military for two decades, I have to somewhat agree. That’s why we do not allow those under the age of majority access to every one of our Constitutional Rights. We need those students in school, learning of the events of the day so they can make mature, informed, rational choices.
Jim – I appreciate the time you took to think this through. One important distinction, though, is that exercising the First Amendment does not require the same legal or ethical thresholds as wielding weapons or enforcing state power.
Speech, assembly, and protest are not acts of governance. They are acts of participation.
Young people are not claiming to have fully solved immigration policy. They are responding to real experiences in their schools and communities and expressing concern through peaceful means. That is how civic learning happens. We do not wait for perfect understanding before allowing people to think, question, or speak.
Historically, many high school students who protested during the Vietnam era were met with similar arguments about immaturity, lack of understanding, and the need to “stay in school.” In hindsight, we now largely recognize those movements as formative moments in civic consciousness, not evidence of indoctrination or recklessness.
Education is not only about absorbing facts, but about learning how to engage with complex issues responsibly. Allowing students to practice that engagement peacefully is not a failure of adulthood. It is an investment in it.