the room and announced: “He’s making me do this. Said he would break my legs if I didn’t
dance. NOW, EVERYBODY, GET UP AND MOVE YOUR CHAIRS.” At which point everyone did.
I want to emphasize that there were no real threats being made here. I was the least phys-
ically intimidating male in the room, and there were other young men who dwarfed Sean. At
any rate, these were not students who would have responded well to threats. If unhappy
they would have just walked out of the room.
I believe the students in this class responded to three things: first, my willingness to work
out with Sean a way that would make it possible for him to pass the class; second, the nov-
elty of one of their own being the teacher; and third, and most important, they valued inter-
nal or peer leadership. Sean was respected by the group, and students who would not dance
with me would dance with him.
In the 1920s, an Italian revolutionary named Antonio Gramsci was grappling with how to
change the dominant, or hegemonic, ideas of a society. Gramsci argued that the key people
for promoting change were “organic intellectuals,” members of oppressed communities who
had a broader vision of possibility and were able to convey their vision to other community
members. I believe Gramsci was writing about leadership imbedded in community, similar
to the leadership displayed by Sean Brown.
Student leadership that builds classroom community can be expressed in small ways,
such as what happened in this class and on a larger scale. Community is enhanced when a
member of a cooperative learning team presses other team members to get their assign-
ments in and helps them complete their work. It grows when a student tells classmates to
get to class on time because she or he is interested in what we are studying. It flourishes
when students challenge stereotypes or demand that classmates respect each other, listen
to diverse views, and constructively respond to disagreements.
I had what I consider my greatest success as a teacher because of schoolwide leadership
taken by students in my 12th-grade civics class one year. Until 1990, I was a high school so-
cial studies teacher in a working-class poor minority New York City neighborhood, and the
faculty advisor to the school’s “Forum Club.” The club, an extension of my classes, brought
speakers to the high school to discuss controversial issues and it encouraged students to be
active participants in our democratic society. In 1989, the club organized students in civics
classes to join the debate over abortion rights and condom availability in schools. It spon-
sored afterschool discussions with representatives of advocacy groups that involved hun-
dreds of students; held meetings with parent groups; circulated petitions; wrote and pre-
sented position papers, editorials for local newspapers, and speeches; prepared video
material and posters; and participated in political rallies. Their activities energized the en-
tire school and succeeded in having a public health clinic placed in the building.
I would like to share excerpts from two speeches written and delivered by members of
the Forum Club. They are examples of how young people can grapple with complex moral
and political issues and develop essential academic skills while providing leadership in
class, school, and society.
One young woman represented the Forum Club at a New York City Hall rally against pa-
rental consent laws. She told the audience:
I am a strong believer in freedom of choice. A woman must have the freedom to choose an abor-
tion and this includes teenage women. It was not easy for me to decide to be pro-choice. I come
from a religious Hispanic family. My father is the pastor of my church. I attend church every Fri-
day night and every Sunday morning. My father is not happy with my positions on these issues
because he opposes the idea of abortion. But regardless of his personal feelings, my father has
understood and supported my right to choose my own beliefs. He realizes that my life is my
own. I consider myself lucky because I have support from my parents. I think a teenage womanCOMMUNITY 165