["Star Spangled Banner"]
- Thomas Jefferson, along with some other delegates,
drafted the greatest breakup letter in human history.
That's what the Declaration of Independence is,
a breakup letter.
"We hold these truths to be self evident,
that all men are created equal."
So powerful.
So to help my students understand what our founding fathers
were willing to risk for our freedom,
I wanted to see what they were willing to personally
sacrifice for the greater good of their classmates.
["Star Spangled Banner"]
Alright ladies and gentlemen.
We're going to make a list on the board,
and Julie's going to help make a master list.
My students think they're making a list of grievances
against our school, and it's easy to complain,
but let's see if they stand by their beliefs
when our principal goes all King George on them.
Think of five things that would benefit the majority
of students to make it better for you guys.
We're gonna take it one step further.
School policies, page 32 section 7b of the school handbook
states, "In order to establish a fair and balanced
school climate, students may suggest
and even petition for new school policies
with 10% of the size of an actual class."
What we're going to do is we're going to sign our names
and I'm going to submit it for approval.
All we need is literally 10% of a class.
Let's go around.
Group one.
- Who here thinks that the dress code policy, as it is,
is a little unfair?
Okay.
I do believe that, it's like, if you have rips
in your knees, but you can wear short skirt.
There always seems to be a double standard because guys,
we can't behave.
(laughter)
"Revised dress code with no double standard."
What else do we have?
Who here thinks that more career based courses?
Everyone says that we should have a class called "Life."
Like you walk in one day and we're like,
"You have five kids to feed with 20 bucks,
figure it out."
You know?
(laughter)
Okay, so here we go.
Print your name and sign it, and then I'll deliver.
There's no better way to get them to understand
history than to make it personal.
56 men who signed it were putting their neck on the line,
which makes me wonder,
did John Hancock sign his signature really big,
or did the other delegates sign their signature really small
hoping to King George would see Hancock's first
and kill him.
Hey, Mr. Lowery.
- I'm tellin' every one this right now,
I don't care what petition Mr. Froney has you signing.
Mr. Froney, I'm tired of all this.
You're just trying to incite everything.
- But...
- No, no, no, so what will happen with you now,
you won't be here during the day.
You'll teach at night.
That's enough, I told you not to alright...
- Alright, alright, I respect that.
- So, no, you don't respect it because if you respected it,
you woulda did what I told you to do.
- I did.
- Now, you sign it, and you can join him.
- Wait Mr. Lowery, I have a question though
- Who made the rules?
So you work here.
Do you deal with all this stuff that I deal with?
Answer the question.
Do you deal with it?
Yes or no?
No.
So then who are you to write rules?
You sign that petition, you won't graduate here,
you will not walk, and you will not go to prom.
I'm tired of all this nonsense
that you guys are trying to start here.
Now, sign it if you want to.
No prom, you won't walk.
Test me.
- Can we just talk about this?
- [Lowery] No, what we can talk about,
we can talk about after school.
(excited chatter)
- [Mr. Froney] Alright, alright.
(chatter continues)
Any questions, concerns, or thoughts?
- I'm hoping he'll calm down, kinda look at it and realize
we're actually trying to make the school better.
Here's the deal, I'm going to give you one opportunity.
If you want to take your name off, please come do so now.
(arguing)
- [Student] Justin, no!
- No, no, no.
If Justin wants to do it...
Can he take away prom?
Yes.
Can he take away other stuff?
Yes.
I don't wanna say he can't.
- [Mr. Froney] You get a diploma.
He said you can't walk.
(laughter)
- Alright.
(excited chatter)
- [Mr. Froney] I'll give everybody one last chance.
- We still have a problem?
- Mr. Lowery, in the student handbook,
on page 32 under school policies, it says...
- So you're challenging me, tell me what you're reinforcing.
- I just wanted to tell the kids
that there is no page 32 in the school handbook.
(cheering and laughter)
(upbeat music)
Again, that was an academy award winning performance,
I'm telling you right there.
What's on the board?
What document is that?
That is the Declaration of Independence.
By signing it, what were people committing?
- [Student] Treason.
- Treason meant what would happen to them
if they got caught and arrested?
Maybe killed.
We wanted to do a little experiment,
which I've done in the past with my students,
to see how much you're willing to sacrifice
for what you believe in.
And a lot of you I was very proud to see that you
were willing to sacrifice a lot.
Because without sacrifice, there is no change.
So let's give a round of applause to Mr. Lowery
for the performance of the year.
(applause)
So, no one text their mom real quick and say,
"Mom, guess what Mr. Lowery just did."
Because now he's gonna have a hundred phone calls.
- I thought it was a joke at first
because it seemed so unreasonable.
And then when Mr. Lowery came in, I was really shocked.
Like, this is real.
- He challenged us and showed us the consequence.
- It still didn't change my decision because
whatever he took away, it wouldn't affect my life
as much as the rules in this building every day.
- Once he said he was taking away prom and graduation
and all that, out.
- I learned that the way changes are made in this country
is through protests.
- The protests and everything,
it doesn't always have to be violent.
Something as simple as putting your name on
a piece of paper can make a difference.
- We can't really achieve change without
wanting sacrifice, or risking sacrifice.
Because everything that's good in life
requires a little sacrifice.
And every risk has a reward.
- I'm gonna stand up for what I believe in
because it's not fair to my classmates.
If I believe the same thing that they do,
there's no reason that they should be able to speak up
and I can't.
- You might want to be scared and be like,
I'm not getting in trouble for this, and that's okay.
- So what are you willing to sacrifice for your happiness?
Answer in the comments below.
(upbeat techno music)