Day of Silence
In Yale 24, we’ve been learning about children’s rights. In some parts of the world, children have to be silent about how they are being hurt emotionally and physically every day. They have to be silent because speaking out could bring them more harm. Here are some facts we’ve learned about children being denied their rights:
- 57 million children around the world are not in school
- 6.6 million children under the age of 5 die every year
- 30% of children ages 12-18 have been bullied
- 215 million children are engaged in child labor
- 1 in 4 children in Los Angeles do not have enough healthy food to eat
On Thursday, April 16th, our homeroom decided to participate in We Are Silent because the best way to get attention is to not talk. We took a vow of silence for the school day, and wore masking tape over our mouths and held up signs with these facts and statistics. Many students came over on the playground to read our signs and some wanted to get signs themselves to help spread the word.
Overall, we feel pretty proud of our work to raise awareness of these issues at our school. In addition to raising awareness, we also raised some funds for Free the Children, an organization that works to end child labor and ensure all children’s access to education.
We are excited to come up with more ideas and ways to spread the word and take on new challenges, both local and global.