Young people today are angry. Angry about climate change, coronavirus and racism, as exemplified by the Black Lives Matter movement. This anger is a good thing.

However, it can be hard to appreciate this sometimes.

As Aristotle said: “Those who are not angry at the things they should be angry at are thought to be fools, and so are those who are not angry in the right way, at the right time, or with the right persons.”

Thus illustrating the challenges around the timing and expression of anger.

Now, though, there appears value in anger.

Why aren’t we taught that?

Anger is leading students to question and engage in curriculum choices like never before. Asking why things are or are not taught; from the Jim Crow laws to Spanish flu to Bristol bus boycotts and apartheid South Africa, pupils are asking “why were we never taught X?”

They are becoming inquisitive about curriculum and even challenging teachers to defend their curriculum decisions in an unprecedented way. If done respectfully, this can lead to enriching and thought provoking conversations for all involved. 

As a result of the anger felt at the news, and questioning of curriculum content, young people are inadvertently becoming activists.

A recent article in The Guardian recommended several books to encourage activism in children and admittedly I subsequently bought ‘A is for Activist’ for my son.

It is now the duty of schools to harness that student body anger and activism for positive change. This is more challenging in the current environment of mostly remote learning but it is more important than ever to give pupils a voice, listen to them and help them articulate their desires.

We must embrace their strong emotions and engage them to see what is possible.

Uncomfortable is good

Teachers must be prepared to be uncomfortable, to acknowledge their privilege and reflect on their thoughts, actions and biases.

Be it via zoom committees, emails or social media, schools can begin to cultivate pupils’ anger as a force for good in decolonising the curriculum, taking measures to fight climate change, and empowering pupils as change makers. 

Already this youth engagement appears to be having an impact on social media, and we must now help pupils translate this energy to real change in school and beyond.

Pupils are circulating reading material, recommending Netflix shows (such as 13th - a documentary on the criminalisation of African Americans) and books such as Greta Thunberg’s No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference and sharing petitions.

Now we must build on this and, as ever, encourage pupils to register to vote, support them to participate in fundraising and urge them to continue this work in their communities.

We must show them how to maintain this motivation that was initially fuelled by anger. 

Turning anger into meaningful action

This community engagement and fundraising could also have a positive impact on student mental health; the Mental Health Foundation states that “helping others, especially those who are less fortunate than yourself, can help to put things into perspective and make you feel more positive”.

And perhaps counterintuitively, just acknowledging and taking ownership of the anger can have a positive effect on wellbeing.

A 2008 study found that suppressing anger can increase anxiety, therefore better to face it and work through it and a 2010 study suggested that expressing anger may even improve cardiovascular health.

Some schools may be lucky enough to employ a counsellor to help pupils navigate these emotions, but it will take more than talking therapies to extinguish pupils anger at society’s systemic inequalities and injustices.

If managed and celebrated, anger can help us raise engaged activist young people and even have a positive effect on wellbeing.

To return to Aristotle, to paraphrase: it is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.

Gemma Hargraves is a history teacher and head of lower school at an independent girls’ school in the Midlands