I'd be labeled a troublemaker.

My true love had off yesterday. From a day of teaching teenagers. English. In an Italian school. In this school, students are allowed to designate one day a month. To a meeting of students. To discuss things. School issues. Or whatever. All by themselves. No teachers present. No administrators. Just the students. In private. I think that’s nice. For the students. And for my true love. Because she needs a day off. Maybe two or three. Anyway, I’m gradually learning things about the Italian school system. It’s pretty neat. When I went to public school back in America a long time ago, we students never got a chance to meet. In private. To discuss issues. I would have relished the opportunity. Because I like to talk. And to rabble rouse. I would have tried to stir a student revolt. To issue demands to the administration. To give students more power. My true love likes to teach her students to be rebels. To be their own beings. To stick up for their beliefs. To cultivate independent traits. But she’s also a disciplinarian. She won’t let students get away with too much. If she had been my teacher when I was a teenager, she would have labeled me a troublemaker. –Jim Broede