Clearly, it is easy enough to say that a school must become a home, but how do we make it happen? What constitutes a home? How can we apply the comfort and sense of ownership that we feel toward our homes to our schools? The NYC Student Union has begun to identify the institutions within schools that determine whether students feel that their school belongs to the student body and school faculty as a community, or that it belongs to someone else who is separate and different from this community.

At the present time, we have divided these institution into six categories. They do not speak for the entirety of the issue, but are a first step to breaking down student apathy and building new ways for students to truly love their schools.

I. The Physical Building
-Students will have increased access to the school building and all of its facilities
-Students will be encouraged to use the physical space for a large variety of constructive purposes, using the inherent creativity of youth to turn schools into major cultural centers

II. Rules and Regulations
-School rules will be constantly evaluated to make sure that they are not only purposeful, but meaningful.
-A rule’s ability to make students feel secure must always outweigh its ability to make students feel oppressed

III. Representation
-Effective student governments will exist in all schools, allowing the student body an accessible way to make real change within their schools.
-Students will have equal representation always in organizations such as School Leadership Teams (SLT)

IV. Security
-Security will be focused on positive action instead of negative reinforcement
- security guards, for example, might hold workshops on self-defense or gang violence, establishing a positive relationship between security and the student body.

V. The Classroom
-Emphasis on critical thinking is crucial. Schools will experiment with creative, flexible ways to assess students and will not depend on standardized testing.
-Smaller class sizes will allow classes to become places of deep thinking, discussion, and learning, rather than fact factories.

VI. Student Rights
-Students will have, and will be aware of, immutable rights that provide them with real strength to combat foul-play and authoritarianism in schools