Thank you for publishing the thoughtful letters from students Hanna Groetsch and Petra Ellerby. I could not think of my tax dollars being spent better than on an education that teaches analytical and independent thinking, making the right choices and contributing toward necessary changes.

Many historic changes started out by a protest of one or a few: the Civil Rights movement, the French Revolution, and the Reformation. India’s independence was a one-man effort and the Boston Tea Party started the American Revolution, opposed by the Loyalists.

Unfortunately, the current student movement runs into the same Loyalists the American Patriots faced. Folks who believe that students should not have an opinion on the benefits of the unlimited availability of guns, let alone protest gun violence.

The critics of the student movement should read Jefferson; he wrote, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” Thank you, students.

James Behrend

Bainbridge Island