Experiential Learning: The Day of Silence at Students 2.0

I would like to share with you an experience that I have found to be deeply rewarding. For the last two years I have participated in the GLSEN’s Day of Silence. I started participating last minute and on a whim two years ago when I was offered a “Day of Silence Participant” button by a member of our school’s Gay-Straight Alliance.

The stated purpose of the day is to call attention to hate speech and its silencing effects on GLBT students. In this sense, the day is an activist event. For me, this is a noble cause taking the admirable form of self-sacrifice. Even if this was the only reason to participate, I would gladly do so.

The Day of Silence is founded on the premise that the ability for GLBT students to express themselves is restricted by hate speech. And so, we voluntarily restrict our own ability to express ourselves to symbolize this silencing. However, the Day of Silence isn’t just an opportunity for activism, it is an exercise in understanding for the participants.

There are some experiences that are simply eye-opening and I count participating in the Day of Silence among one of those experiences. Before participating, I had no idea how incredibly frustrating it is to not be able to express oneself. I had taken my ability to interject through speech for granted and giving up that ability made me see the value that it holds. We, quite simply, do not fully appreciate the value of verbal expression.

While I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the reproduction of hateful oppression found in participating in the day of silence, I can say that it is simply an indescribably educational experience. I learned something that cannot be expressed in words and cannot be taught, I learned something intimate about my relationship with the world around me.

A Day of Silence is something I wish everyone would experience, regardless of the cause. It is an opportunity for learning experientially that I feel no one can afford to miss.

We should always be on the lookout for opportunities where students can learn by experiencing: not only by doing, but by feeling.

Gay-Straight Alliance logo
Photo by Sifter on Flickr

4 Responses to “Experiential Learning: The Day of Silence”

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1 Ben Bleckley
May 7th, 2008 at 5:39 am

Sounds like a great experience and a very important thing to stand up for. So many students use the phrase “that is so gay,” it’s a very important issue in our society (and schools) that people with a GLBT orientation feel accepted.
2 Anonymous Mentee
May 8th, 2008 at 1:03 am

Times are so different now from when I was in school. Somethings have never changed though and that is the beauty of optimism and hope. Never let that go and never forget that feeling! Great post. I’m glad I found your site.
3 Gary Smith
May 9th, 2008 at 11:00 pm

A very good post about the Day of Silence. I chose to participate and plan in the DoS at our high school and it to was an interesting experience as always. We had many people from many different backgrounds come out to support the cause, but we also had a lot of counter-protest to. Most notably was some students from a church youth group handing out “anti-gay” fliers in the hallway. Overall, like you said, it was a great experience.

1 Experiential Learning: The Day of Silence at Two Penguins and a Typewriter
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