Hundreds and thousands of students in more than 100 countries walked out of their schools last Friday with a shared purpose: save our planet.
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Some teachers, parents and politicians raised objections to insist that these children should stay in school, not strike.
I think we grown-ups need to think twice before we stand up against our children on this burning issue.
First, it is difficult to understand how young people feel about escalating natural catastrophes drummed into them by media practically every day.
Many, like the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who inspired this strike action, think that we adults have left this environmental mess for children to sort out.
Second, education systems around the world have shifted the goals from teaching knowledge to learning skills about how to use knowledge in real-life situations.
In 2017 the NSW Department of Education issued an evidence-based review of the key skills for the 21st century. These include critical thinking, conscientiousness, collaboration, creativity and problem solving.
Students gathered on streets around the world showed us how well they have learnt these very skills.
Third, young people enjoy similar rights and freedoms as we all do. But increased depression and anxiety that have led to dramatic erosion of children's mental health and well-being around the world is, at least partly, due to their worries about the state of our planet.
Active citizenship means having a voice about things that affect their lives.
In Finland, schools decide whether their students may join in this strike. Changing climate affects Nordic countries in ways that some might consider as positive: longer summers and milder winters. Yet climate change is the number one concern in youngsters' lives.
Finnish education authorities encourage schools rather prohibit them from finding ways for students to better express their views on such matters.
Students' action today may help more parents realise that this is the only planet we have. In more than 55 locations in Australia, students went on strike.
That's what democracy looks like. We should embrace it, not stop it.
- Pasi Sahlberg is a Finnish educator and deputy director of the Gonski Institute for Education at the University of NSW.
