Should I let my students lead?

Letting our students lead is a risk.  They don’t have the experience or perhaps the maturity to see things the way we do… they are bound to make mistakes. Is it worth the risk of giving them some control over their own learning and the things that shape the culture of the school?

Here are a few reasons I can see why allowing our students to lead is worth the risk:

1. Ownership. Students will take responsibility for things that they help create. If we allow students to develop and implement their own solutions to the challenges they face they are more likely to follow through with them.
2. Relevance. Allowing students to exercise leadership gives them opportunity to connect what they are learning in the classroom with their own concerns and God-given passions.
3. Service. Students who are given the opportunity to lead gain experience in using their God-given gifts to serve their school and wider community.
4. Character. Trying (and at times failing) in leadership is character-building. Painful, possibly, but character-building in the long-term.

What do you think? Are these benefits of allowing students to exercise leadership in our schools enough to make it worth the risk? What are the risks of not allowing our students to lead?  Join the conversation by posing your thoughts in the comments below.