While I was teaching a class about Thoreau and “Civil Disobedience,” students in Boston were leaving their classrooms to protest planned budget cuts to the BPS budget. The budget cuts would leave schools with less funding for extracurricular activities, sports, and foreign language classes—which students identify as necessary to “getting into the college of [their] dreams.” In a world where the “extra” things are what help schools identify potential students, they have a point.

Articles about the protest say that over 2,000 students participated. Despite knowing that if they left they would be marked as absent, students still marched. (If you know your Thoreau, you’ll know that it doesn’t matter unless you know the consequences of your actions.) While the majority of those articles are personal—these are kids making a stand for something they value: their education—the Boston Herald points out that three people were arrested for what Allison Pohle of Boston.com referred to as “a tussle.” I know the words “arrested” and “protested” generate more clicks, but Boston Herald also refers to the movement of the crowd after the fight as “fleeing.” C’mon. That’s what you got out of this?

Students in general have a long history of protest. I’d rather focus on the positives of a student demonstration than the alleged descent into violence during the protest: These are kids who care enough about their education that they’re willing to go up to Mayor Marty Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker and tell them that they want it protected. They don’t want their peers to be bereft of the education they deserve. They’ve willing to do something to stand up for their beliefs. While members of older generations accuse millennials of being unwilling to do anything, we’ve increasingly demonstrated that that’s clearly not the case.

It’s important to note where this is happening and what programs would be being cut as a result of the budget changes. As City Counselor Tito Jackson said during the march, “They shouldn’t lose their JV programs, which keep some kids involved and are a lifeline for them.” After school programs are one of the few ways that schools can help keep kids off the streets—if a student has an activity or a sports team that they’re doing, maybe they’ll be less likely to turn to crime. The threat of cutting these activities not only could affect a student’s ability to get into their dream school, but could leave them without access to the hobbies and responsibilities that keep them involved in their communities.

Why shouldn’t students be encouraged to fight for their education? Why shouldn’t students demand access to the thing so many call “The Great Equalizer”? Students are told all the time to fight for what’s right and what they believe in—why should anyone complain when they actually do it?