What if you were principal? Students make the changes

This recent story from the Huffington Post polls students across the nation by asking them a simple question: if you were principal for a day, what would you change? The responses range from insightful and serious to quaint and goofy.

Above all, students are choosing to make the lunch menu more nutritious (good-bye, soda machines! hello, fruits and vegetables), with the occasional request for more pie. It's surprising and inspiring how often elementary school students stress the value of getting their peers' input on what kind of dynamic makes for a positive, healthy learning environment. Of course, there are those bizarre requests, such as the one to keep a colony of frogs in the school's main office. Overall, though, this aside from more "serious" education topics certainly gives some food for thought to educators and parents. Projects such as this poll do something that standardized education in America does not accomplish often enough: give students an individual voice, regardless of age. And sometimes, it is just time to let go and open up to student-directed, creative changes. The occasional pet frog in the principal's office may not be such a bad idea.