6 7: A Language of Resistance

You should hear the talk in staffrooms lately. Teachers are at their wits’ end with students repeating the phrase 6 7. The focus, of course, is all on how to stop them from saying it. The strategies are endless: loss of privileges, planned ignoring, threats. In the words of teachers, “we simply can’t teach with this ridiculous carrying on.”

And then comes the blame. Clearly it must be the internet, the root of all evil “these days.” In “those days” it was television, before that radio, before that comic books. Always something new to point the finger at, something convenient to shift attention away from the truth. Young people will always find a way to have their voices heard. They are inventive. They are resourceful. They will find a way.

For some students, 6 7 is nothing more than a casual phrase, an offhand way of showing indifference or filling the silence, not so different from saying “whatever.” But for others, it has taken on sharper edges. They know it unsettles adults, and that’s exactly why they persist. It is more than annoyance, it is resistance. A small but meaningful refusal to absorb the rules imposed on them. A way of pushing back against the structures built to control. Desks designed to restrict movement while they learn to regurgitate information that has little meaning. A system built around when and how to play, when to eat, and even when to use the washroom.

I am not suggesting that students should be disruptive or disrespectful. But they do need a voice. And when that voice is suppressed, they will always find a way to ensure it is heard. 6 7 is one of those ways. It is the newest form of student-led advocacy, a coded protest spoken aloud in classrooms everywhere. Students are reminding us that advocacy doesn’t always look like polished speeches or organized campaigns. It often begins with small acts of defiance. This is why 6 7 cannot be dismissed as mere disruption. It is protest. It is the language of defiance against conformity and control. At its core, it is students practicing how to resist oppression in a system that too often demands their silence and obedience.

So the problem is not 6 7. The problem is the system students are naming through it. And if we’re paying attention, their voices are telling us something we can no longer afford to ignore.