Wednesday was labeled as National School Walkout Day, a day where tens of thousands of students walked out of their classrooms across the country to demand action on gun violence and school safety.

Students left class at 10 a.m. for at least 17 minutes — one minute for each of the people killed in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

According to the Associated Press, at some schools, hundreds of students poured out; at others, only one or two walked out in defiance of administrators. Regardless of whether you agree with their efforts, these students are making history.

At the same time as the national walkout, another movement has come to the forefront known as National Walk Up Day. This movement was started by a sixth-grade teacher who encouraged her students to walk up instead of out. The teacher had a poster she hung in her classroom that encouraged things like walking up to a student who sits alone and asking him to join your group, walking up to a student who never has a voluntary partner and offer to be his, walking up to your teachers and thanking them and walking up to someone and just being nice. The idea spread rapidly on Facebook and Twitter.

People on both sides of the political aisle have looked at these efforts critically. Some are praising the efforts of one of the movements while criticizing the efforts of another. We think there are good things in both.

Whether you agree or disagree with students being able to walk out during the school day, we commend the high schoolers who are standing up for what they believe in — and that they are doing so in a nonviolent way. It appears these students were willing to pay whatever price their school administrators had in place for leaving class, and we hope parents were involved in conversations with their children about these topics.

Student activism has been a part of some of the large moments in our nation’s history, a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in February 1960 by four teenagers ultimately started a movement that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation in public spaces. These four teenagers, who ranged in ages from 17 to 19, and who were students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, were joined by about 300 others within three days, and later that summer, there were sit-ins taking place in more than 50 cities.

The rest is history.

On the other hand, we like that the National Walk Up Day encouraged students to reach out to the students who might be getting left out or struggling and to thank their teachers and classmates for things.

Oftentimes, it seems easier for people to express negative feelings toward each other, and we like that this encouraged people to share positive remarks and to spread kindness —  building each other up instead of tearing each other down.

In reality, it should be National Walk Up Day every day, and these are characteristics our children should already be learning — not only at school but in our homes, as well.

Whether you choose to support actions of the students in the walkouts or others who are promoting the idea of walking up to others and spreading kindness and inclusion — or if you support neither effort — we hope you choose to move forward with an open mind. There’s room for all voices at the table, and the solution to many of the problems facing our country right now will likely involve many avenues.