Here are more students’ responses where they shared their own dreams, after reading Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. You can find this assignment in one of six lessons on Human Rights which I developed for my students to learn about human rights.

To read more about my motivation behind the creation of the 6 lessons, please read “Learning about human rights is a human right itself”.

I Have A Dream: Ludovica

I have a dream: that one day there will be an equality not only between blacks and whites, but also between rich and poor, between Eastern and Western, between men and women.

I have a dream: that one day we will be able to hug each other as if it were the first time.

I have a dream: that one day the wonderful Australian forests and the trees of the Amazon can grow stronger than before and that man will never cut them down again.

I have a dream: that one day global warming will be only a bad and distant memory, since we will live in a society where pollution is truly perceived as a crime and everyone preserves nature as it preserves its own precious and delicate good.

I have a dream: that men know that they have received the Earth not as an inheritance from their fathers, but on loan from their children.

I have a dream: that one day it will be possible to reach the longed for «perfect society», where the clashes between America and China will be only distant memories of history, which will help us not to repeat the same mistakes.

I have a dream: that one day riots should not arise just because people and the community are not listened to.

I have a dream: that one day inhuman acts, such as that happened to Floyd, a black man killed suffocated, only for the color of his skin, will be remembered with contempt and sadness.

I have a dream: that one day you will not need a virus that is transmitted by the airways, to «let nature take a breath», previously suffocated by constant environmental pollution.

I have a dream: that one day it will be understood that despite the different languages, religions, sexual orientations, traditions and skin colors they are only ornaments that distinguish us from each other superficially, since all black or white men, Christians or Jews, English or Chinese, straight or gay, are linked to each other in a common destiny of solidarity and interdependence.

I Have A Dream: Roberta

I have a dream…or perhaps more than one because dreams are the fuel of life and without them we would live a flat and boring life.

I have many personal dreams and ambitions like: Succeed in the workplace and help someone with it; I want to achieve personal autonomy both economically and mentally; I want to live life to the full without ever precluding anything; In the end my biggest dream is to always have new dreams and expectations about myself and others.

On the others but we should still work a bit because to date, 2020, is a very intrusive and aggressive virus, and I’m not talking about COVID-19, but I’m talking about ignorance, racism and prejudice.

This virus affects people because it lacerates your heart with bad actions and tarnishes your mind with malice.

Over the years there have been thousands of people who have struggled to the extent of their strength for this yet it seems that all their efforts were in vain, and this is not because we have not fought enough, on the contrary, but because the human mind is fed by wickedness. This wickedness leads you to judge people for the colour of their skin, to the work they do, because they are women or for their sexual orientation excluding the freedom to decide who to want to be, who you want to love and how to live.

Without remembering that at the end we are all HUMAN and we all live on the same planet called EARTH. But also with respect to the earth we have been very disrespectful, we have abused, ruined and offended and now we pay the consequences.

These are my dreams and I don’t seem to ask much. I ask for a world where others respect each other and the earth, where one breathes less wickedness and more serenity.

I Have A Dream: Simone

Do I have a dream? But what is a dream? Freud defined the dream as an attempted fulfilment of a desire. For many it is something abstract and unachievable, for me it is more concrete than others consider. I have a dream. I dream of a loved and united Italy; an Italy that takes back the place it deserves in the world. I dream of an Italy that is no longer mistreated and that inspires respect and friendship to all other countries.

I dream of an Italy where perseverance no longer governs, an Italy that becomes aware of what it has been in the past and aspires to return to its glorious splendour. I dream of an Italy without poverty and without crime, where justice reigns. I have a dream. I dream of a Europe that collaborates, that doesn’t abandon anyone and that stops behaving domineeringly. I dream of a united Europe as the founding fathers dreamed of, a Europe where envy and intolerance no longer reigns, where competition is healthy and without economic and political frontiers. I have a dream. I dream of a world of good people; of people who place the common good in front of personal interests. A world with no wars, no exploitation, no racism, no hunger and child death. A world where the only constant is expressed in dialogue. A world without more persecutions, without more famines, without more pollution. I dream of a different world made by different people. A world where others are respected, and where the weakest are helped. I dream of a different world, which coalesces into scientific research, where culture and education reign. I dream of a completely different reality from the one I’m used to live in. I dream of a world where nothing is considered superficial and where we give proper weight to things, where no one is overlooked or ignored. Maybe I’m delusional, maybe not; I’m probably just dreaming of utopian things that will never happen. I have a dream.

I dream of a future where my children will be able to say without shame and fear: “I am Italian” and “I am a European citizen” and “I am a child of the world”. I should probably adjust and aspire to simpler and irrelevant things, things more suitable for a boy of my age. The ancient Romans said «PER ASPERA AD ASTRA» (you get to the stars only through difficulties): I say that as long as there is hope there is a reason to dream and to live. Hope is always the last to die. I have a dream, and you?

I Have A Dream: Teresa

We all have a dream in life, on the other hand it’s said that dreams help to grow and, above all, to create that awareness that pushes us to give more and always do better. Dreams are everyone’s heritages, children dream of being cartoon superheroes, teenagers dream impossible loves, adults dream an economic security and a stable emotional life.

Although I am a teenager, I have dreams that are not related only to the emotional sphere, but rather to the working sphere. One day I would like to become a lawyer, defender of all those women who, in life, suffer abuse of various kinds: physical and psychological violence, cultural violence, verbal violence, submission and slavery.

Although ours is a century in which gender equality seems to have been reached, it is enough to move our gaze beyond the threshold of our home for a moment to realize that there are still disparities between the male and female gender. There are too many girls forced into infibulation, those given in marriage when they should still play with dolls (child brides) or forced into prostitution in order to survive, illiterate girls because deprived of the right to education (Malala), persecuted, forced to wear the burqa, segregated, sold, used in fabric factories (Iqbal) and so on.

All this leads me to think that, who like me is luckier, from a social and cultural background, must necessarily make available, of the weaker groups of this society, his knowledge and his ability to communicate. I have seen several times, in American television broadcasts that, in some states of the world, there are already female lawyers who dedicate their profession to safeguarding the rights of the weakest women, in Italy, however, it seems to me that they are completely absent, or, at least, still too few to create the chain of solidarity necessary to break these abominations on women, that are still very frequent today. Every day we hear about women that are raped or killed by those who said they loved them and, even in cases where there is an assumption of guilt, the penalty is always too soft. This doesn’t mean that if I were a lawyer I would ask for the death penalty, but I would fight for the recognition of the abuse of women, not as an act of offense but rather as a real crime, therefore punishable.

During her husband’s presidency, Michelle Obama, as a lawyer, fought hard to recognize women’s rights, but she is not alone. Over the last year, there have been many actresses who have found the courage to denounce the physical violence suffered by men, that are powerful in the world of the show business. Physically abusing a woman, in exchange for a part in a film or any other job, seems to have become routine and, even more unreasonable, it was the women who marginalized those colleagues who found the strength to denounce. Women who defend men. But who defends women? This is the question I constantly ask myself when I think about what I would like for my future. As a child, I did not think about what it meant to feel unprotected by the law, also because my family situation protected me from any form of abuse or discrimination, then my dream was to be a doctor to save lives. When I got older, however, I realized that the world was not quite like what I had experienced within the family walls, I came into contact with a reality that made me understand the difficulty of many women today. At school, in my class, there was a Muslim girl, who wore a veil, also during motor science activities. I had never seen her wear tracksuit or jeans, as we all did. So, driven by curiosity, I asked her why she was so different from me and she explained to me that, if she could have chosen, she would have liked that pink trousers that I, on the other hand, hated, but that I put on in order not to mind my mom. She told me that, among her people, women had to submit to the will of men, especially if they were still girls. It was men who decided, their culture prevented women from westernizing themselves, hence the need to wear a burqa. I think that was the moment when I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer, to defend all those girls imprisoned in a veil, but free to dream in their mind. Kabila still writes to me and impatiently waits for me to realize my dream which would mean for her to make her own a little bit too, given that together we will begin the battle to look at all the women in the face.

I Have A Dream: Fiorenza

My dream is to become someone who will be remembered. Someone who will be remembered for the great actions he has done. I have a dream. I want to make the world a better place. I wish one day everyone will be able to enjoy the same rights and duties. I want to study, I want to study so hard so I can become powerful. I want to become powerful so that my ideas, my projects can come true. In our current world, unfortunately, only those who have power manage to get what they want. But powerful doesn’t just mean having a lot of money, having a well-known last name or having the right connections. Being powerful means being determined, being smart, being cultured. Being powerful means having a strong personality and being respected. Being powerful means being brave. Being powerful means to always stand up for your own opinions and ideas. Being powerful means smiling all the time and making sure people respect you for all the good things you’ve done.

I have a dream. I want to become important. I do not want my words to be lost, vanished. I want my words to become concrete. I want to become important to help the needy. I want to become important to make everyone in this world feel like they’re part of one, big people. I want there to be no more difference in our world between white people and black people. I want there to be no more rich and poor people. I don’t want powerful arrogant, but only powerful people with good intentions and great plans. I have a dream. I want to erase inequalities. I want peace to triumph.

I have a dream. I want to have a good job when I grow up. I want a job that allows me to travel a lot and get in contact with new populations to discover their cultures, their religions, their customs. I want to learn to appreciate everything different from my habits, my comfort zones. I want to study, study, study a lot. I want to know everything that exists. I want to learn. I want to grow.

I have a dream. I want to transform my world, our world. I want to see people who only weep with joy and I want to erase all the pain. I want to erase racism, crime, and all the negativity of the world. Here’s my dream: I want to do good. And I will do everything I can to make sure that my name is written on history books. Maybe within a paragraph along all the names of others who have tried in every way to do good. I want to be remembered for my commitment in trying hard to make a better place out of the world. A beautiful place where peace, friendship, love, triumph. I hope that with determination, commitment and diligence my dream can become reality, I really, intensely, hope so…

I Have A Dream: Bianca

My dream for the future is to live in a better world. Not only for MY future, but for everyone’s, people, objects, animals, places;

A world in which no one is judged for the actions they perform which in the eyes of others are considered unacceptable or unsuitable, but which in reality are UNIQUE;

A world where violence of all kinds does not apply to anyone and anything: men against men, women against women, men against women and vice versa;

A world in which nature is respected and not given to pollution or other similar forms of destruction;

A world in which racism, indifference, superficiality and ignorance, the refusal to improve oneself do not apply …

I would like to live in a society that accepts diversity and in which respect prevails. I wish that we were not all labeled according to categories belonging to a certain social class and that we were not «subjected» to stereotypes. Homologation is a deprivation of being ourselves. The world is beautiful because it is varied, but it would be even more beautiful if all these things listed materialized in the best way.

We see every day obscene acts not only of violence, but also of hypocrisy, injustices that we tolerate because we cannot do other. Or yes ? we can do something to change this reality, in part we are doing it, realizing the evil we commit and learning from mistakes, but it is still not enough to live in a future worthy of our existence. Therefore it is good to be aware of what happens in everyday life, even being on the other side of the world, we must feel guilty or deserving of what happens because we are all part of a single house.

I Have A Dream: Sveva

I have a dream, that I will always be a free woman, capable of fighting for my ideals.

I have a dream, that one day I will have the possibilities to build a family.

I have a dream, that my children will have all the human rights.

I have a dream, that one day every human being will be free, and will have the abilities to reach his own dream.

I have a dream, that globalization won’t destroy all the tribes and societies of this World.

I have a dream, that one day the World will be a happier place.