In mid-July of this year, students at Tambach Boys High School, a secondary school located in the West Kenyan county of Elgeyo-Marakwet, went on strike. While many in Kenya dismiss student protests and strikes such as these as the “petty” work of “mobs” and unserious students, student protest in Kenya is rooted in anticolonial struggle and discontent driven by aspirations of educational attainment and humane treatment. Student strikes in what is now Kenya have a long history, beginning soon after the expansion of colonial schooling in the region. Despite the oppressive roots of Kenya’s contemporary education system, belief in the promise of schools goes back to the colonial era as well. If the nation’s schools are to be transformed to benefit a broader range of wananchi (Kiswahili for citizens), Kenya’s elders and elites would do well to listen.