The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how secondary students at an urban high school perceived and experienced critical English education. This study is situated within a larger ethnographic study in which the researcher employed a Participatory Action Research (PAR) orientation to collaborate with an English teacher who was implementing critical literacy in her classroom for the first time. Critical sociocultural theory provided a framework for understanding how students' words and actions shaped and were shaped by the classroom environment. Critical discourse analysis was used to interpret observational and student interview data that was collected across three school semesters from three different groups of students. Patterns in students' talk when sharing their perspectives on critical English education provide valuable insights on the affordances and challenges when enacting critical literacy in the secondary English classroom.