The question for today's National School Walkout I am hearing quite often is, "Are students being politicized?" as in the passive sense. That is a question that we must all answer, but a better question might be, "Are they politicizing THEMSELVES?" in the active sense...as agents of change themselves. Now what I see is that they are more active than we give them credit for and that they if given the opportunity will be a voice that cannot be silenced. There are too many instances on Facebook where students as young as 11 years old are organizing protests, vigils, and rallies in support of their favored causes. This is something that we should celebrate, not demean or try to diminish by suggesting that students do not have an independent voice.
A common theme that seems to be brought up is that they are being manipulated or being dragged into the political battles of adults and that this is shameful. That may or may not be a legitimate point. However, I am a firm believer that this can evolve into a dangerous talking point that threatens the legitimacy of student-led movements whether they are political or not. This is more rhetoric from the establishment that seeks to discredit any movements against it. By portraying the students as pawns or brainwashed by teachers, unions, or acting on their feelings, they hope to perpetuate the stereotype that students cannot think on their own, or that they are easily manipulated in contrast to the coldly, logical adults who always "know better." Their hope is that we see a bunch of young people in the streets and brush them off as they're just being kids and don't know any better.
I sense that the movement to deny students the right to vote in the communities they go into college is connected to the youth activism in the streets of state capitols around the country. Everywhere, the voices of the establishment, and by that, I mean politicians, those in the media, and corporate-tycoons such as the Koch brothers, basically the dominant group that holds the power in this nation, are trying to restrict their right to vote, because “a dearth of experience and a plethora of the easy self-confidence that only ignorance and inexperience can produce.” in the words of state Representative Gregory Sorg and House Speaker William O’Brien who proclaimed that students only vote with their feelings.
Another talking point seems to be a general distrust on whether they would behave in a "civil" manner. Well, what defines civil? Are we to believe that students are so lacking in self-control that they'll discredit whatever movement that they have decided THEMSELVES to stand up for? Anyone can be a boor, anyone can become uncivil. Yet we are to believe that students are prone more so than others?
Above all, why do we not give students the credit they deserve for being their own voices? Too often, we assume that they are accounts to deposit information and knowledge. That is the very notion that critical pedagogy fights. Instead of downplaying their passion and their activism, we should do well to listen to their voices and learn from their own experiences, because not only are they learning from their own experiences, they are creating their own experiences whenever they protest. Perhaps the lesson to be learned also on this day of student activism is to TRUST STUDENTS and their ideas. Students KNOW BETTER and we should all keep that in mind.
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