In an era of rising poverty and inequality among many social issues; today’s high school and post-secondary students are taking initiative and educating themselves in public matters through school and any means necessary, in order to be a part of the change. Many people dismiss student activism as they think it is only relevant to changes pertaining to within the campus such as, tuition, dress code regulation, censorship. However, student involvement has proven to be a significant agent of social change which is evident by the event that occurred in the 60s when students marched for civil rights and protested the Vietnam war, coming out victorious. Students feel a sense of pride and accomplishment through successful protests and upon being heard which encourages them to get involved in the public more and address political matters such as gun violence and pro-life as done in Kyle Perisic’s “Student’s Plans for Pro-Life walkout Challenges Apparent Double Standard”. Perisic’s article challenges the reader to go beyond and think about the benefits of free speech and student activism.
The article engages the reader into exploring the reason behind the existence of double standards between social matters and the role of faculty in mediating arising disputes among student advocates. Student activism and free speech are interrelated in the sense that students essentially exercise their first amendment right and stand up for what they believe in which is the first step towards change. Student activism in response to political matters has gradually increased as there has been a keen interest in community involvement and public awareness among high school and post-secondary students. In Perisic’s article, Stoneman Douglas High school’s students held a walkout to protest gun violence in response to the February 2018 school shooting in Florida. Julianne Benzel, a history teacher at California’s Stoneman Douglas Highschool attempted to engage students in conversation. She asked the students if the school and media would support student rights equally had the protest been about a more political topic such as prolife abortion. Shortly after inspiring the class, Benzel was placed on administrative leave for encouraging students to challenge the school. The students’ national pro-life walkout occurred on April 11th, 2018 in an attempt to implement their rights, and in an attempt to view if they would receive equal support as the gun violence protest. The benefit of students challenging media and school officials is that the students get the opportunity to view the problem and take a non-traditional approach to rectify it. Prolife walkout benefits the students s and society because the students’ attempt to normalize taboo issues and bring it to the attention of the media hence, increasing awareness of the double standard that has been established by the media. The students were eager to revolutionize the campus through their prolife walk out and were not adamant on finding the reason behind the double standards but if there was double standard which is evident through Gillespie’s statement when he says, “I would like to see if there really is a double standard and what will come of that”, implying that he was thinking of the next step essentially that would occur in response to the double standards on public issues.
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While the students were fixated on if there was a double standard, I took the liberty of pondering on why it existed. Upon reading the article, and several discussions on campus, I realized the media and the school officials do have a reputation to uphold. Issues such as gun violence, mass shootings, racism and gender inequality among many others are the common ones that get more attention in the media and in response, school officials arrange vigils, events such as multicultural day or events relating to gender equality. Would it be politically correct to say that media was unintentionally influencing the school as to what issues should be supported and publicized? The media refrains from addressing more controversial topics such as abortion which in turn encourages schools to do so, leaving the concern unvisited and unresolved which correlates with Benzel’s second student Wade said, “I feel like if we [said] something like, ‘I want to [address] abortion rights’, they would not let us because that is more of a conservative push. But if someone wanted to walk out for gun control, the school would [oblige] because it is a popular view”. Although the quote is from one student, many must share the viewpoint suggesting that student activism at Douglas High regarding prolife walkouts might change people’s negative perspectives regarding the media, which is yet another advantage of student facilitated change.
With change come disputes and naturally on campus, with various groups advocating many different causes, conflicts are bound to arise but what matters is how the faculty responds to it. Usually conflicts arise because one does not understand the position of the other group. Schools can create awareness workshops, campaigns in which every group can express their passion and, in this way, create a mutual understanding between the various groups. Another way to avoid disputes is to implement the rule that everyone is entitled to free speech so if it does not harm another group. Many individuals would suggest that the school officials should avoid groups clashing by creating “safe spaces”, avoiding trigger words. Sheltering students in such a manner is not only hindering their education but we also see faculty suffering in Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt’s “The Coddling of the American Mind”, when some students were oversensitive to certain words such as “violence” or certain topics. Professors that excluded the words were either unable to teach the full course, or professors that taught the full course were punished for doing so (269). Not only is it harmful to both parties but it is shortchanging students in terms of education and free speech and would be contradictory to Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt as they encouraged schools to expose students to the real environment so they are better prepared which is implied when they say, “The presumption that students need to be protected rather than challenged [on campus] is at once infantilizing and anti-intellectual”(274) suggesting that campuses and schools are the safest ground for children to be challenged and to do otherwise would be coddling the students from which they would reap no benefit.
To close, the fact that the kids in this high school were able to apply their first amendment rights implied that schools are now implementing a higher level of education across the country to prepare students for the future which was a refreshing read. Schools and campuses across the globe should not overlook student activism, rather encourage it because not only does it enhance student education, but it is also a positive catalyst in social change. Double standard regarding public matters should be diminished as it sends the youth and future leaders the wrong message which is, fixate only on the popular issues that the media cares about and disregard more pressing issues because they are not politically correct. School officials should allow the students to regulate their groups and protests but be there to mediate as necessary so as not to coddle the students.
Works Cited
- Haidt. Jonathan, and Greg Lukianoff. “The Coddling of the American Mind”. Emerging: Contemporary Readings for Writers. 4th Edition. Ed Barclay Barrios. Bedford/ St. Martins, 2019.
- Maine, Dino. “The Voice of the Youth: The Value of Student Activism.” Medium, EdSurge Independent, 15 Oct. 2018. https://edsugeindependent.com/the-voice-of-the-you-the-value-of-student-activism-6431fd658401.
- Perisic, Kyle. 'Students' Plan for Pro-Life Walkout Challenges Apparent Double Standard.' Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2019. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/FCZHXQ529467690/OVIC?u=gale15691&sid=OVIC&xid=3624da5d. Accessed 8 Oct. 2019. Originally published as 'Students' Plan for Pro-Life Walkout Challenges Apparent Double Standard,' The Daily Signal, 26 Mar. 2018.
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