Understanding Youth of Color’s Political Education and Activism Amid Polarizing Times

• In Event: Controversial Issues Policies, Power, and Practices: How Educators Navigate Hostile and Divisive Political Climates

Abstract

Purpose
While much is known about youth’s political education and activism in urban schools and communities (see, for example, Ginwright et al., 2006; Kirshner, 2015), less is known about what this looks like in suburban contexts (Oto, 2023; Sánchez Loza, 2021, 2023). This critical ethnographic study builds upon existing literature at the intersection of suburban education, youth voice, and civic education to understand issues that shape and drive the political education and activism of suburban, youth of color.

Perspectives
I make sense of data through a critical youth studies (CYS) perspective to examine the interplay between adults and youth, specifically focusing on issues related to power and control (Gordon, 2010). CYS allows for a nuanced understanding that centers youth “as active political subjects in their own right” (Kwon, 2013, p. 19).

Methods
This critical ethnographic study took place amid a local and national educational policy environment, wherein Iowa lawmakers passed a series of laws banning or restricting the work educators can do regarding equity and justice in public schools. While these policies have had a chilling effect on K-12 educators’ ability to engage their students on issues they care about (LoBue & Douglass, 2023), politically hostile contexts have not deterred youth from turning to activism to challenge legislative efforts (Castillo et al., 2025; Castro et al., 2024; Terriquez et al., 2020). Fieldwork was collected over two school years (2021-2023) and entailed participant observations of classrooms and after-school activities, semi-structured interviews, and the collection of documents (e.g., student work).

Data and Evidence
This inquiry focuses on the experiences of 12 students of color at Meadowland High School (MHS, pseudonym), a predominantly white suburban school located outside Des Moines, Iowa. Data collection included observations of classrooms and after-school activities, semi-structured interviews, and the collection of documents (e.g., student work). Using MAXQDA, data analysis entailed three rounds of thematic coding (Emerson et al., 2011).

Findings
Despite espousing a commitment to equity, the findings point to a schooling terrain that engaged in regressive practices that sought to stymie youth’s calls for equity and justice. Youth wrestled with how to navigate and resist a schooling environment that sought “civility” and “respectability.” As such, participants understood that their activism required a multifaceted approach. Yet, because most participants were positioned as “good” students who were academically successful, tensions existed on how to best challenge adult power at their school. So, while all participants were critical of schooling practices at MHS, some struggled with more confrontational approaches given the ways they have been politically socialized to be “civil” and “respectable” political actors.

Significance
This study complicates assumptions about youth voice and civic engagement in suburban schools. It provides empirical insight into how students of color understand and respond to structural inequalities in politically hostile policy environments, and how their own consciousness shapes the tactics they employ. This paper deepens scholarly conversations about the contradictions embedded in youth political education amid rising censorship and anti-equity reforms.

Author

• Gabriel Rodriguez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign