“My Priorities Have Definitely Shifted”: Youth Organizers’ Changing Views of Integration Policy Over Time

• In Event: Futures in Flux: How Young People Navigate an Uncertain World

Abstract

In this study, we examine how young people who organized for integration in New York City schools did and did not change their views about educational policy and racial justice after graduating high school. Based on two waves of interview data with 25 participants, as well as field observations and focus groups, we find that as young people navigated new educational, demographic, and political environments, their views of school integration and educational justice shifted, leading many - but not all - participants to develop new priorities for both public policy and individual action. Through in-depth portraits of four youth organizers, we show how participants elaborated their conceptualizations of just educational policy. While they continued to consider integration a worthwhile approach, many no longer saw it as their primary goal. These varied trajectories can nuance our understanding of the struggle for racially just educational policy, as well as the complex in- and out-of-school processes through which young people engage in civic learning.

Authors

• Alexandra Freidus, University of Connecticut

• Erica O. Turner, University of Wisconsin - Madison