U.S. Youth Activists and the Influences of Schools

• In Event: Activism and Education Change (I)

Proposal

Since 2017, the media has captured an increase in school-age student activism in the United States. The high-profile gun control lobbying efforts of the survivors of the Parkland High School killings and the (inter)national climate change marches to protest inadequate responses from political leaders are two examples. This study examines how recent U.S. high school graduates who were engaged in actions to bring about political or social change while in school describe the influences of in-school experiences on this form of civic engagement.

Some researchers, who link youth developmental theories with civic formation, recognize the importance of the development of one’s own identity and sense of community, moral agency and situated learning as contributed to youth agency (Bandura, 2006; Castro & Knowles, 2017; Torney-Purta et al, 2010). Moreover, youth can be viewed as active constructors of meaning rather than recipients of norms and socialized practices related to civic engagement (Castro & Knowles, 2017).

Westheimer & Kahne (2004) as well as other researchers in the area of civics, or citizenship, education have recognized that pro social illustrations of ‘good citizenship’ extend beyond participation in traditional democratic processes, such as voting, to those that pressure leaders to enact policies reflecting issues of social concern, and which support democratic processes and the rule of law. These typologies have been called “social justice citizenship” as well as “social movement citizenship” and “active citizenship” (Zaff, Boyd, Li, Lerner and Lerner, 2010; Rynkiewicz and Zalewska, 2017). In this study, civic activism and actions for political or social changes are treated as synonymous.

Much civic education research, including that of ICCE/IEA, evaluates the impact of schooling on civic knowledge and attitudes through use of large-scale surveys or specific program evaluations. These research show links between open classroom climates and opportunities for students to participate in extracurricular activities related to citizenship education (Barber, C., Torney-Purta, J., Wilkenfeld, B., & Ross, J., 2015; Campbell, D. E., 2008; Knowles, R.T. & McCafferty-Wright, J., 2015).

However, there is still little evidence of the extent to which school experiences lead to civic activism as opposed to civic knowledge or attitudes. This study “mapped backwards” by interviewing activist students and gaining their perspectives on the influence of schooling – and other factors – on their political engagement. We aimed to fill a gap in the research by interviewing students who were engaged in actions to bring about political or social change (civic activism) during their high school period, exploring the influences of school experiences. Did schools encourage them to articulate and act on their beliefs? Did schools provide specific skills that they have used? This research is linked with the CIES conference question “In what ways can education be a catalyst for change” as well as “What pedagogies might our education institutions and sets of classrooms embrace that enable the development of capacities to act?” The answers to these questions – in the words of the student leaders themselves – add a critical perspective on theoretical discussions about the capabilities and potential of schooling and active citizenship for social change.

In-depth, semi-structured interviews were carried out between 2019 and 2021 with an ethnically and gender diverse set of 28 youth leaders who had collectively attended high school in a range of state and school settings and were between the ages of 18 and 25. These youth were engaged in topics including reproductive rights, refugee/immigrant rights, educational equity, climate change, prison reform and racial justice. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then coded, with checks for inter-rater reliability.

Our findings on the features of school youth activists experienced are affirming of the literature on what works to promote civic development. The majority of our participants experienced open classrooms, discussion-based learning, and had service-learning opportunities available to them.

Our findings also support a perspective on the cultivation of civic engagement and student agency that recognizes the importance of psychosocial aspects of youth development, much of which does not take place in traditional classroom settings. Students spoke of the influence of specific teachers and friends on their development, with these relationships often taking place in non-formal spaces such as clubs. In general, influential experiences that participants mentioned were those that allowed them to express and develop their own ideas, learn new topics and skills of personal interest related to their engagement with political and social change. This collection of results speak to the essential nature of having student-driven spaces for learning and engagement, and the limitation of top-down, adult-developed structures of participation.

These results are specific to a certain kind of active citizenship, that which leads to students’ deep engagement with an issue of interest - moving beyond traditional forms of participation (such as voting or running for elected office, such as Student Council) and volunteerism. What seems clear is that the conditions for civic activism are also those of youth development. The challenge is how to foster this in a school setting. If these results are typical for youth leaders in the U.S., and if such leadership is desirable (as we think it is), this means that schools need to do better in recognizing the value of and fostering such spaces for youth development. With the exception of schools such as Big Picture represented in the study, such experiences came about through personal relationships (both inside and outside of school) and non-formal learning environments such as clubs and religious organizations. These results perhaps raise critical questions about what it means to promote civic activism through schooling and what are the limits of this in the U.S. formal education system. The findings also engender potential recommendations for educational settings, such as a focus on teacher-student and peer-to-peer relationship-building, a heightened amount of student choice in the classroom, and pathways to out-of-school opportunities that warrant further exploration.

Authors

• Felisa Tibbitts, Utrecht University

• Marissa Wong, N/A