At this week's Round Table, Kenisha, Madeline, Maya, and Skyla spoke with Alison Gash and Daniel Tichenor, Political Science Professors at University of Oregon and co-authors of Democracy's Child: Young People and the Politics of Control, Leverage, and Agency. Democracy’s Child is a sweeping and innovative study that places young people at the heart of pivotal conflicts, decisions, and transformations in American politics–and our conversation was similarly sweeping. We talked at length about the power and possibility of GenZ, esp coming off of the 2022 midterms and how young people can flex our collective muscles to be increasingly at the center of politics and impact issues. So many political decisions are made FOR young people without our direct input. That cannot stand. Our generation wants to pave the way for change in our democracy. To do so, we want to better understand the history of youth activism–both its successes and shortcomings–and how we can both build upon AND differentiate selves from prior movements. We talked about how much voice teens really DO have, how to keep a focus on youth BEYOND the time of elections when our votes are needed, and how to get beyond the limiting belief that young people don’t have the capacity developmentally to engage fully in politics and public affairs. We talked about how to make politicians understand that they HAVE to care about what we care about and how we need to create politics BY young people, not just FOR young people. What young people learn at pivotal ages stays with us. It doesn’t just influence us in the moment; it transforms us. THIS is why education is so hotly contested, because the values that youth adopt can be threatening to the status quo. Let’s threaten it together. Thanks for listening!
