Full Description
Winner, 2016 Best Authored Book presented by the Society for Research on Adolescence
Diverse case studies on how youth build political power during an era of racial and educational inequality in America
This is what democracy looks like: Youth organizers in Colorado negotiate new school discipline policies to end the school to jail track. Latino and African American students march to district headquarters to protest high school closure. Young immigration rights activists persuade state legislators to pass a bill to make in-state tuition available to undocumented state residents. Students in an ESL class collect survey data revealing the prevalence of racism and xenophobia.
These examples, based on ten years of research by youth development scholar Ben Kirshner, show young people building political power during an era of racial inequality, diminished educational opportunity, and an atrophied public square. The book's case studies analyze what these experiences mean for young people and why they are good for democracy. What is youth activism and how does it contribute to youth development? How might collective movements of young people expand educational opportunity and participatory democracy? The interdependent relationship between youths' political engagement, their personal development, and democratic renewal is the central focus of this book. Kirshner argues that youth and societal institutions are strengthened when young people, particularly those most disadvantaged by educational inequity, turn their critical gaze to education systems and participate in efforts to improve them.
Contents
Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part I. How Activism Contributes to Human Development and Democratic Renewal 1. Critique and Collective Agency in Youth Development 23 2. Millennial Youth and the Fight for Opportunity 53 3. "Not Down with the Shut Down": Student Activism against School Closure 83 Part II. learning ecologies of youth activism 4. Teaching without Teaching 107 5. Schools as Sites of Struggle: Critical Civic Inquiry 134 Conclusion: Activism, Dignity, and Human Development 163 Methodological Appendix 185 Notes 201 Bibliography 213 Index 233 About the Author 237
