Looking back: How U.S. youth activists view the influence of schools

Abstract

This study examines how recent U.S. high school graduates who were engaged in actions to bring about political or social change describe the influences of in-school experiences. Did influences in the school setting encourage them to articulate and act on their beliefs? If so, what were these influences and how do they relate to school conditions, such as open discussion, already associated with active civic engagement in scholarship? In-depth, semi-structured interviews were carried out with an ethnically and gender diverse set of 28 youth leaders. Our findings support the cultivation of student agency based on psychosocial aspects of youth development. Students spoke of the influence of specific teachers and friends, 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, and learn new topics and skills of personal interest related to their engagement with political and social change. These 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.