In student activism there is hope

Student demonstrations, activism, and town hall meetings, such as those seen in Chicago Public Schools; Highland Park, Minnesota; Parkland, Florida; and many other locations, show how the efforts of student activism can and should extend far beyond holding school fundraisers. Instead we see through these efforts that the true work of activism extends beyond age, location, and even beyond the demonstration itself. High school students engage. Middle grades students participate and exercise their strong voices. And even elementary-aged learners have a place in the efforts of student activism. Several recent and influential movements of activism (some student-led) are reflected in these propagated social-media hashtags: #StopFundingHate; #HeForShe; #BlackLivesMatter; #ASLIceBucketChallenge; #BringBackOurGirls; #MeToo; #Enough (Hitchings-Hales & Imogen Calderwood, 2017; Zachary, 2018).

The Association for Middle Level Education’s This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents calls for educators to empower youth in the middle grades by, “Providing all students with the knowledge and skills they need to take responsibility for their lives, to address life’s challenges, to function successfully at all levels of society, and to be creators of knowledge” (National Middle School Association [NMSA], 2010, p. 13). This call extends specifically to middle grades educators and to their work in preparing young adolescents, empowering them to have what they need to be productive, engaged, and contributing members of society. The context of that call surrounds both the local school and community to beyond region, state, and even national locations. The context is both local and global, personal and interpersonal, for self and for others.

For this special themed issue on student activism, we invited authors to submit articles that discussed young adolescents engaged in authentic student activism, exploring how youth used their voices to speak out against societal issues. We wanted authors to use their articles to specifically call attention to examples of pedagogical practice that lead to student led-activism, focusing on middle level practices arising out of three important designations: (1) Empowerment of/for youth and youth agency (positionality and curriculum); (2) Authentic student activism for school and community-based change (engagement); and (3) Critical discussions of school/classroom activism procedures/policy and connections to This We Believe (NMSA, 2010). We are pleased to present three articles that have answered the call for this special issue.

In their article, Spoken Word Performance as Activism: Middle School Poets Challenge American Racism, authors Davis and Hall address the areas of positionality, curriculum and engagement, and critical discussions connected to This We Believe. They discuss how educators can encourage students to speak out against American racism through the use of youth spoken word (YSW) poetry. They also described how students studied the history of the American Dream and its relationship to American identity through analysis of poetry, nonfiction texts, and multimedia texts from diverse perspectives as a lead up to the writing of their own poetry. They stress how vital it is for youth of marginalized and minoritized backgrounds to have such opportunities to engage and express themselves.

Authors Mims and Kaler-Jones in their article, Running, Running the Show: Supporting the Leadership Development of Black Girls in Middle School, also call attention to examples of pedagogical practice that lead to student led-activism in the areas of positionality, curriculum and engagement, and critical discussions connected to This We Believe. Their powerful study highlights Black girls enrolled in a summer program in a mid-sized southern city. Through narrative analysis, interviews, and focus groups, the authors investigated students’ knowledge and contemporary definitions of Black women leaders and leadership. They demonstrate how supporting their historical and contemporary definitions, seeing their identities reflected in curriculum writings, and creating critical spaces can promote the engagement and identity development of Black girls, which is especially important for issues surrounding racial and gender bias and discrimination. They also offer suggestions and ten guiding questions to help researchers, policymakers, and other educators to support developing Black girl leaders in middle schools.

Our third article, Why Ethnic Studies? Building Critical Consciousness among Middle School Students, is provided by Nojan, who shows how teaching ethnic studies curriculum with critical race pedagogy can help address the opportunity gap that exists for minoritized youth. Based on her qualitative analyses of student evaluations, writing samples, and teacher reflections, ethnic studies curriculum enables the middle school participants in her study to make meaningful connections to their lives and build academic and social confidence for promoting success and critical social action. Nojan also explains how teachers play an essential role in implementing an effective ethnic studies curriculum and pedagogy. They stress the need for educators to be trained in critical pedagogy, engage in self-reflexivity, and be mindful of race and racism to know the possibilities and prepare lessons. These efforts help both students and their teachers to build capacity for agency and future social action.

Educators and activists often ask how students might position themselves or mobilize so that their voices are heard about what matters most. Middle school students themselves might also wonder how they might engage, participate, or advocate for issues of social justice. These questions are rooted in the notion of how a demonstration can become a movement (Zachary, 2018). The important thing is to become part of something bigger than oneself. Resistance to the ideals of engagement and student activism will come in many forms and at different times, notwithstanding the most commonly seen barrier to activism being what some have termed the “rhythms of [schooling] itself” (Whitford, 2019). The very busyness of schedules, obligations, school work, and the norms of everyday life get in the way of any of us engaging with our world. But at the very heart of any good, public education is the notion of learners being critically aware of their environment, their society, in order to engage and to change it and the world around them. It is in this effort that we and our students must continue to strive, to advocate, to raise our voices to issues that prevail. In student activism, there is hope that we might just do that and accomplish life-changing work.