Yes, and part of that preparation is making sure students understand the structure of a logical argument, do not prioritize emotion over facts, and learn to engage others without screaming at them. Encouraging their activism teaches the opposite of all these things.
I support activism and even mass demonstrations. (Recent one in Hungary, for example.) But kids simply yelling at adults that they're not fixing everything overnight is silly - and counterproductive.
They’re not mutually exclusive. Real civil rights progress wouldn’t have happened without protests. It took voting in someone in like Kennedy for it to get through, but it also took protests to get him and the Dems to finally take action.
The civil rights protest were carefully thought out, and meant to prick the conscience of a nation. I applaud that.
Children yelling at adults about not doing what they want them to do? Not so much.
How many generations do we have to go through before people realize that the youths aren’t different, it’s the olds who calcify and look at their generation as the norm. Was the generation before yours too stodgy? Worry about decorum too much? Actively bemoan civil rights and emotional war protests?
I thought mass protests, in general, were stupid and counterproductive when I was in my 20s - mostly because I knew that the issue they thought they were affecting (nuclear weapons) they weren't affecting at all.
Nuclear energy, they did matter. To our overall detriment, sadly.
But by George, you, personally, did it right!
I want you to go through any of these huffy descriptors of youths. Can you honestly tell me that older folks in your youth didn’t have the same schoolmarmish, peevish view of how the youths were doing things?
The youths aren’t worse. You’re just old.
And I’m saying this is what you sound like: 120+ years of people making the same silly complaints and learning nothing about how it felt to be on that’s side. Now maybe you’ve always been schoolmarmish and judgmental. I don’t know. But if that’s the case…maybe the problem has ALWAYS been you.
I’ll take my leave now (not angrily, for the record), but it’s worth considering that it’s probably a lot easier to get young people to vote if you stop telling them how they’re doing things wrong and instead cheer on the spirit of what they’re doing
Talking down to kids isn’t the way to reach them
I'm not interested in "reaching them", I want them to wake the hell up and realize that their rights are in peril and that they can take control of their destiny by talking to their peers and know that upping their share of the vote by a whopping 5 percent saves the world.
Maybe moderates should give them something to vote for instead of something to vote against. Biden could sew up the young people vote by coming out hard in favor of renewable energy spending, paid for by taxes on fossil fuel companies. Climate change is 1 of Gen Z’s top issues.
I do, actually. If you read Tom’s thread, the original post was a condescending remark towards Greta Thunberg’s climate activicsm. I’m trying to point out that his condescension doesn’t do much to help drive young voters to the polls.
I hope they get to the polls and prove me wrong out of sheer spite, if that's what it takes, but I'm tired of the idea that I have coax them to vote to save their own lives.
Old people vote and no one has to hold their hand.
Young progressives in blue states have an agenda. It will take large Democratic majorities to pass their agenda. To get large majorities, Dems will need a moderate platform to appeal to voters in the South and Midwest. Progressives push the platform left, don’t vote anyway, then complain.
I remember when the voting age was reduced to 18. I was over the moon to be able to vote b/4 I was 21. and have done so ever since. yeah, I'm old so maybe I don't relate to the younger folks but damn, you gotta vote
