Student Activism

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in America, students have been involved in activism for over two hundred years, with the first significant movement in the 1930s. The author points out that the term "student power" was idealized in the sixties after the growth of "black power" philosophies came about from the Students Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which challenged the notion that African-Americans' political voice was too weak to fight and win. The paper relates that students have an advantage over common activists because (1) they have more time than average working adults, which gives them the opportunity to learn, network and organize and (2) they have a vast sea of close-at-hand peers with similar goals and privileges, which makes it easiest to organize for social change because a close community shares immediate consequences.

From the Paper:

"University organizers have also found great progress in social change outside of the academic community as well. Students from several U.S. universities created such a striking discourse of protest that they were successful in discontinuing college-endorsed sweatshop clothes (Birch). "Raising people's awareness is important to make sure people know what's going on", says Angela Hale, of Women Working Worldwide. This is what the spirit of activism is all about: Education! Making fellow students, citizens, and politicians know about harms being caused is the first and most important step toward social progress."

More papers on Student Activism:

• Research Paper # 26224 : "Student Activism in the Civil Rights Movement"
• Essay # 30216 : "Civil Rights and Student Activism in the Sixties"
• Term Paper # 127513 : "Student-Athlete Exploitation"

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