Interesting insight into American student activism through the ages...

As if Ms. Sipel was writing in response to my previous blog post, a recent article on student activism over the past century emerged adding insight to my research. While this article is not long, it was inspiring. I have taken an external/international approach to looking for activism from college students because I (somewhat unjustifiably) have this notion that my generation, my fellow American students, have abandoned student activism in the physical form. Like many of the members of our senior generations, I look at the what students do today in the U.S. as being inferior to the strides made by the student activists of the 1960s. But I was wrong to assume that college students use little more than blogs, facebook, and other forms of social media to shed light onto their issues of concern.

In this article the author brought me back to reality. American students have not lost their rebellious and vocal tendencies. This article address the forms of activism taken by students in California who are protesting the drastic budget cuts being made that are currently impacting the University of California system of higher education. Like their brethren in Yemen, angry and frustrated students who see their futures being negatively impacted by a governing body are literally taking to the streets. As can be seen in this photographic evidence, the youth of California are following in the footsteps laid out just over 40 years ago. While this account of the protests does take a very biased approach, it still excites me to realize that student activism pertaining to higher learning is still within close proximity.

As I continue my research I hope to compare the driving force behind these movements in relation to those in the Middle East. In my introductory approach, it seems that access to advancement is all these students ask for. And when they are not only not given that access, but are actively pushed further and further from it, they are completely capable of taking a stand, risking their health, risking their standing in the current society, and risking their general wellbeing in order to fight for a change of the system. This demand for personal freedom quickly grows into a fight for overall change in government action and societal tendencies. Students are trained to question authority, they are taught the ideals of freedom and intellect, and it is this enlightenment that makes them such a powerful and vocal catalyst for changes in society.

(a video of the highway protest can be seen here. Ignore the silly music, please)