Adults talk about empowering young people. Except when they disagree with them. [washingtonpost.com]

By Dara Walker, Photo: Cheney Orr/Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, February 7, 2022

Students across the country, from Minnesota to New York City, have walked out of classes and are taking to the streets to demand better covid safety policies. Some protesters called for remote learning while others asked that school leaders enforce policies already in place. Students in Oakland, Calif., started a petition, hoping that administrators would listen. When they failed to, the students walked out.

Adults have routinely been dismissive, even suggesting that students are pawns of teachers unions or that students simply want to skip classes. The idea that young people can clearly see what is happening at schools during the pandemic — like they have with climate change, guns and the curriculum — has routinely been brushed aside.

But these students are a part of a long tradition of young people who have been told, in the creation of youth civic engagement programs or through a system that rewards participation in student government, that their voices matter. And they are claiming that power now.

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