Activism presents many options for students

Following the deadly shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, there has been a national reckoning on gun control. However, unlike in earlier instances, this conversation is being spearheaded by the survivors of the shooting, as well as students nationwide. They are currently planning a series of marches and walkouts, encouraging students to make their voices heard.

This raises the inevitable question of how student activism should be performed. After all, an unorganized exodus of students nationwide this April is sure to change little and if nothing else present an inviting target for yet another school shooter.

Despite this, student activism in the gun control debate is long overdue. Some 63 shootings have occurred in schools across the country since Sandy Hook, and yet not until now has anyone really stood up for gun control.

Furthermore, this movement looks very hopeful, as a national conversation on the state of gun rights has been started.

This phenomenon has even found its way into HC, where the detainment of a student in possession of a firearm before school spurred a two-day long debacle. HC Principal Paul Little has held multiple meetings to address student and parent concerns about the issue.

In response to this event as well as the shooting in Parkland, HC students organized a walkout during the day on Mar.14, for 17 minutes, and plan to participate with the national walkout on April 20th. This still leaves the question of when and what kind of student activism is appropriate.

Personally, the walkout I think is a perfect way for those students who feel something needs to be done to voice their opinions. However, I question the effectiveness of a walkout. It seems that if students leave and bow their heads in reverence for 17-minutes, it will do nothing to change any policy rather than provide 2nd hour teachers with a 17-minute period in which they cannot teach.

That’s not to say that protests in this fashion won’t have an impact or that the lives of those students killed in the shooting are forfeit. A show of unity can often lead to more active forms of protest, such as writing to your congressperson or engaging in the picketing of legislators in Frankfort and Washington.

I encourage students to voice their opinions, because we as students bear the brunt of the risk of being shot each day. Our voices matter, and students should  think before they become involved. If we take a second and think about our options instead of succumbing to the flood of emotions sweeping through schools, I think that we will be much more successful in our goal of safer schools.