Students' political activism in the media age

Robinson Meyer’s article

Your assignment asks you to discuss high school students’ political activism in the media age using Robinson Meyer’s article “The Righteous Anger of the Parkland Shooting’s Teen Survivors” and the video “Parkland Shooting Survivors on the ‘March for Our Lives’ ”.

Robinson Meyer’s article explores a clear example of how high-school students used social media as a tool for political activism, following students at an American high school who were the victims of a mass shooting that killed 17 people, students and teachers. During and after the event, the students used media to express their outrage and frustration and to advocate for tighter gun control in the US: “High-school students – the survivors of the calamity themselves – became the voice of the tragedy. Tweets that were widely reported as coming from the students expressed grief for the victims, pushed against false reports, and demanded accountability.” (ll. 5-8)

This shows that the media can be a powerful instrument that high-school students can use to make their voices heard by authorities and governments. Because most high school students are underage, they cannot express their views through voting. At the same time, this means that politicians do not particularly pay attention to the political opinions of students. 

What the article shows is that today’s media age is changing this and is giving high-school students more political power. As the article notes: “On television, on social media, they were unignorable. Many of them called for legislation to address the violence.” (ll. 9-10)

However, a question that arises...