DemocracyReady NY Youth Blogs

The past few years have seen tectonic shifts in arguably the two most important fields for everyday people, politics and technology. Oftentimes, the conversations regarding both areas go hand-in-hand, and you may have seen the following statements (ostensibly) online: 1. Social media is worsening the political divide. 2. Nobody understands politics nowadays. As a high school student who has been working in both fields for some time now, I feel that I have something to bring to the discussion.

This past year at the DemocracyReadyNY Coalition, I, alongside my fellow youth cohort members, and other members of the Coalition, have dedicated our efforts to creating a space for dialogue and creative solutions to address the gap at the intersection of media literacy and civic education. Understanding media literacy is crucial for informed and engaged citizenship, making it an essential component of comprehensive civic education.

When registering for my senior year courses, I enrolled in a class called Civic Engagement because it was an opportunity to create change in my school community and earn the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness The Seal is a way to recognize students’ commitment to creating positive change in their community, and executing this type of project allows young people to gain experience in the world of social justice and political action. There was a project I had envisioned since ninth grade: initiate a composting program in my school’s cafeterias.

Storytelling can be a fantastic way to facilitate more meaningful and interactive curriculum, particularly in schools. In the civics classroom specifically, storytelling can provide an excellent opportunity to think through civic issues all around us, recognizing how tangible each singular issue is.

I am a 2022 graduate of Syracuse City Schools in upstate New York. Throughout my K-12 education, I found the importance of true student voice and advocacy to better the civic climate in a school. Typically these values are assumed to be in high school student council bodies — however, student councils 1) do not exist at every high school, and 2) their scope of work varies drastically.

Student councils have long been recognized as important entities within educational institutions, contributing significantly to the student experience and empowering students to have a voice in school matters. Acknowledging the significance of these bodies, New York Senate Bill S1732 sets out to address a pressing concern: the absence of student governments in schools and districts across the state. This bill will mandate the establishment of student governments in every school in New York. However, we must question whether this requirement alone is sufficient to genuinely represent student voices and grant them meaningful decision-making power in their school settings.

In keeping with its title, DemocracyReady NY seeks to foster a representative learning environment across schools in New York State. After organizing the DemcoracyReady NY Civic learning week, I made it clear to my fellow participants that student input was the key to advancing education. Speaking with educators and policymakers about the problems we observed in the educational system helped us gain clarity, or on the other side, provided us with a strategy to attempt to fix it. It only took us, the students, to speak up. Entering into the DemocracyReady NY Youth Ambassador program, the need for student voice was at the forefront of my thoughts.

While the bill represents a step in the right direction, its requirement for student governments in schools alone may not be sufficient to amplify student voices. Given the limited number of positions available within the student council, not all students will have the opportunity to actively participate in civic matters, especially in schools with a significant student population. A pertinent example is Francis Lewis High School, which accommodates 4,000 students but only offers 19 spots on the student council. Consequently, it is imperative to consider further enhancements to the bill's recommendations.