As the semester draws to a close and finals begin to encompass the campus, so too ends a school year where students across the country yielded critical power. Perhaps more than anything, the 2015-16 school year showed America the significant impact young people can make in our country today.
Take the events at the University of Missouri and other colleges where groups of students spoke up against microaggressions and institutionalized racism on college campuses, creating a national dialogue over race. Or take the last few weeks on campuses across our state of North Carolina where students have stood against the discriminatory actions that House Bill 2 put into place. This school year, students across the country have fought for our country and our world to be a better place.
And while some across the United States have called these students asking for a change “ridiculous” or “useless,” the fact remains that, whatever your opinion of these student protests may be, they have an impact. The greatest thing about thousands of students calling for change this year was not necessarily the specifics they were wanting to change, but that their voices were heard by others and made a difference.
We live in a time today when significant change is needed. Climate change has made a negative impact on Earth as 15 of the 16 warmest years on record have occurred since 2000, U.S. student academic performance has continued to worsen globally, and the wealth gap in our nation has only increased, leaving millions in poverty, to name just a few. Yet, while these problems continue, our government, now increasingly associated with Donald Trump over our own president, has stalled to make those necessary changes.
Instead of spending time trying to fix even one of our country’s numerous problems, our state government has chosen to spend its time taking away transgender people’s rights to solve a problem that never truly existed. In our state, which ranks 39 nationally in the percentage of citizens below the national poverty line, of the 22 bills introduced about poverty prevention in the 2015-16 North Carolina legislative session, only one was passed and became a law (and that one bill simply defined terms in an already existing poverty prevention law).
It’s no question, then, that the youth voice is needed in America today. Despite what a few online commentators may define students calling out for change as, we, as a university, owe it to our futures to speak up, let our voices be heard and argue for what is right. We have to encourage our lawmakers not just to care about what is happening right now, but also about what will happen 10, 20 and even 30 years down the road — to a time when our generation will have inherited the country.
As events of the past year have taught us, when we speak up, we can help make necessary changes. So, as the summer approaches remember to keep voicing our beliefs, whatever they may be. We, the Wolfpack community, need to speak up, letting other generations know our needs and helping to secure significant good.
