Ageism is a potent force in young people’s lives, yet very few people seem to have a clear idea of what the word involves and how often it affects student’s lives. A term for any age-based discrimination, ageism affects both young and old– but especially high school students.

Lately, youth activism has been on the rise, with movements like the one started by the students of Parkland, Florida. However, many young people are still finding that their opinions are discounted and dismissed, even on the issues that seem to affect them the most, like what they learn every day at school and the decisions their school districts make with their money and time.

Part of this is the fact that young people do not have voices in the conversation when it comes to the important issues. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average age of a Congressman has been rising since the early 1980s– from the average Senator being 50 years old in 1983 to being about 61 in 2011. What follows are real-life consequences from Capitol Hill to the classroom.
Many teenagers, and even people in their twenties want more representation of their age group, as evidenced by a recent crop of younger politicians on both sides of the aisle.

Young people often claim that older generations are creating and playing off stereotypes of youth as lazy and frivolous, while also discounting their opinions on serious topics when young people actually voice them in forums like student media (although the District 95 Board of Education has been consistently supportive of student media) and other platforms. This can fuel a frustrating cycle of cynicism and apathy, having a silencing effect on young voices. Young people have always had some of the lowest voter turnouts of any demographic group, with only 46% of people ages 18-29 voting in the 2016 presidential election compared to 67% of those ages 45-64. When young people become convinced that older generations will not let their voices be heard and take their opinions into account, they can be discouraged and stop expressing them, which harms public discourse. While schools often solicit student input on issues they anticipate will be controversial, like the recent grading policy change that put much more emphasis on summative assessments, many school districts do not consider student voices on the classroom issues that most directly affect the educations that they receive.

Examples of this would be the pace at which material should be taught or what books to read in English class. There are, of course, educational standards that must be met, but there are ways to create additional collaboration. This view can contribute to a disillusionment with school in general, and does not prepare students for the real world.

Despite the omnipresence of youth activities in culture and politics on our television screens, this newfound media power is not translating into real political or cultural power. The solution to this is striking the right balance between remembering young people’s inexperience and keeping in mind that their opinions deserve the same consideration as anyone else’s. The fact that decisions are made about young people without enough input from those young people should alarm us all.