Introduction
- Hook: Samantha Baker, character in Sixteen Candles, gave her panties to a geek in order to impress her real crush
- Connection: Teens in classic high school movies are stereotyped as willing to do anything to get the attention of the other gender (give examples of Ten Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, etc.). Therefore, society sees them as irrational and immature, too self-centered to think about real world issues. However, high schoolers today are proving that they care about bigger issues that relationships – they are getting involved with political activism. Although college students have been the main source of young adult activism for years, high schoolers are taking the stage in a recent shift we are still seeing develop today.
- Thesis: Young adult activism has shifted from college students to high schoolers, caused by increased awareness of their futures, aided by technology, and fueled by targeting. High schoolers face many more different responses from adults than the societal normality college activists accept, as well as different responses from schools. This issue of teen activists affects us all here and now, as they brave adversity to speak on important topics.
Body
- First topic: Discussion of the shift
- History of college student activists and their impacts
- Greensboro sit-ins, Vietnam anti-war protests, anti-apartheid, Tiananmen Square
- Voting trends: youth voted more in the 2018 midterms than 2014 and almost any other time besides when the voting age was moved to 18, more youth registering to vote
- Shift to recent high school activism movements and their impacts
- Parkland, climate change, LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter
- History of college student activists and their impacts
- How the activists have been successful (causes, key elements of their movements) and back up with key examples from parkland, BLM, LGBTQ, and climate change
- Identify a specific, common target
- Youth have become more concerned about the issues because they recognize they are the ones truly impacted by them (or will be in the future)
- Ways that high schoolers develop their protests (make them legit)
- How technology has contributed to the development of teen activism
- Shift in responses from society
- Change in backlash from adults from college movements to high schoolers today
- Polarized spectrum of much support or severe criticism
- How schools in America and Europe support (or don’t) teen activism
- How colleges do (and how it’s different – less built in)
- How american high schools do (built into curriculum and encouraged)
- European high schools: students are there to learn, not advocate
- Change in backlash from adults from college movements to high schoolers today
Conclusion
- Summary of essay main points, resolve the issue
- Why does it matter?
- Based on the trend towards teenage activism with Parkland, climate change, LGBTQ activism and Black Lives Matter, we will be seeing a lot more of these young leaders speaking on behalf of those their age
- They will continue to inspire other teens their age to speak out as well
- They will be a force, no matter the positive or negative opinions of them, and we have to accept their attempts to establish themselves in society
I believe the thesis you have is good in reference to the explanation of the paradigm shift, although I think it could be a bit more specific on the implications/significance portion of it. I’m getting that you’re saying its important because the issue affects us all currently, but I think you could add more on why understanding the shift matters more and explaining how that would benefit society,
Your body paragraphs seem really strong conceptually. Your explanation of the shift with a comparison of historical protests on college vs current protests with high schoolers is pretty much the clearest you can be on proving its existence. In your next body paragraph, all of your points on the causes are convincing, but I really like how you introduce technology as a cause of this shift. It’d be really cool to explore! And in your last body paragraph, I find your structure and breakdown of societal responses very clear. I think it’s very efficient that you look at both adults generally and then a country by country basis between the US and UK to explain responses from society. The only recommendation for your body that I would make as of now is to also possibly look into pop culture or media to identify examples of the shift. It would further emphasize your point and make it even more persuasive.
I get a general scope of your project from the shift, but I think you should explicitly state some dates or eras you are comparing.
Overall, I feel like your structure and essay will be very strong as soon as you start adding scholarly research to back it up and fully develop your outline even more 🙂