Students Need Better Representation (excerpt)

Look to Raskin and other candidates for positive change

By Adam Yalowitz, Page Editor
Friday, March 3, 2006

Education is always a top priority for politicians, but student issues are more complex than funding school construction and all-day kindergarten. Student concerns usually don't have a lot to do with easily definable, catchy-sounding stump issues, and it's important that they are given the chance to articulate their views to people who will listen.

High-school students cannot wait for legislators to start listening - they must be proactive and support candidates for public office who they feel will actively advocate for issues that are important to them.

Get involved

Students can find such a candidate in local lawyer Jamie Raskin, who is running for Maryland State Senate in District 20, which includes Blair. In 1996, Raskin defended Blair Network Communications (BNC) when MCPS censored a BNC debate show on homosexuality. Raskin worked with Blair students and organized the community to convince the Board of Education to air BNC's show on MCPS instructional television.

Building on his work to protect students' rights at Blair, Raskin began the Marshall-Brennan Fellowship Program in 1999, a national project to educate high-school students about their constitutional rights and responsibilities. In the program, named for Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and William J. Brennan, Jr., law students teach high-school classes about constitutional rights. The classes center around Raskin's book, "We the Students: Supreme Court Cases for and About Students," which Raskin wrote after working with BNC.

The next steps

Although there is a shortage of elected officials who have made a concerted effort to listen to the youth voice, there is an abundance of candidates who have proven their commitment to students. Students should look for candidates such as these if they hope to have their concerns represented.

As students become more active, their concerns will gain credibility among elected officials. As the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone said, "The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines." Students need to become engaged in the community and involve themselves in the political process. Whether it's volunteering for a campaign, organizing students to contact legislators or just signing a petition, students need to speak up if they expect to be heard.