High school and college aged activists have played a big role in changing policy on issues like civil rights, the Vietnam war, gay rights, and so on. They’ve also played a significant role in recent elections.
High school students played a significant role in some SNCC civil rights protests, such as sit-ins at lunch counters. In many cities the sit-ins were actually ran and done entirely by high school students. One well known example is that a number of students from Dudly high school participated in the famous Greensboro sit-in.
Edit: They’re only just mentioned in this source, but they were there.
Hmm. It’s hard to say. I think the SNCC sit-ins were a vitally important part of the civil rights moment, though, they played a big role in drawing attention to and eventually ending segregation in a lot of places, and high school students did or helped in a significant percentage of them. High school students played a significant role in the SNCC organization in general.
I mean, it’s hard to say what the overall effect is; that’s like saying “would the civil rights movement has been as effective if there had been a third less protests”. It seems likely that it would not have been, but it’s hard to say with any certainty or to quantify it.
...high school?
[citation needed]
High school students played a significant role in some SNCC civil rights protests, such as sit-ins at lunch counters. In many cities the sit-ins were actually ran and done entirely by high school students. One well known example is that a number of students from Dudly high school participated in the famous Greensboro sit-in.
Edit: They’re only just mentioned in this source, but they were there.
http://www.sitinmovement.org/history/greensboro-chronology.asp
I’m not claiming that high school students played as big a role as college students, but their impact wasn’t zero, either.
So, looking back at recent history, what wouldn’t have happened if the high schools students didn’t participate?
Hmm. It’s hard to say. I think the SNCC sit-ins were a vitally important part of the civil rights moment, though, they played a big role in drawing attention to and eventually ending segregation in a lot of places, and high school students did or helped in a significant percentage of them. High school students played a significant role in the SNCC organization in general.
I mean, it’s hard to say what the overall effect is; that’s like saying “would the civil rights movement has been as effective if there had been a third less protests”. It seems likely that it would not have been, but it’s hard to say with any certainty or to quantify it.