From a teen's perspective: Valuing the Youth Opinion
When faced with a decision, many people look to individuals with the most education and experience. In a medical situation or maybe the operation of a plane, this is a solid approach. But what about larger issues related to human rights? Should we only listen to the people with the most education or professional experience in the field? No. Although having this expertise is important, having a youth opinion is just as valuable on many topics.
Even if we haven’t gone through residency or been a member of Congress, we know what we are talking about when we discuss these larger hot topic issues because we are living them. Why should there be a decision made about how to recover from online schooling without someone who lived through the time of staying at home and staring at your teacher through a screen? Why should there be a debate on gun violence in schools without the students who have to go to school with the constant threat of being shot running through their minds? Why should there be discussions about climate change without input from the people who will inherit this mess? There is no reason why youth should not be included on these topics and beyond. We have a valid opinion on these topics.
Many brush off youth opinions because they believe teens are “too inexperienced” and “don’t understand.” This could not be further from the truth. Youth now have access to so many forms of media that we know how to research and bring up facts. We have the ability to become more educated on topics and simply saying that youth don’t know what they are talking about is an invalid excuse. If we are passionate about something because we experience an inequality in our community, we are willing to do the research to back up our opinions. Age is not a defining factor of intelligence, and it should not limit who gets to have a voice in the conversation.
Beyond giving a well-researched, lived opinion, teens have another superpower: the advantage of youth. Alison Gopnik, a child developmental psychologist, spoke in her Ted Talk about her findings of how babies and toddlers perceive the world. In her research, she found that youth process features of the world differently than adults and gain conclusions in a different way. Although this was specifically about babies and toddlers, this is an important finding to consider. We understand what is going on around us differently than adults. Adding youth opinions to various debates would bring this different level of processing and a different viewpoint to the conversation. This is vital to making real progress. To be able to make laws or decisions or take action, multiple viewpoints should be considered, and having a teen involved brings a biologically different viewpoint than others.
Through personal experiences, access to research, and developmental science, the teen perspective is an important aspect to have in different conversations. Working to empower youth voices is vital, as we are the ones who will be inheriting the issues of the world and are living through them right now. A fundamental portion of the American democratic republic is that the ones who are making laws for people should listen to the people. This is why we have the right to vote. So why should it be any different when the people who the laws are being made about are below voting age? It is crucial to have these youth voices in these conversations, and everyone should take a moment to analyze where a teen’s manner of processing could be implemented to make the results more fruitful and impactful.
