Abstract

High schoolers in America face numerous inequalities within their school systems. According to the Education Trust’s analysis “Funding Gaps 2018,” school districts with the highest percentages of Black, Latinx, and Native American students were given around $1,800 less per student than school districts with the least number of students of color. High schoolers notice these injustices and some take action through activism, organizing to change them. The purpose of this study is to understand why some high school youth choose to engage in activist and organizing work within community-based youth organizations instead of through clubs at their high schools. Utilizing a feminist ethnographic approaches, I chose to research a Detroit area youth activist organization to explore this question. From nine interviews with current and past leaders of this organization and participant observations of their Zoom meetings, I learned that these youth prefer a community-based organization because it allows for more autonomy for youth to organize and theorize a better world free of oppressive systems and structures. To alter these systems and structures in their education, they use a community organizing theory of change and build youth power through intimate relationships in their community. The young people desire an education that is free of ‘schooling:’ a process that they perceive to be one of controlling students and perpetuating existing power dynamics. Ultimately, this study sheds light on young people’s perceptions of the educational inequalities they face in the Detroit area and highlights how they take action to change these inequalities and power relations.

Advisor

Thomas, Zareen

Second Advisor

Atay, Ahmet

Department

Sociology and Anthropology; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Disciplines

Gender and Sexuality | Inequality and Stratification | Social Justice

Keywords

Youth studies, abolition, activism, Detroit, education justice

Publication Date

2022

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2022 Harry Susalla