Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

YOUTH COMMENTARY:

Opinions of young people are worth listening to

Caitlyn Anderson of Nevada Learning Academy during the 58th annual Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum at the Las Vegas Convention Center Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014.

Caitlyn Anderson of Nevada Learning Academy during the 58th annual Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum at the Las Vegas Convention Center Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014.

About 1,000 juniors and seniors from high schools throughout Southern Nevada recently participated in the 58th annual Sun Youth Forum at the Las Vegas Convention Center. They gathered in groups to discuss a variety of topics that affect their community, Nevada, the nation and the world. Each group chose a representative to write about the experience. Here is one of them.

People often say young people are our future, but I think they’re wrong. Our youth are our present. The world is changing because we are willing it to do so, through our passion and activism.

Recently, I had the opportunity to be in a room full of teenagers who think similarly. The Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum allowed me to speak with passionate students about issues affecting us in Nevada. Topics included sex education, access to birth control and lowering the drinking age to 18.

The Clark County School District recently held meetings to discuss reforming the sex education curriculum. Students are concerned because many of us feel we aren’t receiving the information we need.

As students shared stories about sex education, there was shock at the variation of content we’d been taught. Some said by the time they were in sex education, there were already-pregnant teenagers sitting beside them. Others were upset that some parents had tried to sweep the issue of sexual identity under the rug during curriculum conversations.

There was consensus, with no opposition in a room of more than 20 students, that we need updated, improved sex education. It should be mandatory, fact-based and inclusive; it should teach safer sex; and it should provide us information about where we can access resources such as birth control.

Schools need to do a better job of providing us with lists of resources, beginning with posting clinic information in health offices.

The discussion soon shifted to lowering the drinking age to 18. Some students stood firm that 18- to 21-year-olds already are drinking alcohol, so lowering the legal age would allow for safer behavior, fewer nonviolent offenders in prison and more money funneling into our economy. There was strong sentiment that it would encourage safer behavior, such as young people seeking help if they need it while drinking, rather than hiding it and harming themselves or others.

Conversely, some students were concerned that lowering the age limit could lead to more people driving under the influence. They argued that our maturity levels might not be strong enough to have such responsibility.

There was no consensus because we needed more studies and conversations on the topic.

It is clear that students have a lot to say. Events such as the youth forum give young people the space to voice our concerns and opinions while advocating for change.

The overall feeling among us was that in many instances, our voices aren’t being heard. They need to be.

We need adults, decision makers, administrators and our school board to bring us to the table when they are making decisions that affect us.

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