Youthful Idealism Dies Hard

This article was written by By Sam Graham-Felsen.

Youth movements are exploding across the world. In the US, Latino high schoolers throughout the country walked out of their classes to join one of the largest social movements in our history. In France, millions of young people demonstrated for weeks demanding the repeal of an economic reform that they felt threatened their futures. In Chile, 700,000 students refused to attend classes until President Michelle Bachelet made good on her promise to provide equal education — the largest Chilean student movement in over 30 years.

Now, in China, students at Shengda College — one of the most expensive schools in the country — are manifesting their anxieties over an unstable job market by revolting on campus. The students' direct complaint is that Shengda reneged on its promise to print diplomas bearing the name of the school's more prestigious "mother school," Zhengzhou University. It may sound like a petty gripe, but in a country where 60 percent of college graduates are having trouble finding jobs, it was cause for outrage.

The students, who are demanding a full refund for their college tuition, have already won a partial victory. Shengda's headmaster, Hou Heng, resigned yesterday.

None of these student uprisings are intimately connected &$151 but they all have a common source. These young people believe in their own power. And for the most part, they have every reason to believe because they are achieving tangible results.

Governments really do tremble at youth social movements. They know that youthful idealism dies hard — that young people are sometimes even crazy enough to risk their lives rather than submit. They know that young people are willing to stand in front of tanks.

As the New York Times reported, "Beijing... has always feared student unrest above all forms of social discontent." I doubt Beijing is alone in feeling this way.
By Sam Graham-Felsen
Reprinted with permission from The Nation