What ways did the student movement develop in the US and early 1970?

Answer 1

In the United States, student activism is often understood as a form of youth activism that is specifically oriented toward change in the American educational system. Student activism in the United States dates to the beginning of public education, if not before. The best early historical documentation comes from the 1930s. The American Youth Congress was a student-led organization in Washington, DC, which lobbied the US Congress against racial discrimination and for youth programs. It was heavily supported by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The 1960s saw student activists gaining increased political prominence. One highlight of this period was Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) launched in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a student-led organization that focused on schools as a social agent that simultaneously oppresses and potentially uplifts society. SDS eventually spun off the Weather Underground. Another successful group was Ann Arbor Youth Liberation, which featured students calling for an end to state-led education. Also notable was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which fought against racism and for integration of public schools across the US. These specific organizations closed in the mid-1970s. The largest student strike in American history took place in May and June 1970, in response to the Kent State shootings and the American invasion of Cambodia. In the early 1980s several formalized organizations brought neoliberal models of student activism to campuses across the nation, especially the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (C.O.O.L.). They claim large responsibility for identifying and championing the interest in service among higher education students. American society saw an increase in student activism again in the 1990s with the ushering in of the neoliberal community service policies of Bill Clinton. The popular education reform movement has led to a resurgence of populist student activism against standardized testing and teaching[7], as well as more complex issues including military/industrial/prison complex and the influence of the military and corporations in education[8] There is also increased emphasis on ensuring that changes that are made are sustainable, by pushing for better education funding and policy or leadership changes that engage students as decision-makers in schools. Major contemporary campaigns include work for funding of public schools, against increased tuitions at colleges or the use of sweatshop labor in manufacturing school apparel (e.g. United students against sweatshops), for increased student voice throughout education planning, delivery, and policy-making (e.g. The Roosevelt Institution), and to raise national and local awareness of the humanitarian consequences of the Darfur Conflict. There is also increasing activism around the issue of global warming. Antiwar activism has also increased leading to the creation of the Campus Antiwar Network and the refounding of SDS in 2006.