|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Drinking Age and how to fix it
|
Lindsay Coley, founder of NYRA-University of Texas:San Antonio (NYRA-UTSA) will speak about the dangers of the drinking age and how alcohol has been used for thousands of years as well as how the current drinking age has currently harmed our population more than it has helped. It suggests current trends in public opinion about the drinking age and solutions of how to lobby or otherwise get our lawmakers to help us lower the drinking age.
|
|
Schoolhouse Diplomacy
|
Steve Ross, Founder & Chairman Emeritus of the Zionsville Student Rights Union (ZSRU) and NYRA Board Member, will present strategies for building power within a school environment, and keeping a chapter alive once the founders are gone. Based on his experience with running the ZSRU and successfully passing the organization to a second generation of leaders, Ross will give an overview of the methodology behind creating a self-sustaining chapter.
|
|
Curfews: From Research to Repeal
|
Jeffrey Nadel, the President of NYRA-Southeast Florida and NYRA Board Member, will be leading a workshop about youth curfews. Having just filed their lawsuit against the City of West Palm Beach, NYRA-SEFL will be conducting a comprehensive discussion on curfews. First, Nadel will speak about the nuances of curfews and the specific legal details of a curfew ordinance, explaining how to determine if a curfew in your area is unconstitutional and illegally enforced. Then, he will address the methods of ridding a municipality of an unconstitutional, youth curfew, exploring the modalities of protesting, meeting with officials from the municipality, and getting media attention. Finally, Nadel will offer advice on obtaining an attorney, should efforts to get the curfew repealed fail. He will speak of different attorney-client arrangements (contingency, pro-bono, etc.) and ensuring that you have press coverage for an impending lawsuit.
|
|
The Radical Rumble: Students for Liberty and Students for Democratic Society Debate Youth Rights
|
Representatives from Students for Liberty and Students for Democratic Society will spar regarding their differing perspectives on youth rights. These organizations have very different worldviews, but are generally supportive of the objectives of youth rights. This debate will address many important questions between these two organizations and what that means for us as youth rights activists. How will life look for an average young person in an ideal libertarian or anarcho-communist world? How would that be different from today? Which philosophy is more compatible with the goals and objectives of the youth rights movement? How would education look under each vision? The debate, a first of its kind, will last two hours and lunch (pizza) will be provided.
|
|
A Screening of "The War on Kids"
|
In 95 minutes, THE WAR ON KIDS exposes the many ways the public school system has failed children and our future by robbing students of all freedoms due largely to irrational fears. Children are subjected to endure prison-like security, arbitrary punishments, and pharmacological abuse through the forced prescription of dangerous drugs. Even with these measures, schools not only fail to educate students, but the drive to teach has become secondary to the need to control children. Not only do school fall short of their mission to educate, but they erode the country’s democratic foundation and often resemble prisons.
School children are interviewed as are high school teachers and administrators, and prison security guards, plus renowned educators and authors including:
Henry Giroux: Author of Stealing Innocence Corporate Culture's War on Children
Mike A. Males: Sociologist, author of Scapegoat Generation (and NYRA Advisor)
John Gatto: New York City and New York State Teacher of the Year
Judith Browne: Associate Director of the Advancement Project
Dan Losen: The Civil Liberties Project, Harvard University
|
Head Back to the Agenda
|
|
