Peer-reviewed article
The non‐protesting children in the 2018 Parkland school shooting protests and their freedom not to express views in child participation spaces
Roberto S. Salva ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined why some children chose not to participate in the 2018 Parkland school shooting protests in the United States. Using school newsletters from 57 middle and high schools, researchers identified five themes explaining non-participation, including concerns about protest methods and issues. The findings suggest that protests may not fully meet standards for genuine child participation as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly regarding freedom of expression and access to information.
Key points
- Five themes of reasons were identified for children's non-participation in the Parkland protests
- Both middle school and high school non-protesters had overlapping and distinct concerns
- Protests raise adherence issues with most articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Children's freedom of expression should be the core principle of child participation
- Access to information is a prerequisite for meaningful child participation
Limitations
The study relies on school newsletter data which may not capture all children's reasons for non-participation or the full range of motivations. The research does not provide quantitative prevalence data or longitudinal follow-up on how non-participating children's views may have changed over time.
Abstract
Abstract Using mixed methods, we looked into USA children's reasons behind their non‐participation in the 2018 Parkland school shooting protests from newsletters of randomly sampled 57 middle (MS) and high schools (HS) across USA. We found five themes of reasons that point to non‐protesting children's concern about protest method and issues. The MS and HS non‐protesters' concerns overlapped and differed. The reasons reveal the protests to pose adherence issues to most CRC articles on and almost all of the basic requirements of child participation. We attribute the adherence issues to problems on assigning duties in non‐adult‐provided child participation spaces like protests. To identify protest as child participation necessitate propping children's freedom of expression as the animating force behind child participation's first key element and children's right to information a prerequisite for both. In this reframing, organizing/leading children become duty‐bearers while adults primarily remain so.